Bermudian secures another win, now Delone looms
The day before setting out to conquer YAIAA Division III for the 11th year in a row, Bermudian Springs added another non-divisional win to its record by routing Schuylkill Valley, 50-16.
The Eagles (13-1, 1-0) went undefeated at the Lancaster Duals over the weekend and beat Fairfield last week to start 1-0 in divisional duals. A big matchup looms Thursday night when they travel to face Delone Catholic (5-3, 2-0).
Bermudian Springs, which lost 182-pounder Chase Dull and 113-pounders Bailey Oberlander and Tyler Lawson early on to season-ending injuries, will head to McSherrystown red-hot after Wednesday's win.
“We feel confident," senior and captain Jarod Miller said.“We know everyone’s coming after us, we’ve got a big bull's-eye on our back. We lost three really good seniors from last year who were captains, but the next guy needs to step up and do what he can for the team.”
Miller started things off with a 5-0 decision, and the Eagles won nine more matches in the dual, eight with bonus points. Logan Luckenbaugh, Brady Linebaugh and Landon West earned pins in consecutive matches, all doing so in 32 seconds or less. Ashton West and Nate McCollum also earned pins, and Noah Fleshman earned a 19-4 technical fall victory in 2:30. Darren Beall nearly earned a technical fall of his own, coming away with a 17-3 decision.
The most exciting Eagles victory of the night came at 126 pounds between 2015 state -qualifier Austin Clabaugh, of Bermudian Springs, and 2015 regional qualifier Jethro Solomon, who led 3-1 after three periods. Clabaugh started on bottom in the final period, escaping from Solomon's clutches to cut the deficit in half. Then the two engaged, and Solomon fell to a sitting position just outside the circle, and a heads-up Clabaugh kept his feet in bounds while lunging to secure control of Solomon's legs.
Clabaugh leaped into the air to celebrate his takedown after the referee called for time and went on to win the match 6-3.
“I thought Solomon wrestled a great match," Bermudian Springs coach Dave McCollum said. "I gotta give Clabaugh credit for getting that takedown. That was the turning point of the match.”
Now the Eagles attention turns to facing the Squires in a match that will have a lot to say about which team wins the Division III title.
“We’re not where we wanted to be, we’re missing quality kids at 113 and 182," McCollum said. "This team’s very capable, but unfortunately we’ve got to make up for a forfeit at 113. That’s huge.
“Tomorrow night’s gonna be crazy. Delone has a scrappy team. We’re scrappy. It’s gonna be wild.”
Bermudian Springs 50, Schuylkill Valley 16
at Bermudian Springs
138 — Jarod Miller (BeS) dec. Joel Orlando 5-0. 145 — Darren Beall (BeS) md. Carlos Altimirano 17-3. 152 — Ashton West (BeS) pinned John Schaffer 0:44. 160 — Teddy Limberiou (SV) dec. Lucas Gladfelter 6-3. 170 — Noah Fleshman (BeS) tech. fall Kyle Wolf 19-4 (2:30). 182 — Nate McCollum (BeS) pinned Nate Goff 3:24. 195 — George Limberiou (SV) md. Isaiah Fannin 17-7. 220 — Logan Luckenbaugh (BeS) pinned Josh Calencea 0:32. 285 — Brady Linebaugh (BeS) pinned Naquan Pass 0:32. 106 — Landon West (BeS) pinned Matt Maggiaro 0:26. 113 — Ethan Paey (SV) win by forfeit. 120 — Dylan Griffie (BeS) win by forfeit. 126 — Austin Clabaugh (BeS) dec. Jethro Solomon 6-3. 132 — Kyle Dimovitz (SV) dec. Brady Sanders 5-2.