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WRIGHT TWP. — For 75 years, wrestlers have walked into Coughlin’s wrestling room and poured out blood, sweat and tears and racked up dozens of accomplishments.
After beating Crestwood on Thursday night, 52-19, the Crusaders program can add another milestone to the laundry list with career victory No. 700, becoming just the second team in District 2 history to reach the win total. The only other team in the district to reach that achievement is Meyers, which currently is at 730.
Both programs will merge next year to become the Wilkes-Barre Area Wolfpack.
“One of our goals this season was to get there. We got that and I’m happy for the kids,” Crusaders coach Dave Parsnik said. “I think for the people who came through the program and wrestled for the program, it’s a huge accomplishment. I think they know what it means.”
Coming out on fire, the Crusaders appeared like they weren’t going to lose.
They won the first four bouts, consisting on three falls and a major decision to go up 22-0 and set the tone for the rest of the dual. Josh Warman (106) got the meet started with a fall, followed by a pin from Tino Morrow (113), a major decision by Cooper Price (120) and another pin from Jayden Pahler at 126.
“The first match starts out with a pin, that kid turns out to be the bus driver and the other kids got fired up over that, you could see that,” Parsnik said. “Maybe they wrestled with a little more aggression and a little more excitement. So I’m all for it if we can come out and get four pins right in a row.
When 195-pounder Joe Davis won with a pin – the Crusaders’ sixth of seven on the evening — it secured the historic victory, giving the team a 43-19 lead with two bouts remaining.
“To do that (get 700 wins), you have to be consistent, have good teams year after year, you gotta have wrestlers that want to win and I think it’s a testament to the school and the tradition to the school,” Parsnik added.
The win for Coughlin (5-2 Division 1) also solidified its spot as the No. 3 seed from the Wyoming Valley Conference for the upcoming District 2 Class 3A Duals Tournament, which starts on Wednesday. The Crusaders will likely travel to Hazleton Area (6-0) to be a part of the foursome at that site along with the Cougars and two teams from the Lackawanna League that are yet to be decided.
“We’re gonna go in as the three seed and I like our chances,” Parsnik said. “I think if we wrestle like we’ve been wrestling, we can give anybody a good match.”
Meanwhile, the Comets (3-3) will have to beat Dallas (4-1) on Monday, and get help from Berwick (0-6) against Wyoming Valley West (3-3) to reach the duals event. The Spartans defeated the Comets earlier in the season and hold the tiebreaker scenario.
Crestwood, which fielded a full lineup on Thursday to get some athletes action, looked undermanned at times against the Crusaders with a young group. But there were plenty of positives.
At 145 pounds, the Comets’ Garrett Swank defeated Darren Clarke via default due to an injury in a matchup of two regional qualifiers from a year ago. Swank, who is a two-time district medalist, was beating Clarke, a district champion last year, by two points in the third period before Clarke got injured and couldn’t continue. Tyler Shaud (132), a district placewinner last year, and Michael Gavin (160) also picked up wins for the Comets.
“I think it was big for his confidence,” Comets coach Darren Testa said about the win for Swank. “You’ll see in the paper that it was injury default, but I think that match was close to an end right there. And I think we came out ahead even if it was timed out. It was two good wrestlers. Hopefully, we see him again in districts and get the same result.”
Southern Columbia 69, Lake-Lehman 3
Zach Stuart earn a 9-5 deicision over Southern Columbia’s Ian Yoder to pick up the Black Knight’s lone victory of the dual meet.
Coughlin 52, Crestwood 19
106: Josh Warman (Cou) pinned Hunter Greenberg 3:33; 113: Tino Morrow (Cou) pinned Will Bogdon :45; 120: Cooper Price (Cou) maj dec Trey Zabroski 12-0; 126: Jayden Pahler (Cou) pinned Billy Tomalinas 1:00; 132: Tyler Shaud (Cre) dec Nino Cinti 4-2; 138: Sa’id Hollis (Cou) dec Matt Gavin 10-4; 145: Garrett Swank (Cre) default Darren Clarke 5:19; 152: Jamie Pahler (Cou) pinned Nolan Stortz 3:18; 160: Michael Gavin (Cre) maj dec Warren Faust 9-0; 170: Tanner Smith (Cou) pinned Noah Meckes :20; 182: Chandler O’Farrell (Cre) won by forfeit; 195: Joe Davis (Cou) pinned Mycal Sarluca 3:19; 220: Connor Lee (Cou) dec Jeremy Buzak 9-3; 285: Aaron Warnagaris (Cou) pinned Toby Phillips 1:48
Note: Match started at 106 pounds
Southern Columbia 69, Lake-Lehman 3
106: Brady Feese (SCA) pinned Mason Konigus 4:42; 113: Kole Biscoe (SCA) pinned Jake Patla 0:28; 120: Garrett Krebs (SCA) pinned Chandler Longstrength 3:21; 126: Zach Stuart (LLH) dec Ian Yoder 9-5; 132: Patrick Edmondson (SCA) dec Bob Long 8-7; 138: Michael Miner (SCA) pinned Josh Bonomo 2:16; 145: Gavin Garcia (SCA) pinned Hunter Burke 3:19; 152: Shane Miller (SCA) dec Jake Trumbower 11-5; 160: Cade Linn (SCA) pinned Connor Morgan 1:08; 170: Brandon Gedman (SCA) pinned Tim Schechterly 0:37; 182: Tyler Waltman (SCA) dec Nick Zaboski 6-0; 195: Gaige Garcia (SCA) pinned Thomas Nalbone 1:45; 220: Preston Zachman (SCA) pinned Tj Meehan 2:38; 285: Lear Quinton (SCA) over Cole Robbinslong 1:03.
Note: Match started at 120 pounds