Line Mountain 33, Saucon Valley 26 — Rapid Recap
Saucon Valley wrestling team got down 22-8 and went on to fall 33-26 to District 4 runner-up Line Mountain in a PIAA Class 2A quarterfinal on Friday afternoon at the Giant Center in Hershey.
Turning points: The Panthers trailed 13-1 after they lost three of the first four bouts and had two team points deducted for unsportsmanlike conduct. One was for a wrestler throwing his headgear and the other was for a Panther flexing towards the crowd.
“I think it was frustration. It was just one of those days,” Saucon Valley coach Chad Shirk said.
Devin Fontanez got a pin for Saucon Valley in 20 seconds at 220 pounds to cut Line Mountain’s lead to 22-14 with four bouts left. But the momentum didn’t last long as Garrett Kieffer recorded a fall in 1:00 at 285 and Matty Coller had a 15-0 technical fall in 4:50 at 106 to clinch the victory for Line Mountain.
“We lost every close match possible,” Shirk said. “I don’t know what happened. You can blame it on me. We just didn’t seem like we had the oomph out there today. They were obviously the better team.”
Top performers: Fontanez, Nick Rosengrant (1:37 at 113) and Josh Jones (1:45 at 120) had pins for the Panthers. Jason Jones won a 12-1 major decision for the Panthers at 152.
Cole Hauck and Kieffer had pins for Line Mountain. Collin Klinger had a major decision and Coller had a technical fall for the District 4 runner-up.
What it means: Line Mountain will wrestle District 10 champion Reynolds in the semifinals at 8 p.m. Friday. Reynolds beat Huntingdon 47-15 in the quarterfinals.
The Panthers drop their first match of the season to fall to 24-1. They will wrestle District 9 champion Brookville in a consolation match at 4 p.m. Friday. Brookville beat District 10 runner-up Harbor Creek 39-17 in the first round of consolations on Friday. The Panthers lost to Brookville 33-24 in last year’s state final.
“This a test of character right now,” Shirk said. “This about more than wrestling. This is about life. Sometimes you face adversity and we’ll see what our kids do and how they respond in a couple hours.”
Box score and more coverage
Tournament bracket
Josh Folck may be reached at jfolck@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @JoshFolck. Find Lehigh Valley high school sports on Facebook.
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