IAC WRESTLING: TIOGA PINS ITS WAY PAST EDISON (2021-02-24)

BY TIM TAYLOR
Valley Sports Report
TIOGA CENTER - The Tioga wrestling team isn't putting many team victories in the book, but the Tigers are continuing to flex their mat muscles.

Tioga competed in its third consecutive non-scoring dual meet here Wednesday, racking up falls in all 14 bouts against Edison. That gives the Tiger grapplers 48 wins in 55 matches. They also went 11-2 in a 63-9 win over Waverly in the season opener.

All but 11 matches against the Spartans ended in the first period, including two falls each by Levi Bellis and Gianni Silvestri. Tyler Roe went 2-0 on the evening as well with a pair of second-period pins. Silvestri recorded the fastest fall of the night, 31 seconds, while Ethan Agan posted a pin in 42 seconds.

"I think the kids are training pretty hard right now," Tioga coach Kris Harrington said. "It's a unique situation. To keep kids on task is a unique thing, but I think the kids are looking tough.

Although Edison may not be in the elite group of programs that Tioga is in, the Spartans appear to be headed in the right direction.

"I think coach (Kevin) Webber is doing a good job," Harrington said. "That's a young group and last year they had three kids on the team. To come here with 13 kids and come out and compete hard, I think that's testament to what they're trying to build there at Edison, so I've got to be happy about that.

"For our buys, we got some matches in and we'll get back in the room and get to work tomorrow. Our kids are thankful to just train and I think the kids are thankful to have anything, because they had nothing."

With some tougher competition waiting in the wings, motivation doesn't seem to be a concern for Tioga.

"We have the Journeymen coming up and Penn State," Harrington said. "Penn State's right around the corner. That's mid-March, so we're right there. It's a couple weeks away. There's big events to look forward to and not look past. On top of that, Saturday there's a handful of tough kids on both of those teams. We wrestle SVEC on Wednesday and they have some tough kids.

"Matchup-wise, there's no time to slack. There's competition for us to compete against and their job is to get out there and compete as hard as they can, so I don't think we're having that issue right now. Obviously, we'd like to get our hands on some bigger teams, but that's not a reality right now, so we'll do the best with what we have and get to these events after the season.

"We have a round robin tri-meet on Saturday with Newark Valley and Elmira, and hopefully get a bunch of matches in there."

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TIOGA vs. EDISON
215: Josh Snell (T) by fall over Michael Teets (E), 2:47;
110: Levi Bellis (T) Lucas Mosher (E), 1:02;
118: Gianni Silvestri (T) by fall over Joey Mastrantonio (E), :31;
126: Tyler Roe (T) by fall over Angelo Steinhauer (E), 3:10;
132: Mason Welch (T) by fall over Jordan Taylor (E), 1:09;
138: Caden Bellis (T) by fall over Ethan Smith (E), 1:31;
145: Donavan Smith (T) by fall over Zach Weigle (E), 1:04;
152: Justin Hopkins (T) by fall over Wyatte Taylor (E), 1:15;
160: Ethan Agan (T) by fall over Robert Martino (E), :42;
285: Cole Williams (T) by fall over Spencer Meriwether (E), 1:32;
110: Deakon Bailey (T) by fall over Lucas Mosher (E), 1:07;
118: Levi Bellis (T) by fall over Joey Mastrantonio (E), 1:02;
126: Gianni Silvestri (T) by fall over Angelo Steinhauer (E), 1:35;
132: Tyler Roe (T) by fall over Jordan Taylor (E), 3:08.

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IN PHOTO: Tioga's Donavan Smith takes Edison's Zach Weigle to the mat. ... PHOTOS BY TIM TAYLOR.