Hazleton Area’s Johnny Corra (left) rides Delaware Valley’s Connor Crescimanno during the 113-pound bout in the District 2 Class 3A Duals Championship held Saturday at Pittston Area High School. Crescimanno won by fall to help turn the match toward the Warriors.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
Click here to subscribe today or Login.
Delaware Vallay’s Preston Machado sets up the pin on Hazleton Area’s Oscar Zamudio (front) in the 132-pound match.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
Hazleton Area’s Jake Marnell tightens up his pinning combination on Deleaware Valley’s Hayden Mead in the opening match at 182 pounds.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
Hazleton Area’s Dante Matarella shortened his 195-pound bout by pinning Delaware Valley’s Matt Daub.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
Delaware Valley’s Travis Norman (top) sets up a pin with a cradle on Hazleton Area’s Nate Altmiller in the 120-pound bout Saturday.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
YATESVILLE — Over the previous 13 years, either Hazleton Area or Delaware Valley has emerged as the District 2 Class 3A Duals champion 10 times.
Entering Saturday at Pittston Area, it was definitely going to be 11 out of 14 years for the district powerhouses as they met for the third time in the last four years with the title on the line.
Hazleton Area jumped out to an early lead, but couldn’t get any separation. Delaware Valley picked up eight wins — with six being bonus-point victories — in a 42-27 win over the Cougars. Hazleton Area could only manage three bonus-point wins of the team’s five victories.
“It’s great to have a rivalry with Hazleton. They’re always tough. They’ve always got good individuals,” Delaware Valley coach Lou DeLauro said. “And it feels good to be leaving here this year on the plus side.”
“They came to wrestle, and it’s what every coach preaches — bonus points, bonus points, bonus points,” Hazleton Area coach Keith Maurer said. “On paper, I thought we were the underdog. I thought we needed to win the toss. We won the toss and controlled what we needed to do up top. But coming back through, they’re tough there. And through the middle, they physically handled us.”
The Warriors, who won the district title for the second time in three years, advance to the PIAA Team Championships, beginning Thursday at Giant Center in Hershey and will take on the District 1 champion — either Quakertown or Spring-Ford — at 6 p.m.
The dual started off at 182-pounds, the best possible position for the Cougars because that’s the middle of their strength. They got wins by fall from Jake Marnell (182), Dante Matarella (195) and Seth Hunsinger (285) to jump out to an 18-6 lead making the turn. The team had some momentum at that point, but there was still a long way to go, and they couldn’t keep the momentum.
“We start pin, pin, pin, but there was a lot of false hope there. There was a lot of wrestling to be done with a lot of tough kids they have,” Maurer said.
One of the biggest turning points for the Warriors came at 113, when Connor Crescimanno defeated Johnny Corra in a match of two of the top 113-pounders in the district. Crescimanno pulled out a 4-3 victory and the Warriors got the momentum and didn’t give it up.
“After 113, I thought that was a big match for us to have,” DeLauro said. “Crescimanno was a toss-up match and once we got that, I thought we were in great shape if everything goes the way we thought.”
DelVal won seven of eight bouts from 106 to 152 to open a 42-21 lead with two bouts left. The only win for the Cougars during that run was a 9-7 overtime victory from Jorven Rodriguez over C.J. Ross at 126. The Warriors also reeled off five falls during that stretch to put the score out of reach.
Hazleton Area closed out the dual with wins by decision from Charles Everdale and Bryce Molinaro at 160 and 170. Now, the Cougars will have some time off to get ready for the District 2 Individual Championships on Feb. 21 and 22.
“We’ll dwell on this for a little bit and try to think where we could improve. Come Monday, we’ll slowly ease into the individual districts,” Maurer said. “In the last month we wrestled a lot of matches. So we’ll see if we can get rested up a little bit and hit our peak, because I don’t think we did yet. Hopefully we can hit our peak by individual districts.”
Elsewhere in Class 3A, Wyoming Valley West lost 50-23 to West Scranton in the third-place match as the Spartans got pins from Dorian Hoffman and JJ White. Valley West beat Wilkes-Barre Area 42-31 in the consolation semifinals.
District 2 Class 3A Duals Tournament
Championship
Delaware Valley 42, Hazleton Area 27
106: Zach Jacarusso (DV) pinned Edo Rodriguez :50; 113: Connor Crescimanno (DV) dec Johnny Corra 4-3; 120: Travis Norman (DV) pinned Nate Altmiller 1:06; 126: Jorven Rodriguez (DV) dec CJ Ross 9-7, OT; 132: Preston Machado (DV) pinned Oscar Zamudio 3:32; 138: Joe Casella (DV) dec Beck Hutchison 5-2; 145: Jay Shauger (DV) pinned Devin Youngcourt 1:35; 152: Cooper Kidd (DV) pinned Luke Billig 2:38; 160: Charles Everdale (Haz) dec Machias Magill 4-2, OT; 170: Bryce Molinaro (DV) dec Gavin Brazanskas 6-2; 182: Jake Marnell (Haz) pinned Hayden Mead :57; 195: Dante Matarella (Haz) pinned Matt Daub 1:22; 220: Jason Henderson (DV) won by forfeit; 285: Seth Hunsinger (Haz) pinned Todd Smirman 2:54
Note: Match started at 182 pounds
Third Place
West Scranton 50, Wyoming Valley West 23
106: Austin Fashouer (WS) won by forfeit; 113: Dorian Hoffman (WVW) pinned Jake Kizer 3:03; 120: Ian Ratchford (WVW) maj dec Martin Turi 13-4; 126: Cadden Kucek (WVW) maj dec Aiden Kologe 17-4; 132: JJ White (WVW) pinned Joe Harris 2:30; 138: Tony Caramanno (WS) dec Joe Rivas 10-7; 145: Randy Bonitz (WS) pinned Matt Giza 1:13; 152: Raphael Carvalho (WS) tech fall Trent Giza 22-7; 160: Garrett Walsh (WS) pinned Jason Pearson :31; 170: John Fuller (WS) pinned Ethan Scott 3:15; 182: Jaden Swainbank (WVW) dec John Walsh 9-5; 195: Cam Butka (WS) pinned Luis Rivera 2:14; 220: Rondell McCullough (WS) pinned Jordan Evans 4:40; 285: Shannon Core (WS) won by forfeit