District 11 Wrestling

[RoverNation05]

Brayden Zuercher beats Shae Linegar 10-3. Takedown right at the end. Zuercher is really tough.

27-23 Nazareth. Last bout of the night.

Kurtis Crossman a big favorite. A pin or tech wins it.

 

[RoverNation05]

Nazareth wins if it’s only a major. 27-27, but Nazareth would have 7 bouts to 6.

 

[RoverNation05]

19-4 tech fall for Kurtis Crossman

But Crossman threw his headgear over to the Easton bench after the win.

Referee deducts a team point from Easton. That makes it 27-27, Nazareth wins.

 

[RoverNation05]

So Easton wins 28-27, he takes his headgear off after the win, so a team point gets deducted and Easton loses. Holy hell

 

[RoverNation05]

Here is video of the “unsportsmanlike conduct” headgear toss that cost Easton the dual.

 

[RoverNation05]

And here is the rule book interpretation of the headgear throwing rule, for those who happen to be interested

 

[RoverNation05]

The GOAT, Brad Wilson on the actual wrestling last night

Controversial finish shouldn’t obscure a fine Easton-Nazareth wrestling dual

Each side had wrestlers who stepped up under pressure and delivered.

t.co

And on the finish

Throwing? Tossing? No matter which, Easton-Nazareth wrestling deserved a better ending | Commentary

The controversial call on Easton's Kurtis Crossman's disposal of his headgear will be argued for a long time. We think the "nays" have it.

www.lehighvalleylive.com

 

[bucksftball]

I'm in shock reading this and watching the tape of the "incident."

 

[D1 Transplant]

Horrible call. I'm not sure how true this is, but my buddy text me right after that call. He tells me the ref who made the call is a Nazareth grad. Not sure if this is just a conspiracy theory, but still just a horrible call.

 

[D1 Transplant]

Just read the article. My buddy was correct, ref was a Nazareth grad.

 

[RoverNation05]

Horrible call. I'm not sure how true this is, but my buddy text me right after that call. He tells me the ref who made the call is a Nazareth grad. Not sure if this is just a conspiracy theory, but still just a horrible call.

Yeah, it’s Mark Getz. Was a state champ under Nunamaker in the ‘90s. Coached at Pleasant Valley for a while. He gets a ton of big matches, and I think is a good official. However, he also has a reputation for being kind of a showman.

The shame of it is, it was a great dual! Everything you want - huge crowd, old rivals (the 98th meeting between the schools), big momentum swings, elite kids performed elite (holy moly Jack Campbell), unsung kids got to shine in big spots (the two Easton sophomores at 152 and 285), came down to the last match. And the day after - nobody is talking about any of that. Stinks.

 

[Relayer]

Can't D11 do the right thing and reverse the call? The match was over. Is Nazareth really happy getting the cheapest victory ever?

 

[bucksftball]

 

[RoverNation05]

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He did almost have one of the great two-week stretches an Easton athlete can have. Defensive MVP of the P’Burg game, tech fall in the deciding bout to beat Nazareth. Wouldn’t shock me if he’s on the 6A all state football team as a defensive end when they come out. Think he can medal in Hershey too (currently ranked #8 in 3A).

Classy of him to put out the statement, though I don’t think he needed to (because I don’t think he did anything wrong!). All indications are he’s a pretty good kid.

This has obviously blown up on wrestling social media nationally, stinks it has overshadowed a great match - fundamentally changed it, so it should, but a lot of great performances are lost due to the official.

Relayer, to answer your question, I don’t think there is a mechanism for reversing the outcome of the dual. What Brad Wilson did suggest (and where it matters) is the D11 seeding committee should take this into account in February. Why that matters - top two teams from D11 go to states. I’m pretty confident that Bethlehem Catholic will be the top seed and best team (they’re your state title favorites, though not as overwhelming as in years past). Then it’s a four horse race, with Easton/Nazareth/Notre Dame/Northampton. What I am afraid of is, Notre Dame getting the two-seed, this win makes Nazareth the three, and Easton drops to four and has to beat Becahi in semifinals just to get to states, while Nazareth won’t see Becahi until they’ve already qualified as the other finalist. Nazareth does not wrestle Becahi in the regular season (Easton, Notre Dame, and Northampton all do) and outside of Becahi, ND only wrestles tiny Colonial League schools during the season then bumps up for the postseason (new this year). If you’re deciding between Easton/Nazareth as the 2/3, then it doesn’t matter. But if it’s 3/4 (or as Brad suggested, Nazareth at 2 and Easton at 4 behind ND) then the ramifications for the call last night are huge. Probably a state championship berth. Or Easton can go out and beat Becahi in February and be done with it.

