The continued progression of the Emmaus wrestling program was on full display yesterday at the District XI AAA Duals at Freedom High School as the Hornets battled one of the top programs in the area.
Facing favorite and No. 3 seed Easton, sixth-seeded Emmaus pushed the Red Rovers to the limit before coming out on the short end of 31-22 final score.
“Our challenge to the team was to compete hard from the first whistle to the final whistle in every individual matchup, and the 13 wrestlers that stepped onto the mat against Easton met that challenge,” said Hornets head coach Jim Best.
“Easton has a very good team, and the fact that we were within nine of points of defeating them, which basically comes down to reversing the outcome of one individual match and giving up a few less bonus points, displays the progress that the team has made in the last 12 months.”
With 12 dual wins on their resume, Emmaus won six of the 13 bouts, but the Red Rovers earned seven victories, including junior Kurtis Crossman’s pin of senior Ashir Choudhry in the final bout at 215 to clinch the dual for Easton.
Emmaus had fallen to the Red Rovers the last two years (41-15 and 51-6), but did beat Easton 30-25 in the district duals back in the 2019-20 season.
The Hornets nearly made it two wins in the last five years.
Emmaus led the dual early winning two of the first three matches as junior Jackson Max (29-5) won by tech fall over freshman Gavyn Mindler 16-0 and freshman Camren Martinez (11-5) pinned junior Chris Molina in :59 seconds.
Easton then picked up three straight wins to take a 19-11 lead earning bonus points from 121-133 as junior Nick Salamone won by major decision over sophomore Emilio Albanese, who bumped up a weight class, 10-2; sophomore Noah Fenner major decisioned fellow sophomore Levi Max 15-1; and sophomore Ethan Krazer pinned sophomore Tommy Fallstich in 4:26.
The Hornets responded winning four of the next five bouts as freshman Xyler Sallit (139), seniors Chance Henry (145) and Jesse Scott (160), along with junior Xayden Sallit (172) all picked up one-point victories, before Easton secured the dual with victories in the last two bouts.
“Our team mantra coming into this season was “Committed, Consistent, Coachable, Confident and the team displayed those 4 “”C”s” throughout the dual meet season,” said Best.
“The coaching staff, and hopefully the Emmaus wrestling community, is super proud of the growth the team has achieved throughout the season, but we are not content. There is plenty of work to be done, and now we focus on preparing each individual wrestler for peak performance levels in their respective individual post-season tournaments.”
Up next for Emmaus will the District XI AAA individual tournament, which gets underway February 21 and 22 at Liberty High School.
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Easton 31, Emmaus 22
285 – Alonzo Parker (Ea) tech fall Logan Roth 19-1
107 – Jackson Max (Em) tech fall Gavyn Mindler 16-0
114 – Cam Martinez (Em) pinned Chris Molina in :59
121 – Nicholas Salamone (Ea) major dec. Emilio Albanese 10-2
127 – Noah Fenner (Ea) major dec. Levi Max 15-1
133 – Ethan Krazer (Ea) pinned Tommy Fallstich in 4:26
139 – Xyler Sallit (Em) dec. Brendan Bowman 2-1
145 – Chance Henry (Em) dec. Evan Carss 13-12
152 – Chris Kelly (Ea) dec. Logan Armstrong 7-0
160 – Jesse Scott (Em) dec. Quentin Hammerstone 1-0
172 – Xayden Sallit (Em) dec. Justin Cosover 2-1
189 – Shae Linegar (Ea) dec. Massimo Tranguch 7-2
215 – Kurtis Crossman (Ea) pinned Ashir Choudhry in 1:52
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