Sports

By Tom Robinson
Go Lackawanna sports correspondent

YATESVILLE – Western Wayne appeared to clinch its first District 2 wrestling championship with two bouts still remaining Saturday night.

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Hanover Area’s Matt Mullery gets Western Wayne’s Lucas Karnick in a fireman’s carry. Mullery went on to pin Kamick in 3:33 of the 135-pound match. The Wildcats beat the Hawkeyes 45-27 in the District 2 Class 2A Dual Meet final.

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In reality, the Wildcats were not assured of the Class 2A Dual Meet title until about a half hour after their 45-27 victory over Hanover Area.

District 2 wrestling officials needed to consult with Bradley Cashman and Robert Lombardi, the top two executives in the PIAA, for a ruling. The uncertainty came about when, with the outcome already decided, Western Wayne coach Dante Terenzio sent a wrestler out at a weight class at which referee Dwight Barbacci determined he had not properly weighed in.

The PIAA leaders ultimately determined that Western Wayne had been guilty of a wrestling rule book violation, which caused it to forfeit the six points from the final bout, but not a PIAA eligibility violation that would have meant forfeiting the match.

The Wildcats received their championship plaque and District 2’s spot in the state team tournament.

“We’ve had a couple of issues in District 2 with ineligible wrestlers below their weight descent plan,” District 2 wrestling chairman Jay Starnes said. “That’s a PIAA by-laws violation with a penalty of both the individual bout and the match.

“But, this was not a descent plan violation. It was a rule book violation.”

Kadiem Wheatle would have been legal at 171 pounds under both his descent plan and by the weight he weighed Saturday night. The problem was that he did not step forward when the 171-pound wrestlers were weighed and weighed in with those at 189.

The problem was discovered after Wheatle took a 2-0 lead in the first 49 seconds against Steven Radzwilla in the final bout of the night. The bout was stopped and Radzwilla was awarded a forfeit victory, cutting into Western Wayne’s final margin of victory, but otherwise doing no damage.

Hanover Area coach Mike Ropietski said he was not hoping for a team forfeit victory.

“There were no thoughts of that,” Ropietski said. “Western Wayne took it to us tonight.

“We definitely didn’t want to represent District 2 after that. They deserve it.”

The questions in the moments after the victory created some uneasy moments for Terenzio.

“I’m a little concerned, especially after seeing what happened in the Wallenpaupack-Honesdale match,” Terenzio said, referring to the weight plan violation that caused Honesdale to forfeit that victory.

Ultimately the results on the mat stood up.

Western Wayne took control of the final by pulling out close early decisions then “clinched” the victory when Casey Fuller and Josh Harrison put together back-to-back pins at 145 and 152.

Fuller and Harrison spent just 10:03 combined on the mat while each posting three pins in the tournament, which started with two matches Friday night.

The Wildcats won a battle of division champions from the Hawkeyes, who wrestled the tournament without 160-pounder Steve Pask, one of the team’s 20-match winners, because of an illness. Hanover Area took out defending champion Elk Lake in the semifinals Friday.

Western Wayne (14-2) opened with a 7-5 victory by Matt Rosensweet over Andrew Kaufer at 189, two forfeits and an 11-10 victory by Evan Decker over Shane Elick at 103.

“Those were big matches for us,” Terenzio said.

Ropietski knew those results represented trouble for the Hawkeyes (13-9).

“We just had an off day,” Ropietski said. “When you give up so many forfeit points and you have an off day, you can’t recover.”

The Hawkeyes put together one surge, cutting deficits of 24-3 and 30-9 to 30-21 when Matt Mullery and Garrett Wynn came through with back-to-back pins at 135 and 140.

Fuller and Harrison followed making sure that, except for consulting the PIAA by-laws, the match was over.

Ropietski said he expects his team to bounce back strong in the three weeks between now and the district individual championships.

“We’re better individually anyway,” he said.

DISTRICT 2 CLASS 2A DUAL MEET FINAL

Western Wayne 45, Hanover Area 27

189 – Matt Rosensweet (WW) dec. Andrew Kaufer, 7-5; 215 – Connor Rosensweet (WW) by forfeit; 285 – Joseph Ingaglio (WW) by forfeit; 103 – Evan Decker (WW) dec. Shane Elick, 11-10; 112 – Justin Elick (HA) dec. Zach Clookey, 13-12; 119 – Zach Jones (WW) pinned James Lukachinsky, 1:34; 125 – John Elick (HA) pinned Andy Ormiston, 1:32; 130 – Raphael Ingaglio (WW) pinned Paul Rakowski, 2:26; 135 – Matt Mullery (HA) pinned Lucas Karnick, 3:33; 140 – Garrett Wynn (HA) pinned Beau Fuller, 1:21; 145 – Casey Fuller (WW) pinned Kurt Pericci, 1:19; 152 – Josh Harrison (WW) pinned Matt Lukachinsky, 2:58; 160 – Garrett Enslin (WW) dec. David Redmond, 11-6; 171 – Steven Radzwilla (HA) by forfeit.