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HERSHEY — More times than not, a tough opening-round loss can ruin a wrestler’s entire tournament. Especially at the PIAA Championships.
When Hanover Area’s D.J. Erickson and Lake-Lehman’s Kaleb Konigus lost their first bouts at the Class 2A PIAA Championships on Thursday morning, they didn’t let it bother them.
Erickson, a 145-pounder, and Konigus, who wrestles at 285, bounced back on Thursday afternoon after losses earlier in the day at Giant Center to remain in medal contention. With at least two more wins on Friday, the Wyoming Valley Conference standouts will be guaranteed a medal.
“Don’t really change anything because it seems to be working,” Konigus said. “You’re coming off a win, so just keep that confidence and energy moving forward.”
Konigus, a senior, lost a heart-breaker in his preliminary round match, 3-2, to Mount Pleasant’s Cody Vokes. The match went to the ultimate tiebreaker with Konigus needing to rideout Vokes for 30 seconds.
Even though Konigus did that, he was hit with his second stall call at the buzzer and Vokes walked out as the winner.
“I thought I had him there. I was a little iffy on that stall call in the last second,” Konigus said. “I was on his ankles for a good four seconds. I blame myself mostly because I should have crawled up and got to his hips, but I didn’t do that. So it’s partly my fault too.”
After a break of about three hours, Konigus was able to regroup and prepare for an elimination match. He then went out and defeated Emmanuel Lawal from Church Farm School, 1-0, on a third-period escape to stay in the hunt for a medal. Konigus will take on Union City’s Matt Long in the second round of consolations, which begin at 9 a.m. Friday.
“I got a win under my belt at states, which is a pretty big thing around here,” Konigus said. “So to end on a good note today, I just need to make sure to follow through with it the next two days.”
Erickson’s opener against Lucas Christman, from Palmerton, was a rematch from earlier in the season when the Hawkeye junior won by fall. This time around, Christman wasn’t going to get stuck. After picking up five back points in the second period to take a 5-0 lead, Christman frustrated Erickson by staying away in the third period while in neutral and even running around the mat.
“I just gotta forget about that and put it in the back of my mind. I’ll see him again and this time I’ll get him,” Erickson said. “Him running away from me, that’s a little frustrating because he’s not doing anything at the end.”
That loss just made Erickson mad. And when he stepped on the mat for his consolation bout against Muncy’s Coleman Good, he made quick work of his opponent.
For the second time in two weeks, Erickson defeated Good.
Unlike the regional quarterfinal, Erickson piled up 10 points before pinning Good in the third period. Last weekend at the Northeast Regional Tournament, Erickson won 1-0.
“I know I can place this year so I just gotta keep wrestling tough,” Erickson added. “When I’m not confident in myself, that’s when I lose. But when I am confident, that’s when I win.”
Erickson, who won a match last year at the tournament, faces Thomas Spirk from Saucon Valley in the next consolation round looking to improve on his performance from 2017 and get a medal.
“Going out there now, I got a statement to make. I still have two more to win to get on the medal stand and more to get all the way back to third,” Erickson said. “It’s something I just gotta keep doing.”
Avoca resident Ivan Balavage, a Scranton Prep senior, and Western Wayne senior Cole Fuller were both winners in their first match of the day on Thursday morning.
Lackawanna Trail’s Owen Hivner, who won a regional title last weekend, lost a close 8-7 decision in his first match and dropped to the consolations. He had a bye in the first consolation round.
Valley View’s Brandon Judge remained in medal contention with a win and a loss, while Western Wayne’s Braden McIntosh, was the only D2 wrestler eliminated going 0-2.
