The Wilson wrestling team won the PIAA Class 2A team title in 1992, 2000 and 2001.
The Warriors also won District 11 team championships in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2009.
On Monday night at Nazareth Area High School, Wilson wrestled in its first state team tournament match in eight years.
Even though the Warriors came up short against Northern Lebanon, they are once again earning the type of attention that was common in their glory days.
“The kids, they deserved it. The kids worked extremely hard,” Wilson coach Tom Mertz said. “The coaching staff is extremely proud of them. The community has supported us a lot along this run here. It’s good for a community like Wilson Borough to be brought together by a group of kids that are creating that excitement in the school and in the community. There was a time when Wilson Borough was the place to be because of the wrestling team, because of the football team. These kids, I think they see it that the community is about to support them. For a small community a like that, the people need it in the borough and the kids really benefit from it.”
The Warriors got pins from junior Jonathan Consorti (5:16 at 113) and freshman Alec Snyder (2:51 at 170) in the 48-24 loss to District 3 third-place finisher. Senior Jared Corriere won a 15-0 technical fall in 5:53. Freshman Elijah Bundro (106) won by major decision and fellow freshman Kolby Flank (220) won by decision for Wilson.
“We’ll continue pushing the team aspect of it, especially with this young group to keep them striving forward and not walking out tonight with their heads down. They had a heck of a season. I’m proud of the season that the guys had. Not the ultimate goal, which is Hershey for every team. But now it’s time for some of the individuals to get out there,” Mertz said about approaching the district individual tournaments.
“I think for the freshmen, even the older guys that maybe haven’t made it to regionals yet are going to have a better shot at getting out to regionals, maybe qualify for states. Even the younger guys, it’s going to prepare them for what has yet to come in their next years,” Consorti said about the team making states.
With plenty of young talent on the roster, the future looks bright for the Warriors, who went 20-5 this season.
“It should and that’s what we just told the kids in there. To walk out with their heads held high tonight. To use this as a learning experience,” Mertz said.
Josh Folck may be reached at jfolck@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @JoshFolck. Find Lehigh Valley high school sports on Facebook.
Our editors found this article on this site using Google and regenerated it for our readers.
