JOHNSTOWN — Dave Crowell wished for a moment on Friday night that he was a basketball coach.
“If this were basketball,” he said, “I could have called a timeout at about 7:15 last night.”
But Crowell leads Nazareth’s wrestling program, one that was not focused from the start of Friday’s PIAA Class 3A quarterfinal match with Council Rock South. Without being able to stop the path his Blue Eagles were on, Crowell’s message had to wait until after it loss that match on criteria.
Crowell delivered his words of wisdom later Friday night, then a group of seniors spoke in a team-only meeting.
That reset and not-so-subtle reminder did the trick.
Nazareth got progressively better Saturday at 1st Summit Arena. It rallied to beat District 7 third seed Connellsville, then knocked off a beat-up Bethlehem Catholic team for a second time in eight days and finished things off with a 54-7 dismantling of District 1 champion Boyertown to finish in third place.
It was not the desired outcome, but it was the best outcome after Friday’s poor performance.
“In some sports, you can be just a little off and your performance is just a little off,” Crowell said. “In wrestling, if you’re a little off, you’re a lot off. You know that takedown you normally get, you don’t get. The shot you normally fight off, you don’t fight off. And, there’s definitely momentum there in dual meets and even tournaments.
“Sometimes, it’s not the wins and losses. It’s the effort. You can have a really inspiring effort in a loss.”Friday’s loss inspired Nazareth to not show that side of itself again anytime soon.
Michael Good started off the third-place match with a solid major decision over Boden Waite at 127 pounds, and the Blue Eagles were rolling. Caleb Kosko, Cooper Wenrich, the Campbell brothers, Chase Brown, Dominick Tunison, Elijah Simak and Brayden Zuercher kept the momentum train running downhill.
Nazareth led 45-0 before Boyertown won a bout.
A takedown in the final 20 seconds at 107 and Crowell’s generosity in giving a backup the opportunity to compete on the state stage was all that kept the Blue Eagles from pitching a shutout against Bears, who hours earlier knocked off Council Rock South for the second time in eight days, the same team that was inspired in its win over Nazareth less than 24 hours earlier.
“We were disappointed in our performance on Friday,” senior Dominick Tunison said. “We definitely had a lot of self reflection and came out today and tried going for the next-best thing we could get, which was third place.
“I think it showed how well we can handle adversity. Coming into the state tournament, we were ranked No. 1 in the state and maybe we were thinking we were all this. And, then we lose on criteria in the first round of states. That’s definitely not the best feeling. It gave us a reality check.”
District 7 champion Franklin Regional won the 3A team title by beating Norwin for the second time in eight days. It was the first all-District 7 3A state final since 2014, and the first time in a non-Covid year that District 11 did not have a finalist.
There were all-District 11 finals the previous four years, with Bethlehem Catholic winning the previous four titles.
Coach Mike Cole’s Golden Hawks lost in Saturday morning’s state semifinals to Franklin Regional, then left without a medal when they lost to Nazareth in the consolation semifinals.
Bethlehem Catholic did not have Jack Cole or Jaden Santiago all weekend and was without Zack Papcsy on Saturday.
There were a few highlight matches in the District 11 finals rematch. Nazareth’s Caleb Kosko beat Reef Dillard for a second time in eight days by one point at 139, this time 1-0. Bethlehem Catholic’s Keanu Dillard beat Jack Campbell 1-0 at 145. Dillard is a three-time state champion and ranked No. 1 at 139. Campbell is ranked third at 145, according to PA Power Wrestling.
