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DALLAS TWP. – It was a week ago when Hazleton Area was stunned by Tunkhannock in its own home gym.

The Cougars were supposed to be the favorite to claim the undisputed Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 title after picking up the WVC Tournament team title. But the Tigers halted those dreams.

Hazleton Area used the setback as a fire-starter.

“It fueled us,” Hazleton Area senior and returning state runner-up Jimmy Hoffman said. “We lost to them around the same time last year and we came back and worked hard in the room. Except this time we’ll be able to finish it off. It’s all about the mindset.”

The Cougars sure looked in the right mindset on Wednesday night as they handed Dallas its first divisional loss with a 43-27 victory at Dallas Area High School.

On paper, before the dual started, the score didn’t seem that far away. But Cougars (4-1) coach Keith Maurer and his assistants, put together a gameplan that decided the outcome before the match started.

The staff decided to weigh-in normal 170-pounder Shane Noonan a tenth of a pound over. That meant he weighed in at 182 and could also wrestle at 195. With the strategy, Maurer was able to bump his sophomore away from Dallas (4-1) standout Xavier Barber, who defeated Noonan earlier this month at the WVC Tournament. It resulted in a possible 10 point swing as Noonan won by major decision at 195 over Moustafa Almeky, while Barber was awarded a forfeit at 182.

“Things kinda fell on our lap,” Maurer said. “We thought weighing in Noonan a little heavy gave us our best shot at winning this match. I hate to forfeit to Barber there, but Dallas was still in the match at that time. If I send him out there, bad things could happen.”

Sure, that was a big swing in points, but there was no stopping the Cougars on this night. They raced out to a 33-0 lead winning the first six weights. Charles Everdale (120), Jayson Brielmeier (138) and Hoffman all had falls in that run. Anthony Martoccio (132) grabbed a technical fall and Chris Lasecki (126) added a major decision to get the team off to a fantastic start.

“We didn’t wrestle well against Tunkhannock,” Hoffman added. “But we went in the practice room, did what we need to do there and showed tonight how hard we’ve been working out.”

Even when Dallas’ heart of the order came up in the middle and upper weights, the Cougars were ready. The Mountaineers’ Alec Sampson defeated Jeremy Aquino at 160, but only by decision; Dallas needed a fall. Steven Newell won by pin at 170 and Barber’s forfeit at 182 got Dallas within 33-18. The Mountaineers also could have used a win at 220 with Shawn Henninger, but Maurer was able to bump up his normal 195-pounder and 100-win wrestler Carson Kinney, who won by pin.

Everything just fell the Cougars’ way.

With Tunkhannock’s 40-29 win over Coughlin on Wednesday, the Tigers (3-0) are now the only unbeaten team in Division 1. The Mountaineers and Cougars are both hoping for a Dallas win on Tuesday when Dallas travels to Tunkhannock. In that scenario, there would likely be a three-way tie for the division championship and the No. 1 seed for the District 2 Class 3A Duals Tournament, which begins on Feb. 1.

“If we beat them, then the wrestling gods and the conference gods can determine who’s going to be first,” Dallas coach Mike Richards said. “It’ll be a headache for them, but it doesn’t matter to me. I’ll wrestle whoever. I’d like to just be in there and beat the Lackawanna League. That’s all I care about.”

Tunkhannock 40, Coughlin 29

Jake Stevens at 195 and Jake Stephens at 220 recorded consecutive falls, starting a night of six pins that carried the Tigers to victory.

David Evans at 106, David Gavek at 113, Gavin D’Amato at 120 and Tom Traver at 138 also picked up pins for Tunkhannock.

Taylor Chronowski recorded a pin at 160 for the Crusaders.

Meyers 63, Nanticoke Area 18

Jeremy Bergold began the match with a major decision, starting the Mohawks off on a night of constant bonus points.

Caden Strobel at 113, Sufyan Burroughs at 145, Colin Browne at 182, Lucas Borum at 195 and Preston Perkins at 285 recorded pins for Meyers, while Kevin Huertero also recorded a technical fall at 132.

Crestwood 52, Wyoming Valley West 26

Liam Stone recorded a pin 79 seconds into the match, triggering a run of four consecutive falls that propelled the Comets to victory.

Stone’s takedown came in the 182-pound match, then Ryan Black at 195, Paul Ashton at 220 and Shane O’Rourke at 285 followed with falls for Crestwood.

Saige George at 160 and Justin Lukashewski at 170 also won by pin for the Comets.

Lake-Lehman 38,

Hanover Area 37

After dropping two of the first three matches, Lake-Lehman was able to bounce back and beat Hanover Area.

