Nazareth 64, Easton 3 – District 3A wrestling quarterfinal – Rapid Recap
The Blue Eagles rolled over an understrength and depleted Easton squad Thursday night at Liberty’s Memorial Gym to punch their ticket to the District 11 3A team wrestling semifinals.
Nazareth (14-1), the tournament’s No. 2 seed, did not allow an offensive point in the first 10 bouts as they handed Easton (12-5), the No. 7 seed, one of the worst dual-meet losses in program history — if not the worst.
The Blue Eagles, ranked No. 2 in the region by lehighvalleylive, will meet No. 3 seed Northampton (13-2) in Saturday’s semifinal at 10:45 a.m. at Freedom. The Konkrete Kids defeated Liberty 41-28 in their quarterfinal at Liberty Thursday. The Rovers will meet the Hurricanes in a consolation match Saturday (9 a.m. at Freedom).
Easton was without regulars Diego Santiago (113), Mason Werkheiser (120), Nick Nunez (138), Hayden Keleher (160), Ethan DiRenzo (182) and Jonathan Pineda (285) for the Nazareth match for a dizzying array of depressing reasons. The Rovers had been able to get by No. 10 seed Emmaus 44-15 in Thursday’s preliminary bout, but that was with DiRenzo and Pineda, who were kept out of the Blue Eagle match with illness and injury. Easton forfeited three bouts to Nazareth.
“The bad news is all this stuff happened this week,” Easton coach JaMarr Billman said. “The good news is that it happened this week and not two weeks (D-11 individuals) from now. The goal of this program is to peak in late February and March and that has not changed. I wasn’t too disappointed with what I saw on the mat tonight. Sometimes you just have to go with what you have.”
Easton’s run of bad luck came poorly-timed against a dialed-in and focused Nazareth team that displayed overwhelming aggression and tremendous spirit in the pounding of their old rivals. The Blue Eagles got pins from Travis Stefanik (182), Tucker Klump (220) and Sean Pierson (113). Ryan O’Grady posted a now-you-see-him-now-you-don’t technical fall in 1:40 at 120 pounds.
For Easton, freshman Jonathan Miers’ hard-fought 3-1 win at 126 over Trevor Tarsi was the sole Rover victory.
Turning point: Two Easton forfeits at 160 and 170 in the second and third bouts of the night. After that, the only question was the margin of Nazareth’s triumph.
Top performer: Hard to top a technical fall in 100 seconds of wrestling – well done, Blue Eagle junior Ryan O’Grady.
What it means: Frankly, not a whole lot. Easton’s better than the score shows, and will get a chance to prove that Saturday. Nazareth impressed, to be sure, but bigger matches lie ahead.
Brad Wilson may be reached at bwilson@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @bradwsports. Find Lehigh Valley high school sports on Facebook.
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