Wrestling tourney Saturday in Coudy

Touch Mongkonsawat (back, left), an exchange student from Muang Manet Charoen, Thailand, has broadened his experiences in the U.S. by joining the wrestling team at Coudersport Area High School. Assistant Coach Dan Cowburn is at right. Falcons host the daylong Coudersport Duals on Saturday.

Some of the region's top scholastic wrestlers are coming to Coudersport High School Saturday for the daylong Coudersport Duals, a local tradition that draws an increasingly competitive field.

For coach Thad Taylor's host Falcons, sophomore Dirk Cowburn brings a sparkling 22- 0 record into the tournament. Junior Rich Keagle is also enjoying success with an overall mark of 13-8.

Other schools competing will be Cameron County, Oswayo Valley, Wyalusing, Bradford, Clarion, Johnsonburg, Mansfield, Philipsburg-Osceola and Sheffield.

Last weekend, Coach Taylor took seven of his Falcons to the 38th annual Redbank Valley Holiday Tournament in New Bethlehem.

Cowburn repeated as the tournament champion at 152, while Keagle placed fourth at 189.

Cowburn made short work of Mike Boughner of Cochranton with a fall at 0:31. He then dominated Casey LaVan of Marion Center and Brent McCracken of Curwensville with technical falls.

That pitted him against Grove City's Craig Johnson (12-3) in the finals, where Cowburn earned a 7-4 decision.

Keagle (189) earned a firstround bye and promptly dropped Roscoe Fette of West Middlesex in the quarterfinals (0:24). He lost his next bout, but rebounded for a tight 1-0 decision over the hosts' Bryant Dean in the consolation finals before falling in the battle for third place.

Tony Capatch notched a win at 215. Also competing for Coudersport were Justin Barentine (112), Keegan DeLung (160), Ben Capatch (171) and Caleb Spring (140).

"I was pleased to see Dirk repeat as champion, while Rich improved on last year's performance to take fourth this year," Taylor said. "We're also getting a strong effort from some very new, young wrestlers."

Coudersport was coming off an exhaustive appearance in the Athens Tournament just before Christmas. There were some excellent individual performances, even as the Falcons went 0-7 in team competition.

"This was a tough tournament," Taylor said. "Jordan Long, Ben Capatch and Brandon Grabbitt all wrestled their first varsity matches of the season and will learn a lot . . . Forfeiting five weight classes makes it tough for us to win dual meets."

Cowburn, wrestling at 160, pinned three of his foes in 30 seconds or less. He also won three other matches by pin or technical fall and eked out a 6-5 win over Garrett Morgan of Athens.

Keagle had three pins and a pair of 9-7 decisions to go with two losses at 189.

Long (3-4) made his varsity debut with a pair of pins and a win by forfeit.