Noah Gruber of Pittston Area throws Abington Heights’ Dane Wheeler en route to a pin in the 285 pound match at Saturday’s District 2 Class 3A Wrestling Duals championship.
Buck Norton-Jennings | For Times Leader
Brody Spindler of Pittston Area attempts to escape from Frank Scialpi of Abington Heights in the 215 pound match at Saturday’s District 2 Class 3A Wrestling Duals championship.
Buck Norton-Jennings | For Times Leader
Comets 189-pounder Ayden Kane wastes no time pinning Pittston Area’s Anthony Marx-Alaimo.
Buck Norton-Jennings | For Times Leader
Jack Kotchick of Abington Heights rolls CJ Bradley of Pittston Area.
Buck Norton-Jennings | For Times Leader
Pittston Area’s Johanzel Mendez goes over the top of Lucas Drake of Abington Heights, looking for points.
Buck Norton-Jennings | For Times Leader
Abington Heights 152-pounder Brady Full collects back points on Ethan Aftewicz of Pittston Area.
Buck Norton-Jennings | For Times Leader
Mason Whitney of Abington Heights rolls Jahiem Butler of Pittston Area en route to a Comets pin.
Buck Norton-Jennings | For Times Leader
CLARKS SUMMIT — Abington Heights combined dominant performances with clutch efforts Saturday afternoon to defeat visiting Pittston Area 44-21 in the title match of the District 2 Class 3A Dual Meet Wrestling Championships.
The Comets got an early boost from Lucas Kareha, who scored the last two points on escapes to defeat David Krantz 5-3 at 114 pounds, the first bout to be decided on the mat.
Abington Heights won six straight bouts from 139 to 189 to extend a three-point lead to 44-12 and clinch the victory early. That stretch included two first-period pins, two second-period technical falls, a major decision and a victory in the day’s tightest bout.
Technically, the deciding point of Lucas Drake’s 3-2 victory at 152 was the result of a penalty on Ethan Aftewicz with 16 seconds left in the ultimate tiebreaker after three overtime periods left the two deadlocked.
In reality, Drake earned the deciding point. After extending the match on an escape in the third overtime, he was about to break free again. The only way for Aftewicz to hang on was a desperate move that involved an illegal locking of his hands.
“It was a forced mistake because Lucas put him in that position to have to do that,” Abington Heights coach Greg Theony said. “He knew he couldn’t let him go.”
For much of the rest of the day, the Comets were too much for the Patriots.
“Props to Abington,” Patriots coach Dave Krantz said. “They put together a helluva squad. They’re always tough competitors.”
There were three forfeits, two by the Patriots and one by the Comets, as the coaches maneuvered their lineups to try to get the right matchups.
“We knew if we got the toss of the coin, which we did, that that was going to make us a lot more comfortable than we were going to be otherwise,” Theony said.
Pittston Area won just one of the first eight bouts decided on the mat before a Brody Spindler decision at 215 and a Noah Gruber 28-second pin at 285 after the championship had been determined.
Tibor Toth had the other Patriots win with a first-period pin at 133.
Pittston Area reached the final as the fifth seed in the eight-team tournament by avenging its two Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 losses Wednesday night when it beat both Wilkes-Barre Area and top-seeded Hazleton Area.
“I’m super proud of this team,” Krantz said. “I know things didn’t work out here the way we’d want, but winning those two matches and getting to the finals was super important for the team.
“As coaches, we couldn’t ask for anything more from them. They wrestled hard; they wrestled aggressive; we just came up short.”
Consolation final
Third place came down to the final seconds of the final bout when, after being put on his back briefly, Rocco Emilio from Wallenpaupack rolled through and locked up Jeremy Ziller for a pin in 1:49 and a 33-32 victory over Hazleton Area.
The Cougars had leads of 17-6, 26-20 and 32-24 before the Buckhorns won the final two bouts.
Gabe Benyo won in 32 seconds at 121 to give Hazleton Area its first lead. Tyler Youngcourt broke a tie later with another first-period pin at 160. Cade Hutchinson had the team’s other pin at 114.
Jacob Benyo won by technical fall at 127 and Lan Pop won a decision by shutout at 152.
CONSOLATION SEMIFINALS
Hazleton Area started the day with a 40-30 victory over Delaware Valley in the consolation semifinals while Wallenpaupack was defeating Wilkes-Barre Area 50-22.
Gabe Benyo’s first 32-second pin of the day started the Cougars back from an 18-0 deficit after three bouts.
Jude Salko (133) and Youngcourt (160) had the other pins for Hazleton Area. Jake Benyo (127), Pop (152) and Mason Marold (189) won technical falls.
Marold put Hazleton Area ahead, then Scott Mooney won it in the final bout with an 11-0 decision of Ethan Capo.
Jaxon Johnson won a decision at 172.
Trayton Luton’s technical fall at 107 and James McKeown’s pin at 114 gave Wilkes-Barre Area an 11-6 lead.
The only Wolfpack points the rest of the way came from a pin by Liam Evanko at 160 and a technical fall by Teagan Butler at 145.
DISTRICT 2 CLASS 3A FINAL
Abington Heights 44, Pittston Area 21
107 – Mikel Roman, PA by forfeit; 114 – Lucas Kareha, AH dec. David Krantz, 5-3; 121 – Dakota Sandy, AH pinned Tim Riefler, :38; 127 – Brady Full, AH by forfeit; 133 – Tibor Toth, PA pinned Jason Beck, 1:13; 139 – Mason Whitney, AH by tech. fall over Jahiem Butler, 18-1, 3:10; 145 – Chace Berry, AH dec. Chase Baron, 17-6; 152 – Lucas Drake, AH, dec. Ethan Aftewicz, 3-2, ultimate tiebreaker; 160 – Coen Holland, AH by forfeit; 172 – Jack Kotchick, AH tech. fall over Johanzel Mendez, 22-6, 4:00; 189 – Ayden Kane, AH pinned Anthony Marx-Alaimo, :14; 215 – Brody Spindler, PA dec. Frank Scialpi, 4-1; 285 – Noah Gruber pinned Dane Wheeler, :28.
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