Pine Grove's Scout Frantz (285) works for the fall against Schuylkill Haven's Triston Davis during their 285-pound bout Wednesday night. Frantz pinned Davis in 1:36. At left is referee Sam Julian. (Photo by Bob Lipsky)

PINE GROVE — Pine Grove keeps climbing the ladder.

Evident in their aggressiveness and improving technique, the Cardinals overwhelmed Schuylkill Haven 69-6 on Wednesday night in a Schuylkill League Division II boys’ wrestling dual meet.

“We’ve been wrestling better every week,” Pine Grove co-head coach Paul Frantz said. “We wrestled really well last weekend at (the) Ephrata (Duals) against some good schools. We’ve just got to keep our eye on the prize until districts and keep climbing.”

Pine Grove (12-4, 2-0 D-II) scored the first takedown in 8-of-9 contested bouts and led 15-2 in takedowns overall. Working high-percentage technique — armbars, cradles, half nelsons on top — Chase Nagle (121), Taylor Enge (127), Drew Hikes (133), James Hoy (139), Aaron Osatchuck (152), Izzy Miller (172) and Scout Frantz (285) posted falls for the Cardinals. At 189, the Cards’ Logan Troup scored a takedown with 10 seconds left in the match to defeat Bryce Reber 10-7.

For Schuylkill Haven (3-5, 1-2), Trayten Hasenauer (107) won by fall in the first bout of the night.

Pine Grove has had solid wins over Souderton, Twin Valley, Central Dauphin East, Camp Hill, Garden Spot and Ephrata this season. The Division II title will be decided when the Cardinals visit Tri-Valley on Jan. 21 and travel to Mahanoy Area on Jan. 27. Pine Grove won last season’s Division II crown, its first division title since going back-to-back in Division I in 1999-2000 and 2000-01.

When Frantz and Josh Hewes took over three seasons ago, the Pine Grove program — perennially one of the area’s best — was in the midst of a down period. The Cardinals had five straight losing seasons and went 25-58 before the coaching change.

Pine Grove improved to 9-7 in their first season together, then 13-6 last season. So far, Frantz and Hewes have guided the Cardinals to a 34-17 overall record. Certainly, several levels remain to be reached before Pine Grove can beat state-ranked teams, but the results prove the program is trending in the right direction.

The Cardinals started one senior, eight juniors, two sophomores and two freshmen against the Hurricanes.

“Just confidence and belief that the boys can wrestle,” Paul Frantz said of the turnaround. “My first year of coaching was when all the boys were freshmen. Now they’re juniors. So they’re gaining that confidence. They’re more confident with their skill set and more confident that they can wrestle with better competition. That’s been the key. We haven’t changed anything of who we are. I have a lot of old Pine Grove (wrestlers as) coaches that are in the (practice) room and helping. We just needed bodies in the room to believe in it and show up to practice.

“The plan is to keep pushing this thing and hopefully we’ll climb that mountain,” Frantz added. “The boys have been picking it up. They’re very enthusiastic to come out here and wrestle in front of everybody. They like home matches, obviously, to be in front of their home crowd and perform like they did tonight.”

Pine Grove 69, Schuylkill Haven 6

107 — Hasenauer (SH) pinned Witherow, 1:02

114 — Levan (PG) won by forfeit

121 — Nagle (PG) pinned Benulis, 1:42

127 — Enge (PG) pinned Holtke, 1:20

133 — Hikes (PG) pinned Wildermuth, 2:16

139 — Hoy (PG) pinned Costenbader, 1:18

145 — Wolfgram (PG) won by forfeit

152 — Osatchuck (PG) pinned Krammes, 3:44

160 — A. Frantz (PG) won by forfeit

172 — Miller (PG) pinned Javorka, :24

189 — Troup (PG) dec. Reber, 10-7

215 — Z. Kurtz (PG) won by forfeit

285 — S. Frantz (PG) pinned Davis, 1:36

Tri-Valley 42, Williams Valley 31

TOWER CITY — Landon Horoschak (152) scored a pin as Tri-Valley (12-3, 3-0 D-II) defeated Williams Valley in a Division II dual meet. Owen Wolfgang (107) picked up a forfeit for the 99th win of his career.

Magnus Monger (121), David Dotson (160), Elisha Weiss (215) and Camron Green (285) notched falls for the Vikings (3-15, 0-4).

In a featured bout at 172, Williams Valley’s Colin Crisswell topped Hunter Updegrave 6-2.

