District 11 Wrestling

[RoverNation05]

Nick Salamone of Easton pins his way into quarters, where he’ll see UVA commit Ethan Timar from St. Edward’s in Cleveland, Ohio. Timar was the Ohio state champ as a freshman and runner-up as a sophomore. Salamone has three wins over state finalists already this year (Virginia, Delaware, New Jersey) and this is a huge match up for him.

Also a really fun historical match-up. Easton and St. Ed’s both attended the Top Hat tournament at Williamsport in the early 80s which kicked off a decades relationship where they would dual each other, with Ed’s coming out to make the trip to wrestle Easton, Nazareth, Northampton, and Blair throughout the 80s, 90s, and early 00s. I don’t think the two schools have met in a dual since 2002, where Easton knocked off #2 nationally ranked Eagles at 25th Street Gym. When I was working for FloWrestling, I spent a lot of time covering Ed’s - Greg Urbas was the ultimate gentleman and John Heffernan (now the head coach) is also a great guy, and they would give me endless crap for how terrible and homer they thought the officiating in that dual was. I don’t know if that makes up for 34-18, but we had a lot of laughs over it. Good guys, hope Salamone goes out and kicks Timar’s butt.

 

[RoverNation05]

As an Easton side note - I don’t know if they’ve won a match all year at 114 pounds. Just a weird hole they have in the lineup. Their junior high team is at probably the best tournament in the state this weekend out at Bellefonte (Canon Mac, Connellsville, Reynolds, Central Dauphin, Easton, Nazareth, and a bunch of other great programs) and their 115 pound 8th grader tech’d/pinned his way through the field, with a 15-0 win in the finals over a PJW state medalist. Can we call him up for the stretch run here?

 

[RoverNation05]

Nick Salamone of Easton pins his way into quarters, where he’ll see UVA commit Ethan Timar from St. Edward’s in Cleveland, Ohio. Timar was the Ohio state champ as a freshman and runner-up as a sophomore. Salamone has three wins over state finalists already this year (Virginia, Delaware, New Jersey) and this is a huge match up for him.

Also a really fun historical match-up. Easton and St. Ed’s both attended the Top Hat tournament at Williamsport in the early 80s which kicked off a decades relationship where they would dual each other, with Ed’s coming out to make the trip to wrestle Easton, Nazareth, Northampton, and Blair throughout the 80s, 90s, and early 00s. I don’t think the two schools have met in a dual since 2002, where Easton knocked off #2 nationally ranked Eagles at 25th Street Gym. When I was working for FloWrestling, I spent a lot of time covering Ed’s - Greg Urbas was the ultimate gentleman and John Heffernan (now the head coach) is also a great guy, and they would give me endless crap for how terrible and homer they thought the officiating in that dual was. I don’t know if that makes up for 34-18, but we had a lot of laughs over it. Good guys, hope Salamone goes out and kicks Timar’s butt.

Salamone beats Timar 7-1, best win of his career. Second win over a top 10 kid in the country this year for Salamone (John McGinty, who will be in the other semi).

 

[RoverNation05]

Salamone beats Timar 7-1, best win of his career. Second win over a top 10 kid in the country this year for Salamone (John McGinty, who will be in the other semi).

Salamone got smoked by U17 world champion Paul Kenny (Christian Brothers Academy, NJ) 20-3, but just went out and flipped his loss to Reef Dillard from a week ago with a 5-2 win on a last second takedown (I actually think it came too late, lots of arguing at the table).

Some really good finals -
107: Jojo Burke, SJR vs Justin Farnsworth, Malvern Prep: both top five in the country
114: Freddy Bachman, FCA vs Liam Davis, LHP: Bachmann #1 in America and a big favoritr
121: John McGinty, SJR vs Paul Kenny, CBA: probably NJ state final
127: Joey Bachmann, FCA vs Karson Brown, St. Ed’s: disappointed Keanu Dillard had to scratch, but a good PA vs OH state champ battle.
133: Kasen Roark, Father Ryan TN vs Tyler Conroy, Malvern Prep: Mutarelli scratched here, and Tyler DeKraker had to injury default out
139: Ryan Kennedy, Spire Academy vs Caden Baum, Biship McDevitt: Cayden Riccardi scratching and Kennedy with an upset over Jayce Paridon caused chaos here.
145: Eren Sement, CRN vs Charlie DeSenna, LHP: Sement has been on fire
152: Chase Van Hoven, Brooke Point VA vs Zeno Moore, LHP: Pair of top ten kids, neither local but a high level match up
160: Collin Gaj, Quakertown vs Ben Weader, Chantilly VA: Future college teammates at Virginia Texh
172: Ryan Burton, SJR vs Asher Cunningham, State College: Bith top 5 in America, Burton has won their earlier match up this year. Marquee bout of the tournament.
189: Adam Waters, FCA vs Vincenzo LaVelle, Hanover Park NJ: Waters is incredible. One of the best junior upper weights I’ve ever seen.
215: Lucas Lawler, Bishop McDevitt vs Jason Singer, FCA: Probable 2A state semifinal for the right to wrestle Austin Johnson (Muncy)
285: Mark Effendian, FCA vs Jacob Levy, LHP: top two seeds, have been in the finals of a bunch of big tournaments.

 

[Relayer]

Happy for Eren Sement, hope he wins gold this year. The CRN-CRS match in a couple weeks could be interesting, obviously the rivalry has been somewhat lopsided over the years.