Robert Long, Austin Schuler, Garrett Kolb and Robert Lipski all pinned their opponents to give the Black Knights six points a piece.

Hanover Area was paced by Joe Rawley, Jeff Bennett, Zakee Nettles, JJ Hooper and Tom Mercadante. Rawley, Bennett, Nettles, Hooper and Mercadante all registered pins during the meet.

Lake-Lehman 57, Wyoming Area 12

Kaleb Konigus won an ultimate tiebreaker, 4-3, in the 285-pound battle, triggering the Black Knights’ victory in a match held Tuesday.

Brenden Boston at 106, Matt Galasso at 126, Garrett Kolb at 132, Rodney Driscoll at 145, Jarrett Cummings at 152 and TJ Meehan at 195 all recorded pins for Lehman.

Hazleton Area 43, Dallas 27

106 — Liam Farrell (DAL) won by forfeit; 113 — Jake Maurer (HAZ) won by forfeit; 120 — Charles Everdale (HAZ) pinned Ben Yanchick, 2:57; 126 — Chris Lasecki (HAZ) maj. dec. Kade Kravits, 12-2; 132 — Anthony Martoccio (HAZ) tech. fall Matt Maransky, 16-0, 4:47; 138 — Jayson Brielmeier (HAZ) pinned Nick Solinsky, 4:48; 145 — Jimmy Hoffman (HAZ) pinned John Betzko, 2:25; 152 — Lenny Kelly (DAL) decc Jake Marnell, 8-3; 160 — Alec Sampson (DAL) dec. Jeremy Aquino, 7-0; 170 — Steven Newell (DAL) pinned Dallas Solomon, 0:53; 182 — Xavier Barber (DAL) won by forfeit; 195 — Shane Noonan (HAZ) maj. dec. Moustafa Almeky, 15-2; 220 — Carson Kinney (HAZ) pinned Shawn Henninger, 3:52; 285 — Danny Burkhart (DAL) dec. Travis Kostyal 4-2

Note: Match started at 113 pounds

Tunkhannock 40, Coughlin 29

106 — David Evans (TUN) pinned Nino Cinti, 4:29; 113 — David Gavek (TUN) pinned Jamie Pahler, 5:59; 120 — Gavin D’Amato (TUN) pinned Joe Rey, 2:45t; 126 — Jake Brown (COU) won by forfeit; 132 — Josh Beeman (TUN) dec. Pat Clarke, 5-1; 138 — Tom Traver (TUN) maj. dec. Josh Brown, 13-3; 145 — Joe Pahler (COU) tech. fall Kurtis Christ, 15-0; 152 — Frank Castano (COU) dec. Anthony Carl, 11-4; 160 — Taylor Chronowski (COU) pinned Chris Franko, 1:59; 170 — Jake Cole (COU) won by forfeit; 182 — Conner Munley (TUN) dec. David Virgo, 6-4; 195 — Jake Stevens (TUN) pinned Conner Lee, 2:57; 220 — Jake Stephens (TUN) pinned Chris Malys, 3:10; 285 — Corey Harrison (COU) dec. John Walsh, 4-0.

Note: Match started at 170 pounds

Meyers 63, Nanticoke Area 18

106 — Zach Capie (NAN) won by forfeit; 113 — Caden Strobel (MEY) pinned Megan Kocher, 1:27; 120 — Bryan Huertero (MEY) won by forfeit; 126 — Colin Pasone (MEY) won by forfeit; 132 — Kevin Huertero (MEY) tech. fall Chris Maute, 17-1 5:45; 138 — Collin Kashatus (NAN) pinned Carson Kosloski, 0:37; 145 — Sufyan Burroughs (MEY) pinned Sean Campbell, 1:21; 152 — Isaiah Johnson (NAN) pinned Zach Capinas, 0:52; 160 — Jeremy Bergold (MEY) maj. dec. Adam Eckhart, 10-1; 170 — Chris Martinez (MEY) won by forfeit; 182 — Colin Browne (MEY) pinned Seth Pelton, 1:21; 195 — Lucas Borum (MEY) pinned Shane Repasky, 0:20; 220 — Namir Murphy (MEY) won by forfeit; 285 — Preston Perkins (MEY) pinned Sheik Ali, 0:57

