Dual Season Starts to Heat Up
The Sentinel’s David Rung is joined by Pa. Power Wrestling’s Jeff Upson to look back at the first month of the high school wrestling season and discuss the dual season throughout District 3 and the State. Listen to the Podcast Here!
Bethlehem Catholic stings Nazareth in Lehigh Valley Conference wrestling battle of top teams
By Brad Wilson | The Express-Times
Bethlehem Catholic will once again rule the wrestling roost in the Lehigh Valley.
Behind dominating efforts by sophomores Joey Gould at 120 pounds and Adam Soldridge at 160, and a crowd-rousing clinching fall by senior Jose Ortiz at 182, the Golden Hawks handed Nazareth a stinging 40-17 Lehigh Valley Conference losstonight in front of a rocking packed house at Bethlehem Catholic.
Nazareth (3-1, 3-1 LVC) had entered the match ranked No. 1 by The Express-Times with Becahi second; that will be reversed.
The win also puts Becahi (6-1, 4-0) in the driver’s seat for the LVC championship, as the Golden Hawks do not wrestle Parkland.
Nazareth was missing senior 145-pounder Sage Karam, but his absence didn’t account anywhere near the final margin.
The Blue Eagles have wrestled better while Becahi, while hardly perfect, wrestled smart matches generally even in the losses.
Becahi won the critical flip and took the even bouts, somewhat unexpectedly.
Cumberland Valley ends Central Dauphin’s District 3 dominance on the mat with 36-23 victory
By Jeremy Elliott | jelliott@pennlive.com
on January 09, 2014
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Central Dauphin’s Garrett Peppelman controls Cumberland Valley’s TC Warner in their 170 lb. bout during the Eagles 36-23 win in their dual match at Central Dauphin. 01/09/2014 Sean Simmers | ssimmers@pennlive.com
Streaks came to an end last night in a Central Dauphin gymnasium that has been a house of sure defeat for opponents.
Seventy two: done.
Ten: kaput.
The first was the Rams’ run of triumphs against District 3 competition. The second was the number of times Cumberland Valley has lost to Jeff Sweigard’s team 2008.
Dave Heckard’s deep Eagles squad flipped the script on this rivalry Thursday. The Eagles earned a well-deserved victory in the Rams’ den by capturing eight of 14 bouts to claim a 36-23 Commonwealth decision.
“Definitely, it was a good win,” Heckard said. “You know you are going to get their best effort, and Jeff [/fusion_builder_column][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][Sweigard] always has them prepared.
“They are a good team. It’s nice coming over to this gym and getting a win. This is what we want to do. They set the bar high with what they have accomplished, and I’m proud of our guys and my hats off to them.”
It wasn’t as easy as expected against a Rams program that had nine new faces in the lineup for this D-3 slugfest.
Will Kaldes got things rolling with an escape to start the third and took a 1-0 decision over Jake Cherry. Wyatt Long followed it up by fighting off a major to Rams stud Tyshawn White, holding the deficit to 11-4 to even the team score.
“The fight wasn’t bad, but there is still room for improvement,” Sweigard said. “We needed a takedown at 106 and bonus at 113.
“It is what it is. I don’t get caught up in numbers. I just worry about getting ready for the next match.”
The Rams battled. After Cal Reichart (120) earned a tech fall, Levi Williams and Zach Elvin handed CD the lead. Williams (126) wowed the crowd with a fall in 2:55 over Ryan Wolfe, and Elvin (132) teched Saurab Faruque.
Then, the Eagles took control.
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