107 — Wolfgang (TV) won by forfeit

114 — Moore (TV) won by forfeit

121 — Monger (WV) pinned G. Leitzel, 1:02

127 — Bossler (TV) won by forfeit

133 — Gill (TV) won by forfeit

139 — Bruso (TV) won by forfeit

145 — Tennis (WV) maj. dec. Kimmel, 17-5

152 — Horoschak (TV) pinned Afandor, 1:43

160 — Dotson (WV) pinned R. Schwartz, 3:53

172 — Crisswell (WV) dec. Updegrave, 6-2

189 — Masser (TV) won by forfeit

215 — Weiss (WV) pinned Bowman, 1:15

285 — Green (WV) pinned Keeth, 3:25

Blue Mountain 56, Tamaqua 12

ORWIGSBURG — Thomas Herring (152), Owen Woll (160), Dylan Foose (215) and Vaughn Helverson (285) earned falls to power Blue Mountain past Tamaqua in a Division I dual meet.

The fall was the 99th of Woll’s career.

The Eagles (10-7, 2-1 D-I) also got a 9-6, sudden-victory decision from Saul Recinos over Francis Hill at 145.

Brody Schlier (139) led Tamaqua (1-14, 0-3) with a technical fall. In a featured bout at 114, the Blue Raiders’ Rylan Reitz won by major decision, 11-3 over Caden Fenstermacher.

107 — Freed (BM) won by forfeit

114 — Reitz (T) maj. dec. Fenstermacher, 11-3

121 — Wakefield (T) dec. F. Witman, 10-5

127 — Bossons (BM) won by forfeit

133 — Brobst (BM) won by forfeit

139 — Schlier (T) tech. fall Macy, 15-0, 4:00

145 — Recinos (BM) dec. Hill, 9-6 SV

152 — Herring (BM) pinned Cerimele, :12

160 — Woll (BM) pinned Hartman, :10

172 — Whalen (BM) won by forfeit

189 — Frey (BM) won by forfeit

215 — Foose (BM) pinned Garcia, 3:18

285 — Helverson (BM) tech. fall Behun, 16-1, 4:13

Pottsville 51, Panther Valley 6

LANSFORD — Brayden Tokonitz (160), Kaiden Renn (172), Terrell McFarland (189) and Jacoby Hay (285) notched pins as Pottsville cruised past Panther Valley in a Division I dual meet.

Cole Daubert (133), Colin Kline (145) and Corbin Evans (152) added wins by technical fall for the Crimson Tide (6-10, 2-0 D-I).

Ixsaiah Bracero won by fall for the Panthers (0-10, 0-3).

107 — Bracero (PV) pinned Lutsky, 4:22

114 — Cook (P) won by forfeit

121 — No bout

127 — Smith (P) won by forfeit

133 — Daubert (P) tech. fall Matula, 15-0, 4:34

139 — No bout

145 — Kline (P) tech. fall N. Rolon, 17-2, 2:42

152 — Evans (P) tech. fall Moore, 18-2, 3:46

160 — Tokonitz (P) pinned C. Rolon, 4:22

172 — Renn (P) pinned Zarsky, :34

189 — McFarland (P) pinned Vazquez-Matta, :07

215 — No bout

285 — Hay (P) pinned Blose, :42

Schuylkill League Boys’ Wrestling

Through games of Jan. 14

DIVISION I

DIVISION II

Girls’ Wrestling

Upper Dauphin 54, Newport 24

ELIZABETHVILLE — Cambrie Herb (100), Layla Smith (118), Jada Dillard (136), Maggie Hoffman-Long (148), Jacelyn Henninger (155) and Chloe Ratcliffe (190) scored falls to lead Upper Dauphin (6-0, 3-0 TVL) to a Tri-Valley League victory over Newport (4-5, 2-1).

100 — Herb (UDA) pinned Meck, :39

106 — Kell (N) pinned Hoover, :30

112 — Imler (N) pinned Gannunis, :28

118 — Smith (UDA) pinned Otstott, :54

124 — Teeter (UDA) won by forfeit

130 — Snyder (UDA) won by forfeit

136 — Dillard (UDA) pinned Barr, 1:43

142 — Stauffer (N) pinned Clark, 2:33

148 — Hoffman-Long (UDA) pinned Crockett, :42

155 — Henninger (UDA) pinned Crowell, :31

170 — Eisenhart (N) pinned Latshaw, 1:43

190 — Ratcliffe (UDA) pinned Miller, 2:21

235 — Eure (UDA) won by forfeit