Note: Match started at 160 pounds

Crestwood 52, Valley West 26

106 — Matt Giza (WVW) pinned Hunter Greenberg, 2:41; 113 — Justin Hargrave (WVW) won by forfeit; 120 — JJ White (WVW) dec. Jordan Miale, 8-3; 126 — David Krokowski (WVW) tech. fall Tyler Shaud, 16-0, 5:09; 132 — Garrett Swank (CRE) tech. fall Cole Santee, 16-1, 5:06; 138 — Landon Stanislow (WVW) pinned Chris Kremski, 0:55; 145 — Sergei Scaramestro (CRE) won by forfeit; 152 — Ron Grevera (CRE) tech. fall Brett McDermott, 17-2, 2:27; 160 — Saige George (CRE) pinned David White, 1:38; 170 — Justin Lukashewski (CRE) pinned Tyler Williams, 1:25; 182 — Liam Stone (CRE) pinned Seth Decker, 1:19; 195 — Ryan Black (CRE) pinned Sean Mikovitch, 5:54; 220 — Paul Ashton (CRE) pinned Damian Davies, 2:42; 285 — Shane O`Rourke (CRE) pinned Matt Nogin, 0:22

Note: Match started at 182 pounds

Lake-Lehman 38, Hanover Area 37

106 — Joe Rawley (HAN) pinned Brenden Boston; 113 — Robert Long (LL) pinned Josselin Meyer; 120 — Austin Schuler (LL) pinned E.J Murphy; 126 — Garrett Kolb (LL) pinned Jared Banesh; 132 — Jeff Bennett (HAH) pinned Matt Galasso; 138 — Rodney Driscoll (LL) dec Daniel Erickson 4-2; 145 — Robert Lipski (LL) pinned Stephen Dule; 152 — Zakee Nettles (HAN) pinned Jarrett Cummings; 160 — Noah Rakowski (HAN) maj dec Jake Tomolonis 11-2; 170 — Thomas Nalbone (LL) won by forfeit; 182 — JJ Hooper (HAN) pinned Chris Hadsall; 195 — Tom Mercadante (HAN) pinned Jesse Tomolonis; 220 — Jerimya Stonier (LL) won by forfeit; 285 — Nick Hannon (HAN) defeated Kaleb Konigus.

Note: Matched started at 195 pounds

Lake-Lehman 57, Wyoming Area 12

106 — Brenden Boston (LL) won by forfeit; 113 — double forfeit; 120 — Austin Schuler (LL) won by forfeit; 126 — Matt Galasso (LL) pinned Robin Wrobleski; 132 — Garrett Kolb (LL) pinned Tyler Martin; 138 — Antonio Franzone (LL) won by forfeit; 145 — Rodney Driscoll (LL) pinned Charlie Banashefski; 152 — Jarrett Cummings (LL) pinned Nick Semanek; 160 — Corey Mruk (WA) dec. Jake Tomolonis, 8-4; 170 — Justin Joseph (WA) pinned Thomas Nalbone; 182 — Jaryn Polit-Moran (WA) dec. Elmer Souders, 6-3; 195 — TJ Meehan (LL) pinned Adam Buczynski; 220 — Jerimya Stonier (LL) won by forfeit; 285 — Kaleb Konigus (LL) ult. tiebreaker Damon Barhight, 4-3

Note: Match started at 170 pounds

Hazleton Area’s Chris Lasecki, top, controls Dallas’ Kade Kravits in the 126-pound bout.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/web1_TTL011917WREST-HAZ-Dallas_spt_1.jpg.optimal.jpgHazleton Area’s Chris Lasecki, top, controls Dallas’ Kade Kravits in the 126-pound bout. Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader

Hazleton Area’s Anthony Martoccio, left, controls Dallas’ Matt Maransky in the 132-pound bout.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/web1_TTL011917WREST-HAZ-Dallas_spt_2.jpg.optimal.jpgHazleton Area’s Anthony Martoccio, left, controls Dallas’ Matt Maransky in the 132-pound bout. Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader

Dallas’ Len Kelley, left, wrestles with Hazleton Area’s Jake Marnell in the 152-pound bout.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/web1_TTL011917WREST-HAZ-Dallas_spt_3.jpg.optimal.jpgDallas’ Len Kelley, left, wrestles with Hazleton Area’s Jake Marnell in the 152-pound bout. Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader

Dallas’ Alec Sampson, back, wrestles Hazleton Area’s Jeremy Aquino in the 160-pound bout.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/web1_TTL011917WREST-HAZ-Dallas_spt_4.jpg.optimal.jpgDallas’ Alec Sampson, back, wrestles Hazleton Area’s Jeremy Aquino in the 160-pound bout. Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader

By Dave Rosengrant

For Times Leader

Reach Times Leader sports at 570-829-7143 or on Twitter @TLSports