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The Wellsboro Hornets traveled to Blossburg on Thursday, January 8th to take on the North Penn-Liberty Panthers in NTL wrestling action.

The Match kicked off at 285 pounds with Owen Covert taking on Justin Kriner. Kriner struck first with a two-point take down. He didn’t hold the lead for very long, as Covert got the quick two-point reversal and rode out the match to take the victory 3-2.

After five North Penn-Liberty wins by forfeit, Wellsboro sent out Vincent DeRita to face Dewey Wise at the 145 weight class. Wise had an early takedown and followed it up with a near fall. Wise finally took full control later in the match and pined DeRita at 1:30 to give the panthers a 36-3 advantage.

At 152 pounds, Jack Chambers of the Hornets took on Jake Myers of the Panthers. Myers got a quick takedown for an early 2-0 lead, before Chambers tied it up with a two-point reversal. An easy escape put Myers back up 3-2. Chambers swapped the score again with a takedown for a 4-3 lead. Myers would regain the lead moments later as he got a reversal followed by a near fall to give him five more points putting him up, 8-4. There was a scary moment in the following moments as Chambers got flipped and landed awkwardly. He was okay and finished the match. After the change of period, Myers scored an escape to give him a commanding 9-4 lead. Chambers wasn’t affected by the momentum swing as he scored a takedown that lead to a pin at 3:10. 

The Panthers took the next four matches by forfeit to go up 56 to 9, heading into the final match.

The final match of the night was at 220 pounds. The Hornet’s Kaleb Smith took on the Panther’s Patrick Ross. Ross went up first with a takedown, but Smith escaped quickly to cut the lead to 2-1. Later in the match Smith slammed Ross to the ground for a takedown, which quickly turned into a near fall for Smith and a reversal by Ross. Smith took the final leap ahead with an escape, winning the match 5-4.  

Even with the win from Smith, the Hornets were still defeated, 56-12.

The Hornets are back in action Tuesday as they take on Canton at 7 P.M. in the old high school gym.