Hazleton Area’s Gabe Benyo reverses Abington Heights’ Dakota Sandy in the Class 3A 114 pound championship bout.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
Wilkes-Barre Area’s James McKeown ties up Pittston Area’s David Krantz in the Class 3A 107-pound championship.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
Hazleton Area’s Jude Salko gets caught in a cradle applied by Abington Heights’ Mason Whitney in the 133 pound Class 3A championship bout.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
PLAINS TWP. — This time last year, the Benyo brothers were on the outside looking in, deemed ineligible to compete at the District 2 Wrestling tournament as freshmen at West Scranton.
One year and a change of scenery later, and they’re both champions.
Gabe Benyo and Jake Benyo went back-to-back at 114 and 121 pounds to win two of Hazleton Area’s three District 2 Class 3A titles on Saturday, helping lead the Cougars to a third-place finish in the team standings.
Wallenpaupack captured the Class 3A team title for a third year in a row, with Abington Heights right behind them.
Hazleton Area was the best-performing WVC team in the field by total points, and the Cougars were able to put two titles away right out of the gate.
Gabe Benyo grinded out a 3-2 decision over Dakota Sandy of Abington Heights in the 114 final, and Jake Benyo scored a tech fall over West Scranton’s Santino Aniska in the 121 final.
“Last year we were suspended, it was a pretty good feeling to win this year,” Jake Benyo said. “I was pretty happy, I love competing.”
“It’s pretty cool,” Gabe added. “I was a little nervous, it was my first district tournament.”
Mason Marolo repeated as champ at 189 pounds to make it three Hazleton Area district titles, tying them for the most of any Class 3A team with their WVC foe Pittston Area.
Ethan Aftewicz won the 152 title, Brody Spindler won at 215 pounds for the second straight year and Noah Gruber closed the door on the weekend with a dominant performance to win the 285 title.
Chasing his first district title as a senior, Gruber wasn’t trying to waste time this weekend: his four wins all came by pinfall in under a minute, including a championship-sealing victory in just 20 seconds.
“I figure the more I play around, the more of a chance there is for them to stick me instead,” Gruber said. “I’m as fresh as I could be right when we first start, so why take it any longer then it needs to be?”
Spindler earned Most Outstanding Wrestler honors for his work in clinching the 215 title, winning the gold with a win over Tyler Gallo of Abington Heights by pinfall in the first period.
Hazleton Area finished just three points behind Abington Heights in the team standings, with the Patriots just seven and a half points behind them.
Wilkes-Barre Area finished fifth and Crestwood in seventh, both schools winning one district championship on Saturday.
James McKeown won the very first one up for grabs, scoring a tech fall in the 107 championship over Pittston Area’s David Frantz to win a title for Wilkes-Barre Area.
“I was feeling a little nervous, I was hyped up,” McKeown said. “When I took him down that first time, I knew I had the match.”
Micah Engelman won Crestwood’s lone gold at 145 pounds with a 15-0 tech fall. It was his second straight tech fall of the tournament, though the two wins were secured in very different ways.
In his semifinal match with Wilkes-Barre Area’s Teagen Butler, Engelman trailed 8-1 late in the first period before flipping the match on its head.
He scored six points in the final 20 seconds of the opening period, then outscored Butler 17-1 the rest of the way before the early stoppage on points.
These four WVC schools accounted for all 18 of the conference’s qualifiers for the Class 3A Northeast Regionals tournament next weekend at Bethlehem Liberty High School.
Hazleton Area and Wilkes-Barre Area will send six wrestlers each, Pittston Area will send four and Crestwood will have two wrestlers in the regional field.
DISTRICT 2 CLASS 3A BOYS WRESTLING
Team Standings — 1. Wallenpaupack (WAL) 186; 2. Abington Heights (AH) 178; 3. Hazleton Area (HAZ) 175; 4. Pittston Area (PA) 167.5; 5. Wilkes-Barre Area (WBA) 151.5; 6. Delaware Valley (DV) 135.5; 7. Crestwood (CRE) 84; 8. West Scranton (WS) 81; 9. Scranton (SCR) 55; 10. North Pocono (NP) 35.5; 11. Wyoming Valley West (WVW) 25; 12. Nanticoke Area (NAN) 8.5.
