Prior to the start of season, Jim Best was asked about the chances of one of his wrestlers reaching the biggest stage in the sport — Hershey.
Without hesitation, Emmaus’ second-year head coach answered: Emilio Albanese.
Turns out, he was right.
The Hornets 107-pound fab freshman punched his ticket to the “Sweetest Place on Earth” that all wrestlers dream about at the beginning of the season as qualified for the PIAA Class 3A State Tournament with a third place finish at this past weekend’s Northeast Regional Tournament held at Liberty High School.
Albanese, who won four of his five matches at regionals, will be the lone entry from Emmaus competing at states and he’ll do it with a sparkling 35-4 record in just his first season on the varsity.
“After suffering a tough semifinal loss, Emilio put together two solid wins to qualify for the state tournament,” said a proud Best. “His final match for third place was a rematch with an opponent he had lost to earlier in the year.
Albanese, the No. 2 seed, lost his only match to a familiar foe in Whitehall sophomore Wilmont Kai 8-2, but then battled back in the consolation round to defeat Nazareth’s Derek Fulmer by fall before claiming third with a one-point win (4-3) over West Scranton’s Connor Lagier. Albanese had lost to Lagier back on January 13 at the Mid-Winter Mayhem at IUP, 6-4 in sudden victory.
“As he has all season, Emilio showed composure and savy in that last match and the momentum of avenging a loss will carry with him into the state tounament this week.”
Albanese first match at states will be on Thursday against Upper Dublin freshman Dominick Powell who is 34-6 on the season.
Three of his teammates – fellow freshman Teagan Caciolo, junior Jesse Scott and sophomore Xayden Sallit – just missed out on qualifying.
“All four of our wrestlers were competing in the regional tournament for their first time and each of them had five to eight highly-skilled and committed competitors (including themselves) in their weight class that were motivated to secure a top four finish and an opportunity to compete in the state championship tournament,” said Best.
Both Caciolo and Scott finished in fifth place in their respective weight classes at 121 and 160, while Sallit was sixth at 152.
“There is a steep learning curve that comes with navigating that type of competition, which typically involves wrestling two near-flawless matches and usually putting them together back to back in order to secure a top finish,” pointed out Best. “Our end results fell a bit short of what we set out to accomplish this past weekend, but the “take always” for each individual that competed will pay great dividends next season when they are in a similar situation.”
Caciolo (31-10) went 3-2 in the tournament and won his fifth place match over Northampton’s Colin Marano 5-2. He also registered one of the biggest wins of the weekend.
“Teagan competed in a “gauntlet” of a weight class,” said Best. “He wrestled well in the opening two rounds, knocking off a previous three-time state qualifier in the quarterfinal match (West Scranton’s Tyson Cook, 4-2).
“In the semis, he faced (Blake) Dergham from Parkland for the fourth time this season and lost on a takedown call in the third period (3-2) that could have gone either way. Less than two hours later, he found himself against another really talented freshman from Abington Heights (Mason Whitney)and he fell behind early, battled back late, but ran out of time to close the gap and suffered a heartbreaking 7-5 loss. He then finished the tournament with a solid win over an opponent he had split wins with in the district tournament.”
Scott (30-13) also went 3-2 and showed a lot of resiliency, bouncing back after two tough consecutive losses to roll to a 13-0 major decision win over Colin Price from Abington Heights.
“Jesse had a solid 6-1 opening round win over the District 12 champion from St. Joe’s Prep,” said Best. “In the quarterfinals, he avenged two earlier-season losses over an athletic and talented Elijah Simak of Nazareth 3-1 and in the championship and consolation semifinal matches, he lost to two experienced senior wrestlers in Pottsville’s Nick Kunstek, who finished first, and Easton’s James Geiger, fourth.
“He finished his tournament with a dominating win in the fifth place consolation match, That was an important win for him in terms of keeping him highly-motivated to continue progressing in the off-season and picking up prestige points for next season’s district tournament seeding.”
Sallit was involved in six matches during the tournament and wound up with a 3-3 record.
“Xayden opened the tournament with a solid win (5-2 over Delaware Valley’s Travis Walton) but suffered a loss to a familiar opponent in the quarterfinal in Easton’s Quentin Hammerstone,” said Best. “In the consolation bracket, he won two matches in a row with dominating performances (a pin in 3:39 over Wallenpaupack’s Tristian Braxton and an 11-7 decision over West Scranton’s Angel Olavarria).
“His last two matches didn’t go as we had game planned for, but in typical Xayden fashion, he competed with toughness and grit in both.”
Sallit lost to Pottsville’s Parrish Mcfarland by major decision (12-1) and Hammerstone again in the fifth place match (6-1). He finished the season 29-15.
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