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NANTICOKE — For the most part of this century, the Nanticoke Area wrestling team has been irrelevant.
The team has been at or near the bottom of the Wyoming Valley Conference standings just about every year.
Heck, with the exception of Jason Mitkowski’s phenomenal run to a district, regional and state championship in 2003, the Trojans haven’t even produced a district champion this millennium.
Just a week ago, the Trojans were riding a four-year losing streak in the WVC, which was snapped only five days ago in a win over Wyoming Area.
What a difference a few days makes.
After Wednesday night’s 51-27 win over Berwick, Nanticoke is riding a three-match winning streak for the first time in years, and secured the conference’s No. 2 seed for next week’s District 2 Class 2A Duals Tournament for the first time ever in the team’s second berth ever in district duals in the 22-year history of the event. With Wyoming Area’s 42-30 win over Hanover Area, the Trojans and Warriors are both 3-2 in the division, but Nanticoke owns the head-to-head tiebreaker.
The Trojans end the WVC Division 2 schedule with a 3-2 record. The winning mark in the division is something they have not had since the 1990’s.
“This is huge for kids and for the program to build our junior high team and feeder program,” Trojans coach Harold Shotwell said. “Nanticoke’s a basketball area, and they have a lot to be proud of in basketball. We’re just hoping we can give them one other thing to be proud of.”
On a team loaded with sophomores, the only senior on the team, Chris Maute, pulled out a pin in a big spot on Wednesday. In the 132-pound bout against Maurice Smith, Maute was on his back in jeopardy of being pinned. Smith picked up nearfall points in the first period and had Maute on his back again in the second period.
Had Smith registered the fall, the match score at that point would have been tied at 23-23.
Instead, Maute fought off his back, got a reversal then the fall in the second period to extend the Trojans’ lead to 29-17 with six weights remaining.
“Few people realize that fighting off your back is harder than people realize, and when someone is trying to pin you they release their own hits so you can try to turn him,” Maute said.
In three years wrestling for the Trojans, Maute has never experienced a team win in the WVC. Now, he’s leading a young and budding team to district duals. His win over Smith sparked the Trojans to wins in all but one of the remaining bouts in the dual. And being part of a winner is something special.
“It’s exciting. It’s been a few years since Nanticoke’s made it this far,” Maute said. “It’s been an emotional roller coaster and hopefully we get to finish it as a good team.”
While Nanticoke has won three matches in a row, the Bulldogs (2-3) dropped three straight to end their divisional slate. But they still secured the conference’s No. 4 seed for district duals via winning the head-to-head tiebreaker with Hanover Area (2-3).
The Bulldogs are in district duals for the second straight season after missing out the previous two years.
“In the big picture…it’s gonna give our young guys more matches,” Berwick coach Ron Swingle said. “You equate it to college football making a bowl game. It gives you all that extra experience, all that extra practice. It’ll give us a couple more matches that if we didn’t make it we wouldn’t be able to wrestle. And it’ll give us an opportunity to fix some things.”
Wyoming Area 42, Hanover Area 30
Corey Mruk’s pin at 170 broke a 24-24 tie and sent the Warriors to the win.
Decisions by Justin Joseph at 182 and Aidan Dolak at 220 nailed down Wyoming Area’s victory.
Alex Pierce at 152 and Robin Wrobleski at 138 had falls in the victory.
Cael Davis at 106, Joe Rowley at 113, Jared Banesh at 132, D.J. Erickson at 145 and Tom Mercadante at 195 had pins for Hanover Area.
Coughlin 45, Hazleton Area 30
Darren Clark, Josh Brown, Joey Pahler and Tashawn Qualls came up with pins for the Crusaders and Corey Harrison pulled out a 3-2 overtime win in the victory.
Brown registered his fall at 138 and Pahler followed with another at 145, giving Coughlin an early 28-6 lead. Clark’s pin at 120 tied the match at 6-6, while Qualls used a pin at 160 to polish off the win.
Lake-Lehman 54, Meyers 25
Zack Stuart, Bob Long, Garrett Kolb, Hunter Burke, Jake Trumbower and Nick Zaboski all picked up pins as the Black Knights dominated the victory.
Stuart decked his opponent at 120, starting a run of five straight falls that put Lehman in control.
