Raiders top Redbank Valley for 500th win

By Rich Rhoades

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

NEW BETHLEHEM - While last Saturday's District 9 title stole some of the spotlight from last Thursday's win at Redbank Valley, a milestone is still a milestone.
In its 52nd season and 837th match, the Brookville Area High School wrestling team notched its 500th win.
Thursday night's 35-18 win over Redbank Valley put the Raiders at a special milestone shared by only a few programs in District 9.
Already past the 500-win milestone for sure is Clearfield (722), Ridgway (619) and DuBois, which is over 600 wins but an exact total isn't official. It's not known if any other District 9 program has reached that total.
Redbank Valley, a slightly older program than Brookville, is sitting at 487 wins.
The Raiders left New Bethlehem with commemorative 500-win t-shirts and their coach was able to put the milestone in fitting perspective.
"Obviously, it's a big milestone. I'm such a small part of it," said Raiders head coach Dave Klepfer, who has coached the Raiders to 70 of those wins in seven-plus years. "The two guys who preceded me were hall of fame coaches and they really laid the groundwork. Coach (Les) Turner and coach (Lenny) Ferraro, they are Brookville wrestling, in my opinion. As coaches, we try to carry on the tradition and produce good wrestlers. It's all because of them. They were our coaches. We try to do things as close to how they did them. It worked for them and we're trying to imitate it. We have a good group of kids and they're wrestling good at the right time of the year and we're hoping to continue that Saturday."
Turner coached 30 seasons and a part of another and finished with 270, or over half, of the Raiders' wins. Ferraro replaced Turner and coached the Raiders to a 65-11 record in five seasons. Both are members of the Pennsylvania State Wrestling Hall of Fame.
The Raiders wrestled well, winning nine of the first 11 bouts to take a 35-6 lead before the Bulldogs won the final three bouts to set the final score.
For the Raiders, Taylor Cudworth, Tyler Dombrowski and Nate Nosker won key bouts at 170, 182 and 285 (heavyweight) pounds while Jacob Cieleski won a hard-fought decision at 220.
The Bulldogs (6-2) got a 6-5 win from Cole Shirey over Brett Smith in a showdown at 160, Willis Gruver won a tight bout over Trey Constable at 120 and Kolbin Altobelli edged Devin Joiner in a bout featuring promising freshman at 106.
Cudworth (18-9) edged Brandon Bailey (21-6), 3-1, at 170. Cudworth used two back points in the second period and a third-period escape to get the win.
The Raiders got out of the gate strong as Dalton Zimmerman, and Brock and Brodie Zacherl each won major decisions in three of the first four bouts of the night. Zimmerman beat Luke Gallo, 12-1, to start things at 126. Brock Zacherl topped Ty Haines, 15-5, at 138 and Brodie Zacherl was impressive in blanking Nic Schrecongost, 14-0.
The Raiders Zach Vroman notched a 15-0 technical fall over Matt Hetrick at 152. After Cudworth's win at 170, Tyler Dombrowski rallied to win 3-2 thanks to an escape and takedown in the second period.
Logan Stout showed Mark Strothers the lights in 2:25 to put the Raiders up 29-6.
The Bulldogs' only two wins before their final flurry came from Garret Hildebrand at 132 and Shirey at 160. Hildebrand, who improved to 27-4, met a stubborn freshman in Jimmy Miller and took advantage of a five-point move in the second period to win 8-4.
Shirey and Smith tangled in the best bout of the night at 160. Smith tied the bout at 4-4 with an escape 20 seconds into the third period. Then in a flurry at the edge of the mat with time running out, Shirey got a takedown that ended with Smith sustaining a bloody gash above his right eye. Smith would escape, but couldn't score from there as Shirey won a hotly contested bout.