Nico Emili could feel the breath of the overflow crowd when he took the mat during Saturday night’s annual Holy War battle with host Notre Dame-Green Pond.
The Bethlehem Catholic sophomore could have just as easily felt the pressure of an early 10-0 deficit weighing on him, too.
Instead, Emili relished the opportunity to be the momentum changer. He did that when he reversed and pinned Notre Dame-GP’s Cole Schwartz in 3 minutes, 38 seconds.
Fellow sophomore A.J. Gomez also enjoyed the moment rather than be consumed by it. He followed Emili with his fall over Trey Neith in 4:58.
That gave Bethlehem Catholic the lead for good.
Teammates Jack Cole and Andre Cerrato followed with pins, Mason Thomas produced a key major decision at 172 and James Bozzi stayed off his back at 215 to ensure Bethlehem Catholic’s fifth consecutive Holy War victory since the series resumed in 2023, 37-27, in Easton.
“I focus on the score of the bouts before me so I know what I have to do when I go out on the mat,” Emili said. “I just know when I go out there, I have to put up my points. I try to envision my match before I go out on the mat, get my heart rate up.
“I knew after [Notre Dame-GP] took the momentum on its side after the first two matches, I had to take it right back to our side and kick start it for our team. That worked.”
Bethlehem Catholic led 24-9 after consecutive pins by Emili, Gomez, Cole and Cerrato, then 30-12 after Keanu Dillard’s fall at 152.
The Golden Hawks’ lead was still at 18 (34-16) thanks to Thomas’ major decision at 172. He delivered a major in last year’s regular-season meeting that propelled them to a 10-point victory over the Crusaders.
That forced the Crusaders to produce three pins to win on criteria. Dom Sumpolec got a fall at 189, but teammate Connor Smalley could not turn Bozzi despite six takedowns in a technical fall at 215. That the left Golden Hawks with a seven-point lead with one bout left.
Connor Gillahan bumped up from 189 to 285 to win 2-1 for the final margin.
“Bonus points,” Crusaders coach Matt Veres said about the difference in the match. “I looked at this match on paper for a couple weeks. I knew from 121 to 152, on paper, wasn’t in our favor. In matches like that, you have to eliminate bonus points, get an upset somewhere.
“Bethlehem Catholic wrestled really well. I have a lot of respect for them. You know when you wrestle Bethlehem Catholic, you have to be on your A-plus game. We were not really close to that tonight.”
Notre Dame-GP, without injured starters Aiden Vanicky and Jacob Volpe, started strong by getting bonus-point wins at 107 and 114 by Max Quarry and Cael Muller, respectively. The two didn’t allow an offensive point, but Bethlehem Catholic felt good about saving a combined three bonus points.
The Golden Hawks then turned the tied when Emili reversed Schwartz after a lengthy scramble and pinned the Notre Dame-GP freshman in 3:38. The two had a long scramble earlier in the bout with neither producing a point.
Gomez followed by turning Trey Neith in 4:58 for their first lead, 12-9.
“This week in practice, that’s all I was working on,” Gomez said, “Sweep, shelf, right to the cradle. I knew it was there. I saw the opportunity, went for it and got it.”
Cole continued the pin train with another shortly after reversing Mason Roncolato at 139 for an 18-9 Bethlehem Catholic advantage. Cerrato’s headlock of Tyler Coad pushed the cushion to 15 (24-9) after six.
Gavyn Kelton stopped the bleeding for Notre Dame-GP, but just barely. His five-point move early in the third period was the difference in a 7-4 win over Reef Dillard, but not until Dillard’s headlock at the edge of the mat was declared after the buzzer.
Keanu Dillard pushed Bethlehem Catholic’s lead to 30-12 after eight with a fall at 152.
Jared Gonzalez kept Notre Dame-GP’s chances alive with a 9-0 major at 160, but Bethlehem Catholic still led 30-16.
Thomas’ major decision followed.
“The most important thing was Mikey Nicosia and Gino Bozzi not getting pinned,” Golden Hawks coach Mike Cole said. “They were outmanned. They went out there and toughed it out. That was huge.
“James Bozzi, of course. That was like a little kid wrestling a Neanderthal, right? Connor Smalley is a big boy, so it fabulous to see James do his job.”
Bozzi weighed in a 179.5, was giving up 24 pounds to Smalley. Gillahan then gave up about 42 pounds to Knorp at 285, but bumping those two up allowed Cole to put out his ‘best wrestlers.’
Bethlehem Catholic 37, Notre Dame-GP 27
107: Max Quarry (ND) maj. dec. Michael Nicosia, 11-0
114: Cael Muller (ND) tech. fall Gino Bozzi, 16-1, 5:08
121: Nico Emili (BC) pinned Cole Schwartz, 3:38
127: A.J. Gomez (BC) pinned Trey Neith, 4:58
133: Jack Cole (BC) pinned Mason Roncolato, 4:23
139: Andre Cerrato (BC) pinned Tyler Coad, 3:46
145: Gavyn Kelton (ND) dec. Reef Dillard, 7-4
152: Keanu Dillard (BC) pinned Mason Kanuck, 2:59
160: Jared Gonzalez (ND) maj. dec. Jaden Santiago, 9-0
172: Mason Thomas (BC) maj. dec. Cole Retos, 13-3
189: Dom Sumpolec (ND) pinned Zach Papcsy, 1:21
215: Connor Smalley (ND) tech. fall James Bozzi, 21-4, 5:53
285: Connor Gillahan (BC) dec. Noah Knorp, 2-1
Referee: Larry Dieter
Senior writer Tom Housenick can be reached at thousenick@mcall.com
