CHAMBERSBURG — Unfortunately for Spring Grove, when it came down to the final bout, Chambersburg had its ace in the hole waiting.
The Trojans got a pin in 1:11 from Frank Barrientos at 285 pounds on Tuesday night at CASHS Field House to wrap up a 37-29 non-league victory over the Rockets.
Frank Barrientos
Barrientos, now with a 23-5 record, scored his 19th pin by catching Oliver Rumbaugh in a tight headlock at the mat’s edge and squeezed him for the fall. Spring Grove had just gotten back-to-back pins from Connor Grubb and Chase Boose to make it a 31-29 score and give them a chance, but Barrientos closed the door.
“I could see it was going to come down to my match,” the Trojan junior said. “I was going for the pin (not playing it safe); just go out and do my thing. Whether I got a headlock or not, I just wanted to have some fun. And our team is having a lot of fun this year.”
The win boosts the Trojans’ record to 7-2, with 6 dual meets left to try to move them up higher than their current No. 9 ranking in District 3. The district team championships begin next Tuesday.
“If we had won at 189 (and clinched it), I was going to put Jude Grillo — one of our seniors on senior night — in for Frank,” Chambersburg coach Matt Mentzer said. “So we put him in 215 instead, having a lot of confidence on Frank in the last match. Jude had a (2-0) lead at 215, but he got caught (by Boose) in a move (Petersen) that he probably hasn’t been in before.”
The Trojans built an 18-9 lead through 133 on the strength of a pin by Cody Seabolt over 24-bout winner Ryder Linker at 114, a forfeit, and a pin at 127 from Zach Sherman — who has had a pretty good run recently. He generated his 100th career win two weekends ago (he now has 104) and he announced he will go to Pitt-Johnstown next year to extend his wrestling career.
The 139-pound bout was the banger of the night, a physical, back-and-forth battle between the Trojans’ Ashton Romberger and Jack Rohrbaugh of Spring Grove. Rohrbaugh led 8-7 after two periods thanks to a couple of cradles, but Romberger escaped to start the third, then got a takedown and a 4-point nearfall, and ended up with a 16-10 win.
Then came a run of three straight technical falls, by the Rockets’ Davis Baum (15-0) at 145, by Logan Mickey of Chambersburg (17-0) at 152, and by the Trojans’ Zethan Sleighter (23-5) at 160, leaving Chambersburg in front, 31-14.
Spring Grove (10-8) won three straight, starting with a tight 3-1 win by Chase Amspacher over Isaiah Tasker at 172, to bring it to the final bout.
Mentzer said, “Spring Grove is a good traditional wrestling program, and we knew we’d be seeing a lot of cradles, headlocks and bars. That’s one reason we have them on our schedule because they’ll give us good matches. And we knew they had some good kids who would score some points on us.”
NOTES: Chambersburg wrestles at Shippensburg on Wednesday … The Trojans finish their dual meet season at the Rumble in the Jungle duals tournament at Red Lion on Saturday, facing the Lions, Muhlenburg, New Oxford, Bermudian Springs and Lower Dauphin … The pairings for the District 3 team event will be finalized Sunday morning.
Chambersburg 37, Spring Grove 29
107 — Ezra Henning (SG) d Isaac Brambley, 15-10
114 — Cody Seabolt (Ch) p Ryder Linker, 3:46
121 — Brayan Gonzales (Ch) won by forfeit
127 — Zach Sherman (Ch) p Darryn Gross, 3:18
133 — Andrew Eyster (SG) p Ethan Pazkowski, 3:24
139 — Ashton Romberger (Ch) d Jack Rohrbaugh, 16-10
145 — Davis Baum (SG) tf Justin Deneen, 15-0, 2:58
152 — Logan Mickey (Ch) tf Alfonzo Riveria, 17-0
160 — Zethan Sleighter (Ch) tf Tanner Culp, 23-5, 4:38
172 — Chase Amspacher (SG) d Isaiah Tasker, 3-1
189 — Connor Grubb (SG) p Jaccob Stoner, 2:37
215 — Chance Boose (SG) p Jude Grillo, 2:45
285 — Frank Barrientos (Ch) p Oliver Rumbaugh, 1:11