 

[Relayer]

Wyoming Seminary at Faith Christian tonight.

 

[RoverNation05]

Wyoming Seminary at Faith Christian tonight.

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This dual reminds me of Graham vs Blair in 2010, one of the best sporting events I’ve been to. Big prep school, a million national titles, goes to a tiny gym for a “winner is #1 in the country dual.” What I remember most is coming in before that match started, and it was maybe 20 degrees outside, and the line to get in the school when it opened was a mile long. Everybody who ever lived in St. Paris, Ohio was there (Graham is a public school, but they had a level of transfers that would make BradleyPitt have an aynyurism, there were the Bishop McCourt of the time).

I’ve been tuning in on and off, Nate Desmond wins a huge win over Botero - he was at Becahi. His uncles are Easton state finalists Matt and Seth Ciasulli. He wrestles like an evolutionary version of Matt (3x state champ from 00-02).

 

[RoverNation05]

Evanitsky here was a state champ at Wyoming Area before transferring to Sem.

Bouzakis who may come up at 160 was a state champ at Notre Dame - he is from Florida, started at Sem, came in for one year and won a title at ND, then went back to Sem.

 

[RoverNation05]

I’ve said before I don’t think Vince Bouzakis is as good as advertised - I look stupid tonight.

 

[RoverNation05]

So this actually reminds me of the late 90s, early 00s Easton-Blair matches where we’d take some matches and be competitive, but they had too many stars over a full lineup.

 

[yesman3]

So this actually reminds me of the late 90s, early 00s Easton-Blair matches where we’d take some matches and be competitive, but they had too many stars over a full lineup.

Rover/Relayer,

I know you were both watching last night. My takeaway… Seminary just monster riders when on top, the difference to me.
Regarding the Easton-Nazareth match, agree was horrid call in the end. Not a demonstrative act at all. Shame the victory was taken away d/t that subjective judgement.

 

[RoverNation05]

Rover/Relayer,

I know you were both watching last night. My takeaway… Seminary just monster riders when on top, the difference to me.
Regarding the Easton-Nazareth match, agree was horrid call in the end. Not a demonstrative act at all. Shame the victory was taken away d/t that subjective judgement.

On Sem and FCA - it comes down to how rosters are assembled, right? FCA has done a very good job of building a team with the best possible kids in Bucks/Lehigh county with some kids sprinkled in from further driving distances. They should be able to beat most of the schools they go up against. But Sem is a boarding school - they have kids literally from all over the country who come and live at the school full time.

Are there disadvantages to being a boarding school, sure. Kids have to be willing to move away from home for 9 months of the year, tuition is prohibitively expensive, and the academics are serious. (Am i doing this right?) but Wyoming Seminary manages to overcome those disadvantages by working really hard. And having an elite cross section of talent from all over the United States. I am very fond of Scott Green, who built that program, who essentially said “the only thing stopping us from being Blair is our own ambition, let’s be Blair.” Then they became Blair Academy. It’s really hard, but it’s also that easy.

Stylistically, yeah, they have monsters on top. Desmond, Bouzakis, Correa all scored tons of points there last night against really good competition. That is a place you can really separate. FCA’s best mat wrestler is probably Botero, but Desmond is one of the best mat wrestlers in America, regardless of weight class.

 

[RoverNation05]

Here’s where the rosters are from last night

Wyoming Seminary
107: Tunkhannock, PA
114: Virginia
121: South Carolina
127: Bethlehem, PA
133: Massachusetts
139: Wisconsin
145: Rhode Island
152: Wyoming, PA
160: Florida
172: West Chester, PA
189: Florida
215: New Hampshire
285: Ohio

Faith Christian Academy
107: North Penn
114: North Penn
121: North Penn
127: North Penn
133: Plymouth-Whitemarsh
139: New Hope-Solebury
145: Souderton
152: New Hope-Solebury
160: Pennridge
172: Boyertown
189: Pottsgrove
215: Boyertown
285: Neshaminy

Moral of the story is, what is North Penn doing?!

 

[RoverNation05]

Northampton and Nazareth wrestling tonight - one of the great longtime rivalries in high school wrestling.

Brayden Zuercher not wrestling tonight for Nazareth. Devlin Chevere weighed in for Northampton, could be very interesting.

I have a lot of bonus points in both directions tonight, lots of stars in this one, who are all different sizes. Might be a “most pins wins” kind of night. Starting at 139, so Northampton will close with either the #1 or #2 wrestler in the state in 4 of the last 6 matches.

