Nazareth 33, Bethlehem Catholic 24/District 11 3A wrestling team tournament
That was something, wasn’t it? People who downgrade the team aspect of wrestling should have been in Freedom’s gym Saturday night. It was electric, pure, undiluted fun and excitement. If you missed it, too bad. Those who were there will never forget. What an advertisement for wrestling. RCN, Service Electric, please re-broadcast often.
What people want to see. As a longtime Lehigh Valley mat maven noted during the Nazareth-Bethlehem Catholic and Easton-Northampton matches (they were simultaneous), “the (Eastern Pennsylvania Conference) has to change what it does with wrestling. These are the teams who should be wrestling. This is what people want to see.” His timing, given that the matches going on at the moment were not wrestled in EPC competition this winter, couldn’t have been better. Enough of 71-0 and 69-3 matches and more of what we saw Saturday, please.
Outside of the final … there was some terrific wrestling themed around revenge. Easton recovered brilliantly from its epic smackdown by Nazareth Thursday to avenge a stinging regular-season loss to Liberty with a 34-30 win. The Rovers made the consolation final, where they acquitted themselves well in a 39-29 loss to Northampton. Saturday was a good day for Easton, which got some big wins from senior 182-pounder Ethan DiRenzo and welcomed 113-pounder Diego Santiago back from injury; he posted a decision over Pottsville’s tough Nick Onea. Also reversing a regular-season defeat was Freedom, which handed Bangor a 45-23 defeat after losing 34-33 in December to the Slaters. The Patriots are the most-improved team from December to now in the area. It does help to have senior 220-pounder and returning state medalist Evan Callahan back, to be sure, but it’s more than that. Well done Pates.
Konkrete Kids’ bittersweet end. Northampton finished its dual-meet season 15-4 with two losses apiece to Becahi and Nazareth., In most other seasons and any other district the Kids would be going to Hershey, but ’twas not to be at this time and place. If the rules were different you could see Northampton as a semifinalist in 3A with the right draw. The Konkrete Kids will have to channel their frustration into the individual postseason where they should do exceptionally well.
Sportsmanship solid. A whole day of spirited competition and not one single issue sportsmanship-wise. Nicely done, everybody.
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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