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Hughesville girls get past Williamsport, 42-30

By Staff | Feb 9, 2024

Arianna Moore of Hughesville takes down Haley Stahl of Williamsport during their match at 106 pounds at Hughesville High School Tuesday night. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette

It’s been a long two weeks for Williamsport and Hughesville girls wrestling. With rest and recovery being at the top of the list of priorities for both teams, it made sense that there would be a lot of forfeits throughout their dual match at Hughesville High School on Tuesday.

“They have injuries, we have injuries,” said Hughesville coach Royce Eyer following the match. “This is a welcome rest week for sure.”

Nonetheless, the night still produced exciting bouts, all four of which ended in pins.

Hughesville’s two pins from Ariahna Moore and Lindsey McDonald — coupled with five forfeits from Williamsport — proved to be enough for the Spartans to come away with a 42-30 victory. But the Millionaires still managed to end things on a high note, with Lillian Rumsey and McKylee Vollman each securing pins of their own to close things out.

“We’re not quite where we want to be right now, but we’ll take what we can get,” said Williamsport coach Kevin Werner regarding his lineup and injuries. “I’m happy with the matches that we were able to wrestle. I saw some big improvements from the beginning of the year.”

For Hughesville, Moore continues to impress.

She came out the gates firing on Tuesday, converting a quick leg shot and takedown into a 26-second pin against Williamsport’s Haley Stahl. Effective, calculated aggression tends to be critical in wrestling, and Eyer believes she’ll continue to have success if she keeps it up.

“When she wrestles aggressively, she gets to her attacks and makes things happen,” said Eyer. “So that’s really the big thing for her, just being aggressive and getting to her stuff and wrestling her match. When she does that, she has a lot of success.”

In less than two weeks, the freshman has seen a second-place finish at Southern Tier Memorial, a third-place finish at Matness at the MACC and fourth-place finish at the Coal Cracker Invitational – the latter of which featured 48 teams. Despite facing multiple wrestlers that placed in regionals last year in their most recent tournament appearance, the Spartan managed to make the most of it – a sure sign of progression.

“It just keeps getting better,” said Eyer on Moore’s progress. “As long as she keeps her confidence high and she attacks, she does really well.”

Following up her teammate, McDonald also put on an impressive performance.

After falling behind 2-0 at the end of the first period, the senior managed to quickly turn things around in the second. She’d take full advantage of her opponent, Clara McKenzie, starting the period on bottom and would manage to lock her in a reverse plank to secure the pin.

“Lindsey’s a tough girl and has been battling some injuries. She stepped up for us tonight and got the win, so we’re really proud of her,” said Eyer on McDonald. “She’s getting progressively better every week so she’s getting some confidence and doing really, really well.”

With that win, the Spartans clinched the match. But that didn’t stop the Millionaires from firing back.

No. 1 Lillian Rumsey continued to build upon an ever-growing win streak on Tuesday, immediately finding an opening against Hughesville’s Eve Breon and earning a pin in just 27 seconds. Her win streak now stands at 21, spanning back to the end of last year.

And after going into the second period of her match down 2-0 and spending most of the first period avoiding a pin, McKylee Vollman stole the momentum in second, where she racked up five points to take a 5-2 lead going into the third. She’d quickly get back into position to pin from there, securing it midway through the third.

“We talked about digging deep and finding that within yourself and she pulled it out,” said Werner when discussing the sophomore. “It’s good to see and that’s why I coach, to see stuff like that. To see these girls improving and reaching down and finding it within themselves, that’s what I like to see.”

With that match, the Spartans enter a break period after competing in three tournaments in ten days before taking on the Millionaires. They’ll look to rest and recover over the next week before their next bout against Shikellamy next Tuesday.

“The grueling part of the season is over, so now we have a couple of matches to finish out and then we’ll get ready for postseason,” said Eyer. “We just keep showing up every day and every week and they keep getting better, so that’s kind of the goal as a coach. Hopefully we can stay healthy and they’re ready for the next couple of weeks.”

Hughesville 42, Williamsport 30

100: Julia Ritter (H) won by forfeit. 106: Ariahna Moore (H) pinned Haley Stahl, 0:26. 112: Lindsey McDonald (H) pinned Clara McKenzie, 2:34. 118: Lillian Rumsey (W) pinned Eve Breon, 0:27. 124: Avery Puderbach (H) won by forfeit. 130: Abbigale Bowman (H) won by forfeit. 136: Alaina Hicks (H) won by forfeit. 142: Alexis Kurzawa (H) won by forfeit. 148: Marissa Rumsey (W) won by forfeit. 155: Double forfeit. 170: Ella Adkins (W) won by forfeit. 190: McKylee Vollman (W) pinned Jayda Rodriguez, 5:03. 235: Isha Lee (W) won by forfeit.