DALLAS TWP. — After a weekend of wrestling out of town, Dallas and Wyoming Valley West opened their Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 schedule on Wednesday night.
The Mountaineers are one of the favorites to finish atop the division, while the Spartans are one of the teams that will give everyone they meet a handful.
The Spartans showed that they’re going to be a tough out every time as they jumped out to a 20-point lead, but Dallas proved why its a strong contender in the division overcoming the deficit and winning the dual 45-29 thanks to wins in eight of the last 10 weights.
“I knew going into this match that we were going to have the advantage in the upperweights on them, but you still gotta go out and get the job done,” Dallas coach Mike Richards said.
Valley West’s team consists of a few of the best lightweights in the entire district.
The Spartans used that to open a 20-0 lead over Dallas as Cadden Kucek (120 pounds) won by decision, and J.J. White (126) and David Krokowski (132) followed with falls. White and Krokowski are returning district champions, while Kucek took third at districts last season.
“Our strength is the bottom half of our lineup. We hope to open big on people down there and kinda cruise control through the next couple weights,” Spartans coach Ryan Vassello said. “But I thought all in all they wrestled really well.”
Even though Dallas has some of the best upperweights in District 2, Richards was certainly worried getting in a big hole early.
“You go over all the strategies and you say ‘yeah we’re going to be down this,’ but it’s never comfortable when you’re down 20,” Richards added. “Because now you’re hoping that the things you want to happen are going to happen. They don’t always happen. It’s not a good feeling when you’re down 20 hoping to get pins because pins aren’t guaranteed in wrestling.”
Perhaps the biggest swing of the dual came at 138 when Dallas’ Ben Yanchick got his team’s first points of the night with a fall over Justin Hargrave.
The pin came after Hargrave took the first shot of the bout and almost grabbed a takedown, but Yanchick turned that into a takedown of his own and eventually the pin.
“That’s one thing about Ben is that he’s a very tough kid,” Richards said. “You think you have him and next thing you know, you’re in a bad position. He finds a way to make a bad position good. I don’t know how he does it sometimes, but he’s very hard to predict because he’s just so wild.”
From there, the Mountaineers reeled off wins in the next six matches.
Thaddeus Mead held on for a two-point win over Matt Giza at 145. Nick Solinsky (152), John Betzko (160), Lenny Kelley (170) and Steven Newell (195) all recorded pins. Kelley’s (20 seconds) and Newell’s (10 seconds) happened so quickly that the score jumped from a 21-20 Dallas lead to 39-20 in an instant. Mead was district runner-up last year, while Newell and heavyweight Shawn Henniger were district titlists. Kelley and Betzko were fourth-place medalists at districts.
“I knew it would be a battle up there to be honest with you,” Vassello said. “But I didn’t expect some of our guys to give up bonus points. I thought we could go with them at 52 and 60, but bonus points kills you in a match like that. You gotta keep it close.”
David White from the Spartans pulled out a 4-2 win in overtime against Taylor Bolesta at 220, while the Mountaineers’ Henniger closed out the win with a pin at 285.
Valley West will stay in the area this weekend and make the track across the Market Street Bridge to participate in the X-Calibur Tournament on Saturday and Sunday at Wilkes University.
Despite the loss on Wednesday, Vassello still has goals for his team and is looking for a rebound this weekend.
“I hope they go wrestle confident, get a couple wins underneath their belt,” Vassello added. “I hope to get a couple guys moving on to the second day and go from there.”
Dallas travels to Penn Manor High School for a tournament before returning home next Wednesday for another Division 1 showdown against fellow D1 favorite Hazleton Area.
Lake-Lehman 42, Benton Area 39
The Black Knights beat Benton Area by three points on Tuesday night.
Lake-Lehman was paced by Bob Long, Josh Bonomo, Connor Morgan and Thomas Nalbone, who all registered pins in the win. The Black Knights had three grapplers win by forfeit.
Dallas 45, Wyoming Valley West 29
106: Ian Ratchford (WVW) won by forfeit; 113: Zander Remakus (WVW) won by forfeit; 120: Cadden Kucek (WVW) dec Justin Benscoter 8-1; 126: J.J. White (WVW) pinned Sawyer Christman 1:32; 132: David Krokowski (WVW) tech fall Liam Farrell 15-0, 2:51; 138: Ben Yanchick (Dal) pinned Justin Hargrave 1:29; 145: Thaddeus Mead (Dal) dec Matt Giza 7-5; 152: Nick Solinsky (Dal) pinned Jayden Watkins 2:38; 160: John Betzko (Dal) pinned Jaylon Brunson 2:56; 170: Lenny Kelley (Dal) pinned Jaden Swainbank :20; 182: Brian Novicki (Dal) won by forfeit; 195: Steven Newell (Dal) pinned Darius Redguard :10; 220: David White (WVW) dec Taylor Bolesta 4-2, OT; 285: Shawn Henniger (Dal) pinned Manny Selever 2:47.
Note: Match started at 113 pounds
Lake-Lehman 42, Benton Area 39
106 — Mason Konigus (LLH) won by forfeit; 113 — Zach Kremer (BAH) pinned Jake Patla (LLH); 120 — Mason Smith (BAH) pinned Chandler Longstrength (LLH); 126 — Gable Strickland (BAH) dec Zach Stuart (LLH) 9-3; 132: Bob Long (LLH) pinned Caden Temple (BAH); 138 — Josh Bonomo (LLH) pinned (BAH); 145 — Hunter Burke (LLH) won by forfeit; 152 — Connor Morgan (LLH) pinned Michael Mason (BAH); 160 — Nolan Lear (BAH) pinned Patrick Depiero (LLH); 170 — Nick Zaboski (LLH) won by forfeit; 182 — Kaleb Michael (BAH) pinned Tim Schechterly (LLH); 195 — Thomas Nalbone (LLH) pinned Kian Naus (BAH); 220 — Teagan Benner (BAH) pinned Chris Traver (LLH); 285 — Zach Poust (BAH) pinned Tj Meehan (LLH).
