Nazareth’s Austin Christine understood the math and recognized the situation that was developing late in Wednesday’s EPC dual meet against fellow unbeatens Emmaus.
The junior could nothing about the jitters that were out in full force as the teams were tied at 25 entering the 285-pound bout, the final bout of the night at Ray Nunamaker Gymnasium.
“I was really nervous,” Christine said. “This is my first year on varsity and, I think, my third dual meet.”
Christine was facing Emmaus’ Logan Roth, who was one of the heroes in last month’s victory over Bethlehem Catholic.
A scoreless first period settled down Christine, who then got to his strength — the top position. He turned Roth three times in the second period and stayed out of trouble in the third for a 12-3 major decision and a 29-25 Blue Eagles victory.
“I was really happy being on top and knew I’d be able to turn him,” Christine added. “I’m good at riding legs, and I know most heavyweights don’t know how to defend it. He was sitting on his feet, so I just tried to pull him back over. I thought that would work, and it did.”
Nazareth got off to a good start and took advantage of Emmaus not having unbeaten Cam Martinez when Jack Dressler picked up a third-period technical fall at 107 for a 5-0 lead.
But Emmaus won the next four to build a 19-5 lead after Emilio Albanese’s technical fall at 133.
Nazareth, who didn’t have Caleb Kosko and Dominic Tunison, responded by capturing the next four capped by Cade Campbell’s 7-2 decision at 160 over Xyler Sallit to take a 20-19 advantage.
Emmaus regained the lead with Xayden Sallit’s sudden-victory takedown against Elijah Simak at 172 and Logan Armstrong’s 6-0 decision over Zak Novak at 189.
But Nazareth responded with Brayden Zuercher’s technical fall to at 215 to tie the match, setting up Christine’s heroics.
“I was happy that he got this experience,” Nazareth 139-pounder Cooper Wenrich said of his friend Christine. “I was a little worried for him, but I wasn’t so worried after he got that first turn.”
Christine pulled Roth back for the first set of four backs points 12 seconds into the second period, then did it again 45 seconds later for an 8-0 lead. He added another two backs and a stalling point for an 11-0 advantage entering the final two minutes.
Christine stayed out of trouble after choosing top to start the third despite giving up a reversal and a stalling point.
“I think he does a pretty good job staying calm and collected,” Wenrich said, “so he was focused on winning.”
Wenrich had a crucial 9-6 decision at 139 over returning state medalist Jackson Max to stop Emmaus’ four-bout winning streak. His takedown with 23 seconds left was the difference after spending much of the match defending Max’s shot attempts.
“[Max] did a really good job staying on offense,” Wenrich said. “I have pretty good conditioning and was able to wear that for the first two periods. Eventually, I was able to get in there and work my offense.”
Chase Brown was rewarded for his relentless and toughness with a 15-4 major at 152 for the Blue Eagles. The sophomore took his lumps last season, but it starting to see the payoff for his diligence, and that’s something coach Dave Crowell is happy to see.
“Watching him wrestle,” Crowell said of Brown, “he always wrestles so hard. Sometimes, he wrestles hard and doesn’t win. Tonight, it was great to see him wrestle hard and win, and he had a great tournament last week at the [Bethlehem Holiday Wrestling Classic] by placing. He’s starting to come into his own.”
With all the match’s twists and turns, it came down to the final bout. There weren’t many people in the gym who knew what to expect least of all Nazareth coach Dave Crowell, who won his 351st match with the Blue Eagles and 626th overall.
“I had no idea what was going to happen,” Crowell said. “It was good see [Christine] have the opportunity to be the hero of the night. That’s a good thing. Everyone should have that experience at least once.
“You don’t know what’s going on in [Christine’s head], sometimes. But he can turn it on when he has to. Sometimes, it’s not always the outcome you want but tonight was.”
Emmaus coach Jim Best didn’t leave with the desired outcome but he is happy with the progress his team has shown since the start of the season. He also expects that growth to continue in the weeks leading up to the District 11 team tournament.
“We knew this was going to come down to toss-up bouts,” he said, “and we dropped a couple toss-up bouts in the middle that we thought we could have gotten and it ultimately was the difference in the match.
“We competed hard but fell short of where we wanted to be on January 7th, but we realize that this isn’t the end all. We have work to do before we get to team districts. Once we do, hopefully we can get back to this team in the final.”
Nazareth takes a 5-0 record and the top spot in the District 11 Class 3A power rankings into its annual trek to the Virginia Duals. Crowell expects to have Kosko and Tunison available.
Emmaus (10-1) travels to Indiana University of Pennsylvania for the Mid-Winter Mayhem tournament.
Nazareth 29, Emmaus 25
107: Jack Dressler (N) tech. fall Andrew Gerken, 19-4, 4:37
114: Levi Max (E) dec. Derek Fulmer, 5-1
121: Talan Springer (E) tech. fall Matt Nigro, 23-8, 5:55
127: Teagan Caciolo (E) pinned Juan Diaz 1:27
133: Emilio Albanese (E) tech. fall Michael Good, 19-4, 4:36
139: Cooper Wenrich (N) dec. Jackson Max, 9-6
145: Jack Campbell (N) tech. fall Aidan Bayard, 19-4, 4:58
152: Chase Brown (N) maj. dec. Tommy Fallstich, 15-4
160: Cade Campbell (N) dec. Xyler Sallit, 7-2
172: Xayden Sallit (E) dec. Elijah Simak, 4-1 SV
189: Logan Armstrong (E) dec. Zak Novak, 6-0
215: Brayden Zuercher (N) tech. fall Chase DeCesare, 21-6, 5:02
285: Austin Christine (N) maj. dec. Logan Roth, 12-3
Referee: Mike Evans
Senior writer Tom Housenick can be reached at thousenick@mcall.com
