FRIDAY FEBRUARY 19 2016

CENTREDAILY.COM

Sports

MLB RETURNS
PHILLIES PITCHERS,
CATCHERS
REPORT TO SPRING
TRAINING, 2B

HIGH SCHOOL WRESTLING

Penns Valleys Decker

hopes hard work pays off
. ....................................................................

District 6 Class AA wrestling

tournament starts Friday
morning
. ....................................................................

Senior earned No. 2 seed at 138

pounds
. ....................................................................

Former Ram, Corey Hazel, has

made big impact on program
. ....................................................................

PSU HOCKEY

Seniors
built
solid
program

1B

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BY NATE COBLER

ncobler@centredaily.com

Ask any champion, no matter

the sport, what it takes to get to
that level.
They will likely respond with
one word.
Work.
In the sport of wrestling, athletes have to be willing to put in
the extra time to reach the top of
the mountain. That mountaintop
for a high school wrestler is

standing on the podium at the

PIAA tournament with a gold
medal around his neck.
Penns Valleys Curtis Decker
knew that he had to change his
mentality coming into this season.
Coach (Joel) Brinker always
says, Decker explained, you
have to wrestle each match like
its the state finals. Looking back
on last year, I dont think I took
every match like the state final. I
was just happy to make it there
again. This year Im not going to

be happy getting there again. Im

not going to be happy unless I get
on that podium so I just have to
have a different mindset.
Deckers journey much like the
rest of his Ram teammates begins on Friday with the District 6
Class AA tournament. The tournament begins at 10:30 a.m.
inside Altoona High Schools
Fieldhouse.
For some kids, Brinker said,
theyve been training for a large
portion of their life and the offseasons and stuff. They have
really high goals to go deep into
the postseason. Others, they
want to win as many matches as
they can in the postseason to see
how they stack up against some
of the best kids in the district.
Decker is one of those kids
who has been training a large
portion of his life for this moment.
Ive put pretty much my
whole life into this, he said. I
want to come out on top, espe-

cially this season. Ive practiced

more than I ever have. Ive put in
morning workouts. I just really
need to make the hard work pay
off.
Brinker knows what to expect
from his senior. He said he has
been a tremendous asset to the
Ram program.
Hes always done anything
thats been asked of him for the
better of the team, Brinker said.
Hes a great kid. His academics
are really important. Hes a great
student-athlete. You want to see
a kid like that fulfill all his goals
in the postseason and its his last
crack at it.
Decker, who is 29-2 on the
year and the No. 2 seed at 138
pounds, said his former teammate Corey Hazel sparked him to
become even better. Decker
became Penns Valleys all-time
wins leader this season by passing Hazel, who set the record last
SEE WRESTLING, 4B

Making

GAINS
. ......................................................................................

.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Nittany Lions host

Ohio State on Friday,
Saturday

Senior guard Ben Alexander didnt play

basketball until sixth grade
. ......................................................................................

Alexander has been key member of 17-4

Rams

..................................................

. ......................................................................................

8 seniors to be honored
Saturday

Penns Valley plays Juniata in District 6

Class AA playoffs on Friday

. .......................................................

. ......................................................................................

PSU still in strong standing

for NCAA tournament
. ...............................................................

BY GORDON BRUNSKILL

gbrunskill@centredaily.com

There is a special moment in

Pegula Ice Arena, before each
Penn State hockey game, that
Tommy Olczyk is going to miss
perhaps more than any other.
As players from both teams
skate a few turns around the ice,
with the lights in the building
turned down and the music
cranked up, the Roar Zone
student section shouts We are
and the rest of the arena responds, Penn State!
That still gives me chills,
Olczyk said. I think those chills
will multiply this weekend knowing its my last time doing it.
Saturday afternoon will be the
final time Olczyk, and seven
other seniors, get to experience
that while in uniform.
The No. 15 Nittany Lions (188-4, 8-5-1-1 Big Ten) host Ohio
State (8-16-2, 3-7-2-1) at 6:30 p.m.
Friday and 3 p.m. Saturday for
the last home games of the season.
Senior Days are always meaningful, special and emotional,
no matter the school, but this
octet of men hold special significance. Penn State has been a
Division I program for just four
years. They were on the ground
floor in creating the program.
Theyve been everything to
this program, assistant coach
Matt Lindsay said Monday.
Theyre the guys that came here
when this arena didnt exist and
we werent in the Big Ten, and
there were a lot of question
marks about what Penn State
hockey was going to be, how long
it was going to take to get there.
These are all guys that really
believed in what the university
was doing and what the hockey
program was going to be.
Not only has Olczyk been here
for all four seasons, he even
spent a year with the Icers club
program before the transition.
But all of them including
captain David Glen, Kenny
Brooks, Luke Juha, Curtis Loik,
Connor Varley and Matthew
Skoff stepped into a program
that played its first season under
SEE HOCKEY, 4B

BY JOHN MCGONIGAL

jmcgonigal@centredaily.com
SPRING MILLS

He never participated in a youth league,

took part in three-on-three with friends or
even played a game of HORSE.
Not until sixth grade, the first time he
picked up a basketball.
A few years later, he could dunk.
It didnt come naturally, but basketball has grown on Ben Alexander,
and as Penns Valley boys basketballs season has progressed, so has the senior.
The Rams (17-4) begin
their postseason push, playing Juniata (15-6) at Tyrone
on Friday in the second
round of the PIAA District 6
Class AA playoffs. Penns
Valley, the brackets No. 3 seed,
received a first-round bye.
The Rams have had a nearflawless season, with a pair of
losses to Clearfield and one
each to Berwick and Bellwood-Antis as the only hiccups on their record.
The Rams have won six of
their past seven, thanks in large
part to the emergence of Alexander, not just as a defensive and
athletic nuisance, but also a threat
to score from anywhere on the floor.
Its been an impressive evolution,
considering Alexanders season-ending
injury last year and a total disinterest in
basketball, really, prior to high school.
For Alexander, before basketball, there
was football.
I would say football is my favorite
sport, Alexander said. Theres something about football. When I was a little
kid, it was something I was drawn to. I
kind of came to love basketball, but football was my first love.
Alexander, a wide receiver and dangerous kick returner, played flag football
in fourth grade and moved up to tackle
football in seventh, all the while admiring the Pittsburgh Steelers and their
pass-catchers.
Years ago it was Mike Wallace, and
now its Antonio Brown two players
known for breaking off the big play.
Thats how Alexander plays the game,
too.
This year, he had three touchdowns
one receiving, one interception, one
SEE GAINS, 4B