ORWIGSBURG - Christian Gosch has struggled all season.
A Class AAA regional qualifier last season, the Blue Mountain junior had won just half of his bouts heading into Thursday night's Schuylkill League Division I opener.
Then he drew a tough assigment against Tri-Valley sophomore Chase Schaeffer, who was a Class AA state qualifier last season.
Gosch, though, rose to the occasion, earning a momentum-swinging decision that lifted the Eagles to a 39-33 victory over the Dawgs.
Gosch (6-5) locked up a pair of cradles in his 145-pound bout and turned Schaeffer for three back points in the second period. He notched a takedown in each period to post a 9-3 decision.
Schaeffer (3-2) was coming off a runner-up performance in the season-opening Top Hat Tournament.
"It definitely changed the momentum and ... it definitely makes me feel better about the rest of the season,'' Gosch said.
At 138, Chris Seaman notched his first win of the season by pinning Zane Houser in 1:27. The victories by Seaman and Gosch produced nine team points for the Eagles that proved extremely valuable at the end of the night.
"Too many of our guys didn't show up to wrestle for whatever reason,'' Tri-Valley co-head coach Ty Rothermel said.
With a thin lineup that gave up three forfeits against Blue Mountain, almost everything
has to go right for Tri-Valley (0-1, 0-1) to win dual meets.
The Dawgs stars must win, and win with bonus points. The inexperienced guys must stay off their backs and save team points wherever possible.
That didn't happen.
"We're in the same boat again this year, for the most part,'' Rothermel said. "We still have some holes, and we need to capitalize where we can. If we don't, we're going to be hard-pressed against somebody who can field close to a full team and has some quality wrestlers.''
Coming off a 1-4 showing at its own P.M. Gauntlet, Blue Mountain needed any kind of a win to get things going in the right direction.
Ian Cagle (170) and Hunter Blankenhorn (106) added falls for the Eagles (2-4, 1-0 D-I). Blankenhorn improved to 9-0 with his victory.
"We wrestled a lot better tonight that we did last Friday, that's for sure,'' Blue Mountain coach J.J. Fasnacht said. "They did show up to wrestle and started off pretty tough.''
Tri-Valley (0-1, 0-1) won seven of the 10 contested bouts as Anthony Snyder (160), Sammy Hepler (113) and Kyle Stephen (120) contributed falls.
In addition, Mason White bumped up to 285 and edged Tristen Coello 5-4. White completed the winning takedown with four seconds left in the bout.
The dual featured three bouts where quality wrestlers went head-to-head. Gosch-Schaeffer was the first one.
Tri-Valley won the other two. At 152, Hunter Harner topped Lucas Forbes 5-1. Harner, a state placewinner, used a pair of first-period takedowns to top Forbes (6-3).
At 126, two-time state placewinner Caleb Bordner shut out Bryant Penberth 5-0. Bordner (4-1) used a first-period takedown and tough riding to defeat Penberth.
"Tonight was a really good stepping stone because there was no benefit of bumping around, it was our best guys versus their best guys,'' Fasnacht said. "That's going to benefit both teams.
"Those six kids who wrestled those three matches will only get better from that battle. That's what we need to do to get ready for the postseason.''
Blue Mountain 39, Tri-Valley 33
132 - J. Snyder (TV) won by forfeit; 138 - Seaman (BM) pinned Houser, 1:27; 145 - Gosch (BM) dec. Schaeffer, 9-3; 152 - Harner (TV) dec. Forbes, 5-1; 160 - A. Snyder (TV) pinned Krammes, 3:33; 170 - Cagle (BM) pinned Kroh, 3:27; 182 - Wise (BM) won by forfeit; 195 - Z. Yackenchick (BM) won by forfeit; 220 - Noecker (BM) won by forfeit; 285 - White (TV) dec. Coello, 5-4; 106 - Blankenhorn (BM) pinned Newswanger, 5:11; 113 - Hepler (TV) pinned M. Yackenchick, 1:31; 120 - Stephen (TV) pinned Bender, :54; 126 - Bordner (TV) dec. Penberth, 5-0
JV Score: None
Jr. High Score: Blue Mountain 54-40
North Schuylkill 58 Mahanoy Area 11
FOUNTAIN SPRINGS - Shane McGrath, Garet Grove and Nate Gadinski improved their records to 7-0 as the Spartans (6-1) defeated the Golden Bears (0-2) in non-league action.