Senior writer Tom Housenick can reached at thousenick@mcall.com
PIAA Class 3A Team Wrestling Championships
Saturday at 1st Summit Arena, Johnstown
FIRST-ROUND CONSOLATIONS
Nazareth 33, Connellsville 24
107: Jeremy Gray (C) dec. Jack Dressler, 9-3
114: Zach Franks (C) pinned Jace Nelligan, 1:36
121: Tommy Gretz (C) pinned Derek Fulmer, 2:51
127: Nolan Rice (C) dec. Michael Good, 5-2
133: Caleb Kosko (N) dec. Landon Lynn, 10-3
139: Cooper Wenrich (N) dec. Chase Sparks, 3-2
145: Kai Vielma (C) pinned Travis Paukovitch, 2:05
152: Jack Campbell (N) dec. Luke Lilly, 4-1
160: Cade Campbell (N) dec. Jake Lilley, 4-1
172: Dominick Tunison (N) maj. dec. Cooper Lembo, 14-2
189: Elijah Simak (N) tech.fall Dylan Lytle, 20-5, 4:36
215: Brayden Zuercher (N) pinned Ryan Brown, 2:48
285: Austin Christine (N) pinned Roghan Hollis, 1:49
CONSOLATION SEMIFINALS
Nazareth 37, Bethlehem Catholic 21
121: Nico Emili (BC) pinned Matt Nigro, 0:38
127: A.J. Gomez (BC) dec. Michael Good, 11-5
133: Caleb Kosko (N) dec. Reef Dillard, 1-0
139: Andre Cerrato (BC) dec. Cooper Wenrich, 10-3
145: Keanu Dillard (BC) dec. Jack Campbell, 1-0
152: Chase Brown (N) pinned Julian Augello, 0:24
160: Cade Campbell (N) by forfeit
172: Elijah Simak (N) maj. dec. Mason Thomas, 16-6
189: Dominick Tunison (N) tech. fall James Bozzi, 19-4,
215: Brayden Zuercher (N) by forfeit
285: Connor Gillahan (BC) pinned Austin Christine, 4:03
107: Jack Dressler (N) dec. Michael Nicosia, 7-3
114: Derek Fulmer (N) maj. dec. Gino Bozzi, 11-3
Boyertown 29, Council Rock South 27
THIRD-PLACE MATCH
Nazareth 52, Boyertown 7
127: Michael Good (N) maj. dec. Boden Waite, 12-1
133: Caleb Kosko (N) tech. fall Brody Tobias, 16-1, 2:09
139: Cooper Wenrich (N) pinned Liam Diamond, 1:10
145: Jack Campbell (N) tech. fall Parker Ferri, 20-5, 4:21
152: Cade Campbell (N) tech. fall Carter Stouch, 15-0, 2:00
160: Chase Brown (N) pinned Logan Oakes, 2:51
172: Dominick Tunison (N) tech. fall Jonathan Heiser, 17-2, 4:41
189: Elijah Simak (N) maj. dec. Josh Larrimore, 16-3
215: Brayden Zuercher (N) tech. fall Kaleb Dumin, 19-3, 4:55
285: Brody Ayres (B) maj. dec. Rafael Calderon, 11-2
107: Jacob Stanchak (B) dec. Jack Dressler, 6-5
114: Derek Fulmer (N) maj. dec. Liam Vance, 15-5
121: Matt Nigro (N) dec. Carter Fogle, 5-3
CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH
Franklin Regional 29, Norwin 24
SEMIFINALS
Franklin Regional 37, Bethlehem Catholic 31
114: Beau Fennick (FR) pinned Gino Bozzi, 3:57
121: Nico Emili (BC) pinned Connor Visnick, 0:20
127: A.J. Gomez (BC) dec. Titus Colangelo, 9-5
133: Andre Cerrato (BC) pinned Salvatore Nassif, 3:31
139: Chase Smith (FR) dec. Reef Dillard, 4-0
145: Keanu Dillard (BC) tech. fall Cohen Buccione, 17-2, 5:16
152: Max Firestine (FR) pinned Julian Augello, 0:32
160: Michael Ruane (FR) tech. fall Mason Thomas, 21-6, 4:41
172: Jordan Perks (FR) pinned Nicholas Reyes, 2:36
189: Ethan Cartwright (FR) tech. fall James Bozzi, 16-1, 4:27
215: Connor Gillahan (BC) tech. fall Kaydon Ferrell, 18-3, 4:43
285: John Montgomery (FR) pinned Grant Mulhern, 1:03
107: Michael Nicosia (BC) by forfeit
Norwin 37, Council Rock South 34
Senior writer Tom Housenick can be reached at thousenick@mcall.com