Championship Round
107 — James McKeown (WBA) tech. fall over David Krantz (PA) 15-0; 114 — Gabe Benyo (HAZ) dec. over Dakota Sandy (AH) 3-2; 121 — Jake Benyo (HAZ) tech. fall over Santino Aniska (WS) 15-0; 127 — Brady Full (AH) tech. fall ocer Ayden Blaut (WAL) 17-1; 133 — Mason Whitney (AH) tech. fall over Jude Salko (HAZ) 18-1; 139 — Drew Leonori (SCR) dec. over Drew Churchill (DV) 6-2; 145 — Micah Engleman (CRE) tech. fall over Chace Berry (AH) 15-0; 152 — Ethan Aftewicz (PA) dec. Lucas Drake (AH) 2-1; 160 — Tommy Schechterly (WS) tech. fall over Liam Evanko (WBA) 17-2; 172 — Gabriel Caufield (WAL) dec. over Gene Ardo (WBA) 6-1; 189 — Mason Marolo (HAZ) tech. fall over Mariusz Bibla (CRE) 17-2; 215 — Brody Spindler (PA) pinned Tyler Gallo (WAL) 1:07; 285 — Noah Gruber (PA) pinned Altamir Terry (WBA) 0:20.
Third-Place Matches
107 — Greg Nalesnik (WAL) pinned Jake Gluchowski (WVW) 1:37; 114 — Zion Colon (DV) pinned Mikel Roman (PA) 4:09; 121 — Declan Brown (WAL) pinned Angelo Cosentino (DV) 1:42; 127 — Carlo Salinas (WBA) maj. dec. over Tibor Toth (PA) 13-0; 133 — Giovanni Lomonaco (WAL) pinned Jahiem Butler (PA) 1:26; 139 — Kyle Scartelli (WAL) dec. over Braghan Pallis (AH) 9-3; 145 — Teagen Butler (WBA) dec. over Chase Baron (PA) 8-6; 152 — Logan Pop (HAZ) tech. fall over Hunter Konschnik (CRE) 19-4; 160 — Tristan Braxton (WAL) dec. Tyler Youngcourt (HAZ) 9-7 TB2; 172 — Jaxson Johnson (HAZ) won by med. forfeit; 189 — JJ Segal (DV) pinned Jake Rafferty (WAL) 3:32; 215 — Frank Scialpi (AH) pinned Joshua Magnotta (NP) 1:52; 285 — Mikey Seltzer (DV) pinned Austin Gottstein (SCR) 2:25.
Semifinals
107 — David Krantz (PA) pinned Greg Nalesnik (WAL) 1:19; James McKeown (WBA) tech. fall over Jake Gluchowski (WVW) 16-1.
114 — Gabe Benyo (HAZ) pinned Mikel Roman (PA) 1:25; Dakota Sandy (AH) tech. fall over Zion Colon (DV) 15-0.
121 — Jake Benyo (HAZ) pinned Jayson Sanchez (WBA) 0:37; Santino Aniska (WS) dec. over Declan Brown (WAL) 8-5.
127 — Brady Full (AH) tech. fall over Tibor Toth (PA) 15-0; Ayden Blaut (WAL) maj. dec. over Carlo Salinas (WBA) 13-3.
133 — Mason Whitney (AH) tech. fall over Jahiem Butler (PA) 17-1; Jude Salko (HAZ) dec. over Giovanni Lomonaco (WAL) 8-2.
139 — Drew Leonori (SCR) maj. dec. over Braghan Pallis (AH) 14-5; Drew Churchill (DV) dec. over Kyle Scartelli (WAL) 5-3.
145 — Micah Engelman (CRE) tech. fall over Teagen Butler (WBA) 24-9; Chace Berry (AH) maj. dec. over Chase Baron (PA) 14-4.
152 — Ethan Aftewicz (PA) pinned Sawyer Jones (WAL) 1:18; Lucas Drake (AH) tech. fall over Logan Pop (HAZ) 18-3.
160 — Tommy Schechterly (WS) pinned Tyler Youngcourt (HAZ) 0:51; Liam Evanko (WBA) pinned Tristan Braxton (WAL) 5:45.
172 — Gene Ardo (WBA) dec. over Nathan Wisniewski (CRE) 7-5 UTB; Gabriel Caufield (WAL) pinned Jaxson Johnson (HAZ) 3:09.
189 — Mariusz Bibla (CRE) dec. over JJ Segal (DV) 12-9 SV; Mason Marolo (HAZ) pinned Jake Rafferty (WAL) 0:34.
215 — Brody Spindler (PA) pinned Joshua Magnotta (NP) 2:24; Tyler Gallo (WAL) dec. over Frank Scialpi (AH) 7-5.
285 — Altamir Terry (WBA) dec. over Austin Gottstein (SCR) 7-5; Noah Gruber (PA) pinned Mikey Seltzer (DV) 0:40.
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