TRANSFER, Pa. — The Reynolds Raiders won their 60th straight dual meet and it wasn’t easy Friday night.
Or planned, but most definitely appreciated by a mostly empty gymnasium that certainly would’ve been buzzing in this one had it been a normal setting.
Longtime District 9 rival Brookville and the four-time PIAA Dual Team state champions faced off at Reynolds High School. Thanks to a Thursday scramble to get a match in before the mandated three-week shutdown, the showdown was scheduled.
Saturday, Brookville was scheduled to wrestle at the Greenville Duals while Reynolds was supposed to go to the Fort LeBoeuf Duals.
It was the first time that the Raiders … and Raiders had ever met at Reynolds. The D10 Raiders have been an annual foe for the D9 Raiders at Brookville’s Ultimate Duals in January since the late 1990s, but never met in a dual meet in Mercer County.
Reynolds was originally scheduled to visit Brookville on Dec. 19 since it wasn’t coming to the Duals this year due to scheduling restrictions set up before the season due to COVID-19 concerns.
And this time around, it was Reynolds holding off Brookville for a 35-31 win. In the final bout of the night at 132 pounds, Kane Kettering majored Brecken Cieleski, 10-2.
Brookville wasn’t able to fill weights at 145 and 152, but nearly overcame what would expect to be an impossible 12-0 giveaway to start any match against Reynolds. Brookville notched four pins to two pins for Reynolds.
Brookville’s Josh Popson decked Camren Klenke in the third period to start the match at 138, but Reynolds got forfeit wins from Dreyvin Livingston and Alex Ischo at 145 and 152. Returning state medalist Kaeden Berger put Reynolds up 16-6 with his 8-0 major of Wyatt Griffin at 160.
Brookville’s Jackson Zimmerman pinnned Jordan DeCarmen in the second period at 172, but Cole Toy countered for Reynolds with a 37-second pin of Caden Marshall at 189 to put Reynolds up 22-12.
Brookville’s final two pins gave them a 24-22 lead with five bouts to go. Bryce Rafferty pinned Mitchell Mason at 215 while returning state medalist Nathan Taylor pinned Guy Rocco John-Daniello at heavyweight.
In a tossup bout at 106 that factored obviously large for Reynolds, it was Reynolds’ Logan Hammerschmidt outslugging Jared Popson for a 10-7 win. Then returning state medalist Cayden Walter of Brookville grinded out a 1-0 win over Chase Bell at 113
Returning state runner-up Gary Steen pinned Antonio Thornton in the first period at 120 to give Reynolds a 31-27 edge before Brookville’s Owen Reinsel, also a returning state medalist, tied it up with a 10-0 major over Liam Foore, setting up Kettering’s major over Cieleski.
The last dual meet loss for Reynolds came in a 34-33 setback to Canfield, Ohio, at the Canfield Duals Dec. 16, 2017. Brookville is the last Pennsylvania team to beat Reynolds in a dual meet, back in the 2016 PIAA Dual Meet semifinals in Hershey in a 29-27 thriller.