Nanticoke 51, Berwick 27
106 — Zach Capie (Nan) won by forfeit; 113 — Joey Sauers (Nan) tech fall AlexBeck 19-4, 5:28; 120 — Nick Yule (Ber) tech fall George Brown 15-0, 4:30; 126 — Fidel Mince (Ber) pinned James Dietterick :32; 132 — Chris Maute (Nan) pinned Maurice Smith 2:52; 138 — Oscar Perla (Ber) maj dec Keeghan Kester 10-2; 145 — Collin Kudrako-Kashatus (Nan) won by forfeit; 152 — Adam Eckhart (Nan) pinned David Pace :41; 160 — Alec Talanca (Ber) won by forfeit; 170 — Isaiah Johnson (Nan) maj dec Austin Dewald 10-2; 182 — Zack Pelton (Nan) pinned Brandon Spezialetti 3:03; 195 — J.J. Snyder (Ber) won by forfeit; 220 — Seth Pelton (Nan) won by forfeit; 285 — Shane Repasky (Nan) won by forfeit
Note: Match started at 195 pounds
Wyoming Area 42, Hanover Area 30
106 — Cael Davis pinned (Han) pinned Luis Lopez, 0:20; 113 — Joe Rowley (Han) pinned Kyle Emsley, 1:33; 120 — Adam Sigman (WA) won by forfeit; 126 — No contest; 132 — Jared Banesh (Han) pinned Sydni Johnson, 1:45; 138 — Robin Wrobleski (WA) pinned Nate Ayalla, 2:38; 145 — D.J. Erickson (Han) pinned Charlie Bnashefski, 4:17; 152 — Alex Pierce (WA) pinned Hunter Thompson, 2:34; 160 — Skylar Santacroce (WA) won by forfeit; 170 — Corey Mruk (WA) pinned Mike Lenahan, 3:18; 182 — Justin Joseph (WA) dec. J.J. Hooper, 3-1; 195 — Tom Mercadante (Han) pinned Jaryn Polit-Moran, 2:21; 220 — Aidan Dolak (WA) dec. Jayden Piatt, 11-9; 285 — Damon Barhight (WA) won by forfeit.
Note: Match started at 106 pounds
Coughlin 45, Hazleton Area 30
106 — Nino Cinti (Cou) dec. John Corra, 8-4; 113 — Beck Hutchinson (Haz) pinned Tino Marrow, 2:46; 120 — Darren Clarke (Cou) pinned Christian Kislan, 1:36; 126 — Pat Clarke (Cou) won by forfeit; 132 — Jake Brown (Cou) dec. Charles Everdale, 4-0; 138 — Josh Brown (Cou) pinned Steve Martisofski, 0:47; 145 — Joey Pahler (Cou) pinned Donte Matarella, 2:20; 152 — Jason Brielmeier (Haz) won by forfeit; 160 — Tashawn Qualls (Cou) pinned Luke Billig, 1:51; 170 — Jake Marnell (Haz) tech. fall Tanner Smith, 3:43; 182 — Jake Cole (Cou) won by forfeit; 195 — Seth Hunsinger (Haz) pinned Connor Lee, 5:25; 220 — Shane Noonan (Haz) pinned Aaron Warnagiris, 1:32; 285 — Corey Harrison (Cou) dec. Michael Fuchick, 3-2, OT.
Note: Match started at 113 pounds
Lake-Lehman 54, Meyers 25
106 — Brando Abreu (Mey) pinned Bradon Boston; 113 — Jason Carver (Mey) won by forfeit; 120 — Zack Stuart (LL) pinned Josh Makowski; 126 — Bob Long (LL) pinned Caleb Burns; 132 — Garrett Kolb (LL) pinned Josh Johnson; 138 — Hunter Burke (LL) pinned Emmanuel Guiterrez; 145 — Jake Trumbower (LL) pinned Jason Millan; 152 — Sufyan Burroughs (Mey) pinned Chase Button; 160 — Nick Zaboski (LL) pinned Greg Amberes; 170 — Colin Browne (Mey) maj. dec. Riley Newman, 19-9; 182 — Michael Gavin (Mey) dec. Thomas Nalbone, 8-6; 195 — T.J. Meehan (LL) won by forfeit; 220 — Chuck Harry (LL) won by forfeit; 285 — Kaleb Konigus (LL) won by forfeit.
Note: Match started at 285 pounds