Mason Madden-Edwards, Jess Wetzel, Joe Alexander, Auston Hummel and Alek Hummel raised their records to 6-1.
132 - Clark (MA) dec. Elliott, 7-3; 138 - Budnavage (NS) pinned Donelson, 1:39; 145 - Alexander (NS) maj. dec. Florio, 13-0; 152 - Witiszen (MA) dec. Price, 10-3; 160 - Grove (NS) pinned White, :49*; 170 - Au. Hummel (NS) pinned Shoup, 3:30; 182 - Fegley (MA) won by forfeit; 195 - Al. Hummel (NS) pinned A. Forte, 3:46; 220 - Tarantelli (NS) dec. B. Forte, 5-1; 285 - Gadinski (NS) dec. Blume, 5-1 OT; 106 - Madden-Edwards (NS) won by forfeit; 113 - Boyer (NS) won by forfeit; 120 - Wetzel (NS) pinned Erbe, :30; 126 - McGrath (NS) pinned Bahrey, :25
*Mahanoy Area had one team point deducted for unsportsmanlike conduct
Boiling Springs 55 Upper Dauphin 21
BOILING SPRINGS - Trey Campbell, Coy Campbell and Cheyne Oren won by fall as the Trojans (5-1) dropped a non-league decision to District 3 power Boiling Springs.
132 - Bond (BS) pinned Clowes, :26; 138 - Kostyak (BS) pinned E. Hoffman, 1:26; 145 - Shoop (BS) pinned J. Kennerly, :36; 152 - Vaughn (BS) pinned Clapp, 1:10; 160 - Wickard (BS) pinned Kerwin, :34; 170 - Murphy (BS) pinned Straub-Fisher, 1:35; 182 - Gouhin (BS) maj. dec. Zerby, 14-0; 195 - Taylor (BS) won by forfeit; 220 - T. Campbell (UD) pinned Dixon, 1:14; 285 - Davis (BS) pinned P. Kennerly, 1:08; 106 - Boyer (UD) dec. Day, 6-1; 113 - C. Campbell (UD) pinned Crum, 1:59; 120 - Oren (UD) pinned Tran, 1:40; 126 - Myers (BS) dec. D. Hoffman, 9-2
Mount Carmel 45 Danville 33
MOUNT CARMEL - Lane Tanney, Shane Gudonis, Dion Watson, Mitchell Fletcher, Blake Panko and Wesley Shurock won by fall to lead the Red Tornadoes (1-1, 1-0 HAC-II) to a Heartland Conference victory over Danville.
106 - Tanney (MC) pinned Smeltzer, 3:14; 113 - Gudonis (MC) pinned Stump, 1:28; 120 - Parker (MC) won by forfeit; 126 - Watson (MC) pinned Danneker, 1:42; 132 - Bellino (D) won by forfeit; 138 - Bloskey (D) won by forfeit; 145 - Fletcher (MC) pinned Zakarian, 1:54; 152 - Panko (MC) pinned Jones, 3:29; 160 - Not reported; 170 - Not reported; 182 - Burke (D) dec. Yancoskie, 6-0; 195 - Shurock (MC) pinned Crone, 5:31; 220 - Feldmann (D) pinned Stellar, 1:52; 285 - Campbell (D) pinned Bartos, 3:12
Midd-West 51 Shamokin 15
SHAMOKIN - Josiah Miller, Brett Rebuck and Zach Biddiscombe won bouts for Shamokin (2-2, 0-1 HAC-I) in a Heartland Conference loss to Midd-West. Rebuck and Biddiscombe pinned their opponents.
106 - No bout; 113 - Stauffer (MW) pinned Kindle, 2:56; 120 - Klinger (MW) pinned Britton, 2:57; 126 - No bout; 132 - Ettinger (MW) pinned Long, 2:30; 138 - McGlaughlin (MW) pinned Houser, 1:59; 145 - Ebright (MW) pinned Allmond, 3:00; 152 - J. Miller (S) dec. Zerby, 10-4; 160 - Rebuck (S) pinned Snook, 1:39; 170 - Tittle (MW) dec. Fisher, 5-3; 182 - Lewis (MW) pinned Aponte, 4:29; 195 - Lieberman (MW) pinned Pawelczyk, 0:35; 220 - Biddiscombe (S) pinned Longacre, 2:19; 285 - Zerby (MW) pinned A. Miller, 5:20