At last weekend’s District XI Class 3A Wrestling Tournament, Jim Best was named Coach of the Year.
It was an honor that the Hornets second year head coach was surprised by.
“I was a little bit,” admitted Best, ” just given how successful District XI teams did at the statewide level and in the state dual meet tournament.
“It’s a vote by my peers. I’m honored that they have looked at the work that we’ve done and when I say ‘we’ I’m talking about the coaching staff, the wrestlers, the parents have done at Emmaus and have said ‘that’s the team that deserves that recognition.’ It’s a real honor.”
And one, well-deserved.
Now, Best is hoping all that all that good coaching he’s instilled in the program since Day 1 of practice will pay off as his wrestlers prepare for the upcoming Northeast Regional Tournament
Five Hornets — senior Jesse Scott, juniors Xayden Sallit and Jackson Max and sophomores Emilio Albanese and Teagan Caciolo — will all begin that journey on Friday as wrestlers from Districts 11, 2, 4 and 12 converge at Liberty High School’s Memorial Gymnasium.
The goal: finish top five in your respective weight classification and earn a trip to Hershey.
It’s a goal that Best says is very doable for his squad.
He also knows that his wrestlers can’t look too far ahead, keeping the mindset of one match a time.
“We looked at the brackets when they came out and really, we just focus on that first-round matchup and we like our chances,” said Best following practice on Thursday. “We feel like it’s reasonable to go 5-for-5 in that first round and put five into the quarterfinals and then we will focus on that second round.”
Four of the five Hornets that will be in action beginning tonight have already competed – and placed – at regionals.
Albanese was the team’s highest place-winner a year ago finishing third at 107; Both Scott and Caciolo placed fifth at 160 and 121, respectively, while Sallit was sixth at 152.
“It’s invaluable,” said Best of the experience of competing at regionals. “They understand the dynamic of the tournament and this tournament, as is the case of with all post-season events, gets tougher and tougher and more challenging every round that you advance.
“We talked about it yesterday at practice. The survivors that move on from this tournament, they go in with a warrior mentality and they keep that warrior mentality.”
Best also knows competing in District 11, arguably the best in the state, prepares his wrestlers for what lies ahead.
“I don’t want to slight any of the other districts that feed into this Northeast Regional Tournament, but our district tournament is an absolute grind,” he said. “The weight classes that we qualified wrestlers into this regional, we knew going into our district tournament that if we can place in the top five, our chances of making it out to Hershey are good because there’s not going to be a whole lot more coming in from those other regions that would really be better than what we faced last week. “
Albanese (31-6) was the lone Hornet a year ago to reach the state tournament finishing fourth.
Both Scott (28-12) and Caciolo (27-11) missed out by one spot, while Sallit (31-9) also came up short after placing sixth at regionals.
For Max (32-7), this will be his first opportunity at regionals.
“Without being unrealistic, we feel as a coaching staff that we are still going to be having five guys coming into practice on Monday afternoon getting ready for the state tournament,” said a confident Best.
Emmaus wrestlers (1st round matchups)
107 – Jackson Max vs Santino Aniska (West Scranton, 31-9)
114 – Emilio Albanese (31-6) vs Connor Garrison (Athens, 3-8)
121 – Teagan Caciolo (27-11) vs Zaine Campbell (Athens, 29-6)
160 – Jesse Scott (28-12) vs Abraham May (Roman Catholic, 26-16)
172 – Xayden Sallit (31-9) vs Travis Walton (Delaware Valley, 27-10)
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