The Bethlehem Catholic wrestling team’s match against Freedom ended a two-week hiatus from the sport for EPC teams throughout Northampton county due to COVID-19 cases.
The Golden Hawks picked up right where they left off and posted a 56-3 victory against the Patriots at Joseph J. McIntyre gym on Tuesday night.
Bethlehem Catholic, ranked No. 1 by lehighvalleylive, won each of the last 12 bouts in an impressive return to the mat.
Bethlehem Catholic coach Jeff Karam was relieved to see his wrestlers face outside competition 18 days after their last dual meet.
“Wrestling isn’t running out there, throwing a ball,” the longtime Golden Hawks’ leader said. “You’re going in and you’re getting at it every day in the room practicing. If anything, this year, it made me definitely a more creative coach as far as what we’re doing in the room. Just hearing different voices, I have a great staff with Randy (Cruz), Steve Harner, John Hughes.”
Local fans who’ve been starved of high-ranked matchups due to several match cancellations were treated to a thriller in the night’s opening bout at 106.
Trailing Charlie Pavis 3-1 to start the third period, Freedom sophomore CJ Horvath brought relentless pressure in the final two minutes to earn two takedowns in a 5-4 victory.
“CJ showed a lot of heart there, coming up with a big win at the end,” Freedom coach Dante Terenzio said. “Just firing shot after shot after shot, that’s something that CJ is capable of doing. He has an unlimited gas tank, which is impressive because he’s making a pretty big jump (down) to 106.”
The Golden Hawks would respond with four straight falls from Cael McIntyre (113), Andrew Mayer (120), Ashton Campbell (126) and Dante Frinzi (132).
At 138 pounds, Bethlehem Catholic sophomore Andrew Harmon’s mat savvy proved crucial in a 9-3 decision win against Connor Bevan. Harmon scored two second period takedowns on re-shots before Bevan scrambled well late on to not give up the major.
“(Bevan) always goes really hard and I told Andrew about that,” Karam said. “I thought it was a well-played out match. Connor stayed in his face, but Andrew just won those certain wrestling situations there. I think that match was a lot closer than the score.”
Freshman Jared Karabinus offered a bright spot for the Pates at 145, albeit in a 7-4 loss to Trey Miletics.
“We hold Jared to the same standard as an upperclassman, because we know what he’s capable of doing,” Terenzio said. “We know what we’re going to get from him, we know he’s going to do big things for us in the future.”
After a first period fall from Evan Gleason (152), sophomore Landon Muth overcame a tentative start to earn an 11-3 major decision at 160 against Chris Jurado.
“Wrestling is such a sport with confidence and Landon is figuring that out,” Karam said. “Technically, he’s one of the best kids in our room, it’s when he comes out under the light that sometimes you doubt yourself and he’s starting to believe in himself.”
Another Bethlehem Catholic sophomore closed the match out in exciting fashion as Nico Spezza (285) worked a takedown at the edge of the mat in the third period of a 3-2 decision victory against Ryan Frantz.
“Nico’s young, he’s not a true heavyweight yet,” Karam said. “We see it every day in the room with Nico, Nico knows how to wrestle. He’s still growing into being a heavyweight, that maturity factor.”
The Golden Hawks can enjoy the victory as well as being named District 11 3A team champions after the tournament, originally scheduled for this weekend, was cancelled due to several teams withdrawing from the competition.
Karam said his team chose to enter the tournament before hearing of the decision on Sunday.
“I left it up to my team,” Karam said. “We went through everything at practice I told them, ‘Let’s talk about tomorrow, come up with your decision,’… They started practice and every hand went up. I got taken aback a little bit.”
“In hindsight, I feel relieved in the sense that we don’t stretch into this weekend and wrestle multiple teams. I’m sure the other coaches, obviously because they already pulled out, they felt that.”
With the District 11 individual tournament a week and a half away, Karam indicated Bethlehem Catholic would hold wrestle-offs to determine who will compete for individual accolades, while Terenzio hopes Freedom can just hold practice after having several shutdowns due to COVID-19.
“We need to get into the room and that’s been our issue all season,” Terenzio said. “We’ve had a total of maybe 12 practices over the last two or three months. It’s just a matter of getting in the room and just getting in shape. We’re not in shape right now, as you can see, third period rolls around and we don’t look how we should.”
Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to lehighvalleylive.com.
Desmond Boyle may be reached at dboyle@lehighvalleylive.com.
"freedom" - Google News
February 10, 2021 at 06:00PM
https://ift.tt/36WEipW
Bethlehem Catholic wrestling wins all but one bout in victory over Freedom - lehighvalleylive.com
"freedom" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2VUAlgg
https://ift.tt/2VYSiKW
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Bethlehem Catholic wrestling wins all but one bout in victory over Freedom - lehighvalleylive.com"
Post a Comment