Last year, Wilson’s Marckis Branford lost by major decision to Lehighton’s Nathan Kemmerer.
On Thursday night in the District 11 Class 2A quarterfinals, Branford not only turned the tables on Kemmerer, but pinned the Lehighton wrestler in 2:26 in their 120-pound bout at Northern Lehigh High School.
“He got majored by Kemmerer last year at the Anthracite duals. He was majoring him when he pinned him today. He just came out on fire, he wanted that match. Looked really good today,” Wilson coach Tom Mertz said.
“I think I just focused more on not wrestling scared and attacking more and scoring more offensive points. Wrestling more offensive and not laid back,” Branford said.
His pin was one of six for the Warriors in the 51-15 victory.
Branford, Jonathan Consorti (1:09 at 113 pounds), Zavery Lesher (3:25 at 138 pounds), Josh Roberti (1:28 at 182), Trevor Loebsack (0:17 at 285) and Elijah Bundro (0:52 at 106) all had pins for the second-seeded Warriors, who will wrestle third-seeded Pine Grove in the semifinals at 10:45 a.m. Saturday at Freedom High School.
“We did wrestle them in the Anthracite duals (45-27 Wilson win),” Mertz said about the Pine Grove matchup. “We’ll see how it goes. You don’t know if you’re going to get some of the same matchups. I think we left some points on the board last time we wrestled, but I feel they did as well. We’ll see what happens Saturday.”
Jared Corriere (126) picked up a technical fall and Alec Snyder (195) had a major decision for Wilson on Thursday night.
Mertz also was impressed by freshman Kolby Flank, who won a 5-1 decision over Lehighton’s Brent Gasker.
“Kolby Flank, wrestling up at 220. That kid was a full 220 so he’s giving up about 25 pounds out there,” Mertz said. “Kept pushing the action, hustling back to the middle of the mat. Things that we preach in the room.”
After going 10-13 last season, the Warriors are now 19-3 this season and knocking on the door of a state tournament appearance.
“I’m happy with the kids. I think their conditioning is starting to peak,” Mertz said. “We got a couple guys that have been a little banged up. You might not see it as much with those guys. Our morning runs have been going on for almost a month now. The kids are really starting to hit their stride. They put their work in when they needed to to peak at the right time hopefully.”
“Our work ethic,” Branford said about how the strong season has been possible. “Every day we just focus on getting better and improving on what we couldn’t do during the matches. Just working hard.”
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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