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HERSHEY — The top two teams from the Wyoming Valley Conference that entered into the PIAA Team Championships didn’t back down from huge challenges on Thursday.
District 2 Class 2A champion Lake-Lehman and Class 3A titlist Tunkhannock gave their best shots against some of the best competition they have seen all season.
Unfortunately, that best shot just wasn’t enough at Hershey’s Giant Center to overcome huge tasks.
Lake-Lehman started the tournament for the WVC by falling to WPIAL powerhouse Burrell 46-11. A few hours later, the Class 3A champion Tigers made their state debut and were dropped by nationally-ranked Bethlehem Catholic 56-11.
The WVC teams fell to the consolation bracket on Friday where the Black Knights will face returning state runner-up Chestnut Ridge at 8 a.m. looking to stay alive in the tournament, while Tunkhannock takes on District 12 champion Father Judge at 10 a.m.
“We gotta just wrestle and have some fun,” Lehman coach J.J. Konigus said. “We’re here, these are extra matches for us, so just have some fun. That’s what we gotta do.”
Said Tunkhannock coach Bob Hegedty on regrouping on a short turnaround: “No one’s gonna feel sorry for them that’s for sure. We gotta figure out what we have to do to win (Friday) and get right back into it.”
Sure, both teams had extremely tough opponents to start the double-elimination duals tournament. But there were plenty of positives to take.
Against the 10-time District 7 champs, Lake-Lehman lost at 11 of 14 weights, but four of those losses came against wrestlers who are ranked in the top 16 in the state at their respective weights.
One of those ranked wrestlers, Alex Moses (No. 5 at 220 pounds) was given a scare by Lehman’s Mike Slivinski. The score was tied with a few seconds remaining in the third period, but Moses was awarded a takedown at the buzzer to win 3-1.
Immediately following that match, which put the Black Knights into an insurmountable 28-0 hole, they got on the board when heavyweight Kaleb Konigus pulled out a 2-1 decision in overtime. Right after that, 106-pounder Bobby Long picked up a major decision.
Bob Lipski added a major decision at 138 pounds for Lehman to account for their three wins.
“It wasn’t all bad. There were some good parts and some bad parts,” J.J. Konigus said. “We lost to a good team. We did some things well and we didn’t do some things well. There’s some things we gotta work on and rebound. In this sport you need a short-term memory.”
The Tigers possibly gave the Golden Hawks a closer match than they expected, as they only gave up six points in last year’s win over District 2 champ Scranton. Tunkhannock won three matches with Dakota Quick (132), Mike Manley (152) and Dalton Ray (160) all winning.
“I thought we wrestled well. There’s a reason they’re ranked in the country,” Hegedty said. “They got a real tough program, tough kids and I thought our kids battled hard.”
After Ray’s win, the Tigers pulled within seven points at 18-11 at the halfway point of the dual, but Becahi flexed its muscles the rest of the way with five pins, a tech fall and a decision.
BC showed how dangerous it can be at 195 when Jodi Crouse pinned Sam Rice. The two were tied in the third period, but in an instant, Crouse turned around a reversal and quickly earned the fall.
The Hawks, who are ranked sixth in the country by InterMat, also won two matches with wrestlers who are ranked in the top six in the country, and four other bouts with grapplers ranked in the state.
“We did the best we could for what we were dealt,” Hegedty said. “We’ll go on from here and look to wrestle tough against Father Judge and see what happens from there.”
PIAA Team Championships
Class 2A First Round
Burrell 46, Lake-Lehman 11
106: Bobby Long (LL) maj dec Bryan Gaul 13-0; 113: Daniel McCarthy (Bur) dec Austin Schuler 9-2; 120: Trent Bechtold (Bur) dec Garrett Kolb 4-2, OT; 126: Ethan Awes (Bur) pinned Dylan Meehan 1:52; 132: no contest; 138: Bob Lipski (LL) maj dec Dylan Jeffrey 16-3; 160: Corey Christie (Bur) won by forfeit; 152: Damon Greenwald (Bur) maj dec Jake Tomolonis 15-5; 160: Shaun Gates (Bur) pinned Chris Hadsall 1:57; 170: Anthony Marra (Bur) dec Tommy Williams 9-4; 182: Nico Barone (Bur) pinned Kris Rosencrans 3:14; 195: Robert Scherer (Bur) pinned Charles Harry :32; 220: Alex Moses (Bur) dec Mike Slivinski 3-1; 285: Kaleb Konigus (LL) dec Phil Coutch 2-1, 3OT
Note: Match started at 152 pounds
Class 3A First Round
Beth. Catholic 56, Tunkhannock 11
106: Sean Redington (BC) pinned David Gavek 1:11; 113: Ryan Anderson (BC) pinned Josh Beeman 1:13; 120: Luke Carty (BC) tech fall Tom Bachman 21-5, 3:55; 126: Luke Karam (BC) pinned Tommy Traver 4:33; 132: Dakota Quick (Tun) maj dec Colin Redington 13-2; 138: Jarred Papcsy (BC) dec Jake Richards 3-0; 145: Stephen Maloney (BC) maj dec Bill Manley 12-1; 152: Mike Manley (Tun) dec Ryan Zeiner 5-3, OT; 160: Dalton Ray (Tun) maj dec Luc Mauro 15-4; 170: Michael Labriola (BC) tech fall Jarrod Bernosky 15-0, 2:00; 182: Adam Soldridge (BC) pinned Josh Flaherty 3:09; 195: Jodi Crouse (BC) pinned Sam Rice 4:24; 220: Jase Crouse (BC) dec Ricky Stevens 4-0; 285: Niko Camacho (BC) pinned John Walsh :41
Note: Match started at 120 pounds