The Emmaus wrestling team begins its quest for a first-ever District XI Team Wrestling Championship on Saturday morning at Freedom High School.
Head coach Jim Best squad, ranked No.2 in the state according to Pa. Power Wrestling, has had a historic season with a 15-1 overall record, which has included an 8-1 mark in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference.
The Hornets, who will be making their second straight appearance and fourth in the last five years in the team duals, received their highest seed ever on Friday morning as they were awarded the No. 2 overall seed.
So how ready is this team to make some more history this weekend?
“Absolutely they are excited,” said head coach Jim Best following his team’s last practice on Friday afternoon. “Most of this team has been wrestling since the youth level and have had success together. This is the moment that this group has worked for and has been waiting for a long, long time.
“They’re ready,” added Best. “They’ve achieved some really great things this season, but they haven’t put a period on the end of the sentence yet as far as dual meet success. They want to extend that sentence another two weeks.”
If Emmaus is going to do that, they will have to get through arguably the state’s toughest district tournament, which will feature five teams ranked in the top 10.
The Hornets march towards a title begins with an 11 a.m. quarterfinal round matchup against seventh-seeded Whitehall.
Emmaus and Whitehall did not face each other this season, however, the last time the Hornets won a match at the team tournament, ironically, came against the Zephyrs back in the 2021-22 season (33-23). The two rivals haven’t faced each other since the 2023-24 season where Whitehall won 39-18. Emmaus did defeat the Zephyrs the year prior (30-25) and also twice in the ’21-’22 season, once in the regular-season (36-23) and in the team duals.
“They have a real solid lineup and a lot of it is going to depend on who wins the coin flip and controls certain matches,” said Best.
A win by the Hornets would advance them to the semifinals at 2:30 p.m. against either third-seeded Becahi or sixth-seeded Easton. Emmaus defeated the four-time defending state champs earlier this season 31-21, earning their first win in nearly two decades against the Golden Hawks. They did not face Easton this season but did face the Red Rovers in last year’s team duals won by Easton.
In the other quarterfinals, Nazareth, the state’s top-ranked team, earned the top overall seed and will face eighth-seeded Liberty, while also on the upper part of the bracket, No. 4 Notre Dame Green Pond will meet fifth-seeded Northampton.
“I think from the very first round, the quarterfinals, there’s going to be some duals that are contested that you don’t know what the outcome is going to be unlike other years where you looked at some of those first round matchups and said this team is going to win and they did, but not this year,” said Best. “I think it’s a just wide-open tournament and wide-open field. The two teams that get to the finals are going to have to put together two near flawless dual meets to get there.”
Only the top two teams from District XI will advance to the PIAA State Tournament which begins on Tuesday, February 3. The quarterfinals, semifinals and finals will all be held on Friday at 1st Summit Arena in Johnstown.
Junior Emilio Albanese, ranked No. 1 in his weight class at 127, leads Emmaus with a 28-2 record. Three other wrestlers – seniors Xayden Sallit (172) and Jackson Max (139) along with junior Teagan Caciolo (121) all have 24 wins, while junior Tommy Fallstich (145) has 21. Additionally, sophomores Xyler Sallit (160) and Talan Springer have 19 wins, senior Logan Armstrong (189) 18 and junior Levi Max (114) and senior Aiden Bayard (152) each have 17.
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