 

[RoverNation05]

 

[RoverNation05]

Trey Wagner is up at 139, so we’ll go #1 in the state at 133 against #2 in the state at 139. Fireworks to start. Means Northampton is using D11 Junior high champ Devi Glykas at 133 to make his varsity debut.

TV Tony Phillips the referee tonight, one of the best and one of the great personalities in the sport. About to get started.

 

[RoverNation05]

Wagner wins 5-3 - takedown with 39 seconds left was the difference. Campbell the aggressor, great counter wrestling from Wagner. He’s a state champ for a reason.

Nazareth bumping up the lineup, Parkins going up to 152. Pair of freshman JH D11 champs at 145 in Chase Brown and Carter Chlebove.

 

[RoverNation05]

Carter Chlebove with a tech fall. His dad and brother are both Northampton state champs (his dad an NCAA all American, his brother has a shot at being an Aa for Arizona state). He looks like another good one.

8-0 Konkrete Kids.

 

[RoverNation05]

Northamtpon puts a JV kid in to get pinned by Tahir Parkins. Chase Grabfelder scores late to beat Dom Tunison at 160. 11-6 kkids

 

[RoverNation05]

Back to back tech falls by Case Campbell and Elijah Simak give Nazareth a 16-11 lead.

 

[RoverNation05]

Vinny Giacobbe with HUGE cement job for a fall (giving Northampton a taste of their own medicine) while trailing 7-5. A fall for Northampton puts them up 22-11

 

[RoverNation05]

Gavin Grell with a major at heavyweight. 22-15 as the lineup turns over. Northampton bumps Brayden Wenrich up to 114, so Derek Fulmer techs their JV kid. 27-15 score.

Northampton trails by 12 with four matches left, KKids favored in all of the ones left.

 

[RoverNation05]

Nazareth forfeits to Wenrich, so 27-21 now.

Nazareth sends Mike Good up to 121 against Ryan Marano.

 

[RoverNation05]

Ryan Marano by tech falls 27-26 Nazareth.

Gabe Ballard vs Remy Trach, Ballard is a monster. Bonus has Northampton in excellent shape.

 

[RoverNation05]

Nevermind, they go Collin Marano against Remy Trach. Banking on Marano to hold to at least a decision and get bonus from Ballard at 133

 

[RoverNation05]

Remy Trach a 10-3 decision. He gets his third caution with 15 seconds left, losing his major decision. Huge mistake.

Gabe Ballard and Cooper Wenrich. At least a tech wins it for Northampton.

 

[RoverNation05]

Cooper Wenrich with a fall!!!!!!!!!!!! Holy smokes!!!!!!!

Gabe Ballard up 13-0, needs one more score to win the dual for Northampton, and Wenrich throws a Hail Mary headlock, hits it, and pins him to win the dual. Incredible finish!!!

 

[RoverNation05]

Final score, Nazareth 36 Northampton 26

Two straight weeks Nazareth has snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.

 

[Relayer]

That's another crazy finish in D11...and it's only mid December.

 

[RoverNation05]

Ballard is #2 in the state and in the top 20 in the country at 127. Wenrich is..a nice little sophomore wrestler? Ballard got a little greedy going for a turn, Wenrich head locked him to his back from bottom. Thought Ballard was going to fight off his back, but Wenrich readjusted and stuck him.

Last match I can remember with that kind of upset was Evan Fidelibus pinning future NCAA finalist and state champ Ethan Lizak in a low leg cradle when similarly down like 10-1. Sometimes it happens, but wow.

Selfishly, I thought a Northamtpon win would be a big help to Easton in terms of seeding for D11 duals, I was not excited with that turn of events.

 

[RoverNation05]

That's another crazy finish in D11...and it's only mid December.

The shame is, everybody doesn’t wrestle everybody.

Back in the day, the LVC/EPC used to split the wrestling conference essentially into “really good teams” and “everybody else”. So Nazareth-Northampton-Easton-Liberty-Parkland-Freedom always wrestled each other, then you rotated through the rest of the league every couple years. They’ve gone to a full rotating schedule, so Easton doesn’t wrestle Northampton this year, Nazareth doesn’t wrestle Becahi, and they all have too many duals against the Pocono Mountains of the world. Becahi and Easton dual on January 8th, and Notre Dame duals Becahi too, but those are the last big in conference duals left (obviously Easton-P’Burg is huge, but out of state).

Last year Easton used competition points to schedule Northampton non-conference. This year, the opted to add Beast of the East and Escape the Rock instead. I get the trade-off, and it’s probably better competitively to get ready for states (where they underperformed last year with a schedule skewed towards duals and away from tournaments). But I don’t love it, because Easton-Northampton wrestling was #2 on the Easton athletic calendar to Easton-P’Burg football for a long time. Feels weird.