The result was another tense bout, arguably his most tense of the young 2024-25 season.

Though Guenot made it difficult for him to score points, Kunes brought the same composure he harbored at Williamsport on Saturday. And whenever he got an opportunity to scrape something together, starting the third period on bottom with the score still knotted at 0-0, he was able to get Guenot off him just before carrying him out of bounds, earning an escape point and carrying it into a 1-0 decision.

That win would set the tone for the Wildcats. And while Bald Eagle managed a quick response, Central Mountain would respond right back with 33 unanswered points, winning 11 of the 13 matches on the night and earning its most dominant win over the Eagles since 2018 by a score of 51-9.

“I thought whoever won that match would really get some momentum going for their team,” said Central Mountain head coach Biff Walizer on that match at 127. “And Kunes wrestled really well, with a lot of confidence. He did what he had to do to get the win against a tough opponent and that really got our guys excited.”

TIM WEIGHT/Special to the Sun-Gazette Central Mountain sophomore Patrick Tarantella works for a takedown during the team's dual match against Bald Eagle Area on Tuesday. Central Mountain won 51-9.

Indeed, it did.

Two matches later, with the Wildcats trailing 5-3, fellow sophomore Patrick Tarantella would build on that momentous win.

With takedowns near the midway points of the first and second periods and an escape to start the third, he’d build up a 7-3 lead over No. 13 Dawson Lomison. Then, amidst a crucial scramble with the clock winding down, he’d remain just composed enough to keep Lomison from completing a comeback, winning the match by decision, 8-6.

That evened their high school matchup record at 1-1, with Lomison previously defeating Tarantella, 11-4, back in January.

“They have a little history from their youth and last year, Lomison got him in the Midwinter Mayhem tournament,” affirmed Walizer. “Patrick looked really good. His offense is on point; defense looks solid. Pleased with his effort as well.”

TIM WEIGHT/Special to the Sun-Gazette

“But everybody’s doing what we’ve been working on in the room and it showed in their success up here,” he added.

If Kunes’s win established the spark, Tarantella’s seemed to ignite it.

No. 2 Dalton Perry and Luke Ananea would follow him up with first-period pins, with Ananea’s coming in under 30 seconds, as Central Mountain’s one-point lead grew to 13 in the blink of an eye.

From there, the Wildcats would switch back-and-forth between securing quick pins edging out close decisions.

Dalton McDermott (172), Bryce Brungard (189) and Collin Bauman (121) upped their pin total to five on the night, with pins making up 30 of their 51 points on the night. And freshmen Dakoda Parker-Edwards (160) and Kai Fravel (215) scraped out tight decisions, with Parker-Edwards taking a page out of Kunes’s book and carrying an early third-period escape to the finish line and Fravel earning his 5-4 win by way of last-minute reversal.

TIM WEIGHT/Special to the Sun-Gazette Central Mountain freshman Kai Fravel gets his hand raised after a decision victory at 215 during the team's 51-9 win at Bald Eagle Area on Tuesday.

“A lot of those matches were dogfights. They just happened to go our way tonight,” said Walizer on the match overall. “We were unsure because we have some young guys in the lineup for the first time, but they’re wrestling with some maturity. They’re coachable and going out and fighting hard, and that’s all we could ask for.”

While the score indicated complete dominance on Tuesday night, as Walizer indicated, that didn’t tell the complete story. Central Mountain’s five pins arguably clinched the match for the team, but its five decisions arguably could’ve gone the other way and kept things interesting.

That’s an aspect of the match that Bald Eagle can look to as a positive, coupled with strong bonus-point victories for juniors Caden Judice and Gage Gardner and the fact that it did a decent job despite missing standout Caleb Close, who’s been dealing with the flu.

“They won the toss-up matches that we knew were going to be close matches and that’s how you win dual meets,” said Bald Eagle Area head coach Ron Guenot.

“Anytime you wrestle Central Mountain, you need to be ready to wrestle and I don’t think we were. They took it to us; we really didn’t respond very well in certain areas, and we just need to go getter better starting tomorrow.”

TIM WEIGHT/Special to the Sun-Gazette Central Mountain head coach Biff Walizer and graduate Griffin Walizer look on as Kai Fravel and BEA's Kyle Watson during the teams' dual match at Bald Eagle Area on Tuesday. Central Mountain won 51-9.

With the loss, Bald Eagle (1-1) drops down to .500 after a strong start and will look to bounce back at a tough Dandy Duals tournament on Saturday, a tournament that’s set to feature two state-ranked Class AA teams in No. 12 Towanda and No. 16 Montgomery.

“We have a couple days of practice before we go to Dandy Duals Saturday, where we get six matches,” said Guenot. “Just got to learn from our mistakes and what we need to do to get better, that’s the biggest takeaway.”

Similarly, the going doesn’t get easier for Central Mountain (1-0), who will face Shikellamy for match two of three of its current road stretch, a team coming off a win over AA No. 4 Warrior Run and close losses to Montgomery and AAA No. 8 State College.

“We didn’t do ourselves any favors with the scheduling here in the early season. Our December’s pretty rough,” said Walizer. “It’s all about preparing for the end of the season, so we’re going to be battled tested.”

That match is set for 7 p.m.

TIM WEIGHT/Special to the Sun-Gazette Central Mountain's Aiden Kunes attempts to slam down Bald Eagle's Tanner Guenot during the teams' dual match at Bald Eagle Area on Tuesday. Central Mountain won 51-9.

Central Mountain 51, Bald Eagle Area 9

127: Aiden Kunes (CM) dec. Tanner Guenot (BEA), 1-0. 133: Caden Judice (BEA) tech fall Luke Garman (CM), 18-1 (3:51. 139: Patrick Tarantella (CM) dec. Dawson Lomison (BEA), 8-6. 145: Dalton Perry (CM) pinned Easton Grimes (BEA), 1:49. 152: Luke Ananea (CM) pinned Wyatt Knepp (BEA), :26. 160: Dakoda Parker-Edwards (CM) dec. Chayse Kellander (BEA), 1-0. 172: Dalton McDermott (CM) pinned Brody Gardner (BEA), 2:31. 189: Bryce Brungard (CM) pinned Austin Stire (BEA), 1:40. 215: Kai Fravel (CM) dec. Kyle Watson (BEA), 5-4. 285: Gage Gardner (BEA) maj. dec. Hayes Henry, 11-1. 107: Cael Dorman (CM) dec. Tyler Corey (BEA), 14-7. 114: Gavin Heverly (CM) won by forfeit. 121: Collin Bauman (CM) pinned Liam Purcell (BEA), 4:56.

Records: Central Mountain 1-0; Bald Eagle Area 1-1.