DALLAS TWP. — Normally, the wrestling duals with division championship ramifications are held in late January as the regular season winds down.
On Wednesday night, Dallas hosted Hazleton Area in a key Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 meet between two of the favorites in the division.
Turned out that the Cougars made it seem like the dual should have been held in mid-December all along with a very impressive 54-18 rout of the Mountaineers.
“Wow,” Cougars coach Keith Maurer said. “They must have been saving (points) for tonight because I don’t know what to say. All my guys gave me 100 percent tonight. I hope this continues is all I have to say. For December, we wrestled very, very well.
“Coming into this I made it very clear to our guys this was a big match. When you look at this match on paper, I don’t think anybody would’ve had us winning by this much. I thought this was going to be a very close match.”
In two weeks, Hazleton Area (2-0 Division 1) has knocked off perhaps its top two threats in the division after beating Crestwood last week and outscoring the two opponents 108-27 to make an early-season statement. But, Maurer said, the season is a long way from being over.
“There’s still a lot of teams out there with quality wrestlers,” he said. “Don’t count Valley West out, Coughlin. Those guys are definitely going to have something to say about this before it’s all said and done.”
The Cougars won 10 of the 12 contested bouts with six of those 10 being wins via pin. After Dallas’ Steven Newell got the meet started with a fall giving the Mountaineers (1-1) a 6-0 lead, the Cougars got pins from Jayson Brielmeier (195), Seth Hunsinger (220) and Shane Noonan (285) to jump out to a 18-6 lead.
Noonan, a returning state qualifier, bumped up to heavyweight and gave up 40 pounds to Dallas’ defending District 2 champion Shawn Henniger in one of the key bouts of the night.
With a second-period reversal, Noonan took a 2-0 lead into the third period. Henniger chose down to start the third, but couldn’t get out and ended up getting trapped and pinned win 55 seconds left in the match.
“That was a big challenge,” Maurer said. “Shane’s a trooper and he’ll do anything for the team. Giving up 40 pounds, that is a difference, but he stayed with the game plan.”
The teams countered forfeits at 106 and 113 before the Cougars reeled off four straight wins, including pins from Jorven Rodriguez (126) and Christian Kislin (132). Charles Everdale added a fall for the winners at 152.
Dallas’ only other win came from last season’s district runner-up Thaddeus Mead, who pinned Devin Youngcourt at 145.
Both teams will now have a three-week break from duals. That’s what Dallas needs to regroup from the tough loss. The team participates in the Buckskin Classic individual tournament next weekend to get ready for the WVC Tournament Jan. 4-5 then will travel to Nanticoke on Jan. 9.
“They took it to us today and that happens sometimes,” Dallas coach Mike Richards said. “It went kinda the way I thought it would with the exception of two or three matches, which we didn’t win which I thought we could win.
“It’s evident after tonight that we got a lot of work to do in the room. We’ll have a good week of practice to get some of that stuff ironed out before we start back wrestling. I think we’ll be OK. We just have to get a little mentally tougher and wrestle to our capability. If we do that, we’ll be OK.
Hazleton Area heads to the Bethlehem Holiday Wrestling Classic next weekend and faces Coughlin on Jan. 9.
Wyoming Valley West 39, Nanticoke Area 34
The Spartans overcame a 34-3 deficit to edge Nanticoke Area.
Down 34-33 heading into the final bout, Wyoming Valley West 145-pound grappler Matt Giza pinned his opponent in 1:28 to finish off the comeback.
Ian Rachford, Zack Capie, Cadden Kucek, J.J. White and David Krokowski also picked up pins en route to the comeback for the Spartans. Nanticoke’s Collin Kurdrako-Kashatus, Adam Eckart, Zack Pelton, Isiah Johnson and Seth Pelton all secured pins.
Coughlin 60, Berwick 23
Joshua Warman, Matthew Chase, Said Hollis, Jamie Pahler, Tanner Smith and Connor Lee all picked up pins for the Crusaders.
Berwick’s Nick Yule and Oscar Perla each pinned their opponent whicle JJ Snyder picked up a tech fall in 5:02.
Hazleton Area 54, Dallas 18
106: Kyle Langan (Dal) won by forfeit; 113: Johnny Corra (Haz) won by forfeit; 120: Beck Hutchison (Haz) dec Justin Benscoter 2-0; 126: Jorven Rodriguez (Haz) pinned Liam Farrell 1:39; 132: Christian Kislan (Haz) pinned Sawyer Christman 4:52; 138: Stephen Martisofski (Haz) dec Ben Yanchick 7-1; 145: Thaddeus Mead (Dal) pinned Devin Youngcourt 1:30; 152: Charles Everdale (Haz) pinned Nick Solinsky 2:17; 160: Bryce Molinaro (Haz) dec John Betzko 9-3; 170: Jake Marnell (Haz) dec Lenny Kelley 7-4; 182: Steven Newell (Dal) pinned Dante Matarella :47; 195: Jayson Brielmeier (Haz) pinned Matt Ferrara 5:00; 220: Seth Hunsinger (Haz) pinned Taylor Bolesta 4:28; 285: Shane Noonan (Haz) pinned Shawn Henniger 5:05
Note: Match started at 182 pounds
