TUNKHANNOCK — It’s been almost two months since practice first started for the wrestling season.
At that point, both the Lake-Lehman and Tunkhannock teams had Tuesday’s date circled on the calendar. Both squads are top contenders in the Wyoming Valley Conference Division 2 and District 2 Class 2A.
Recently, the dual lost some luster with the Tigers losing standouts David Evans, Tommy Traver and Nick Marabell.
The Tigers were inspired by seeing leader and captain Traver for the first time since an accident late last week, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the Black Knights, who took advantage of three forfeits to win 43-33 and take control of the division.
“We wrestled good,” Lehman coach Jay Konigus said. “Even the guys that lost, they went out there and they could have gone either way. I’m real proud of these guys.”
The Black Knights (2-0 Division 2) took the lead from the onset with a forfeit at 132 and didn’t trail the entire dual, leading 13-0 before the Tigers (1-1) got a pin from Luke Carpenter at 152 to get on the board and trim the lead to 13-6. But Lehman then got back-to-back pins from Jake Trumbower (160) and Nick Zabowski (170) to extend the lead to 25-6.
Another big win in the first half of the dual for the Black Knights came from Hunter Burke over Gavin D’Amato at 145. Burke avenged a loss to D’Amato at the WVC Tournament earlier this month.
“Real big, especially because he took it to him,” Konigus said about Burke’s win. “I thought he looked real good. Now, the end of the season is coming up, we gotta start peaking at the end.”
The closest the Tigers came was 31-27 after 106 pounder Owen Woods pinned Mason Konigus. They got within four again after Matt Rosentel recorded a fall at 120 and one weight was left, but it was going to be a forfeit due to injuries in the Tunkhannock lineup. The youngsters stepped up for Tunkhannock as freshmen Woods, Frankie Scranta (182) and Jeff Meader (195) won as did sophomore heavyweight Jhamal Zacharias.
“I thought we wrestled well,” Tigers coach Bob Hegedty said. “I didn’t expect the outcome to be like that. The kids stepped up. They wrestled tough. We knew we were up against some of their tough kids. I think the kids got a charge when Tommy showed up. I think they liked that.”
Both teams have two more divisional meets remaining before District Duals begins on Jan. 30. The Black Knights face Meyers on Wednesday and Hanover Area on Saturday. Tunkhannock travels to Wyoming Area tonight before hosting Meyers on Jan. 23. Once the regular season wraps up both squads will be in the district duals event and might meet again. At that point, the Tigers could have state qualifier Evans back in the lineup.
“Ya think what coulda been and we talked down at Hanover during (media day) that we thought this would be a good dual,” Hegedty said. “We just had some mishaps and tough breaks. But hopefully, we get everybody back for the 22nd of February (Individual District Tournament).”
Lake-Lehman 43, Tunkhannock 33
106: Owen Woods (Tun) pinned Mason Konigus 2:46; 113: Jake Patla (LL) won by forfeit; 120: Matt Rosentel (Tun) pinned Chandler Longstrength 1:01; 126: Zach Stuart (LL) won by forfeit; 132: Bob Long (LL) won by forfeit; 138: Josh Bonomo (LL) maj dec Ethan Munley 11-2; 145: Hunter Burke (LL) dec Gavin D’Amato 8-3; 152: Luke Carpenter (Tun) pinned Connor Morgan 5:43; 160: Jake Trumbower (LL) pinned Tyler Chesla 1:33; 170: Nick Zabowski (LL) pinned Alex Pierce :20; 182: Frankie Scranta (Tun) pinned Matt Raczkowski 3:49; 195: Jeff Meader (Tun) dec Tom Nalbone 6-4; 220: TJ Meehan (LL) pinned Logan Hegedty :07; 285: Jhamal Zacharias (Tun) pinned ColeRobbinslong 3:54
Note: Match started at 132 pounds
