DALLAS — Two straight meets, two straight undefeated division opponents on the schedule for Dallas.
Just like their last dual, it was the Mountaineers standing victorious on Wednesday night — and now Dallas stands alone at the top of Division 2 of the Wyoming Valley Conference.
A hot start put the Mountaineers ahead and they held on from there, taking down Berwick 39-28 to take over pole position in Division 2 with just one match remaining next Wednesday against Tunkhannock.
In just two matches, the Mountaineers have taken down the other top threats to win the division — Hanover Area last week and now the two-time defending division champs in Berwick.
With the head-to-head edge on both schools, Dallas can’t finish any worse than tied for first with either the Hawkeyes or Bulldogs and have all but wrapped up a division title in their first year after moving to Division 2.
But the Mountaineers are still firmly locked in on finishing the season strongly and not leaving anything up to chance.
“We’ve done what we had to do in the conference to this point,” Dallas coach Mike Richards said. “We just have to finish up on Wednesday.”
The beginning of Wednesday night’s meet mirrored Dallas’s start against Hanover Area last week. It was all Mountaineers through the first four matches, building up a quick 23-0 lead.
Hunter Pitcavage got the ball rolling with a tech fall at 172 pounds, and then Dallas scored three pins to round out the heavier weights.
Two of those pins — Jayden Benscoter at 215 pounds and William Henniger at 285 — were first-period falls, fairly routine.
Kenny Martin’s victory at 189 was a bit more dramatic. After falling behind early in the first period, Martin fought his way back in the second and scored the pinfall right at the buzzer.
After conferring with the scorer’s table, the referee determined that the pin came before the buzzer sounded, and six crucial points came back to the Dallas bench with Martin.
“You can’t get any closer to a buzzer-beater than that,” Richards said. “I’m glad we got the pin because you don’t know what happens in another four minutes of wrestling.”
A forfeit win at 107 pounds got Berwick on the board, and undefeated Carmen Malt added six more points with a pin at 121 pounds to cut the Dallas lead to 23-12.
The Bulldogs worked around a forfeit at 127 pounds, scoring a major decision from Sawyer Keller at 133 and a pin from Conner Roberts to make it 29-22 with three matches left.
Dallas needed a closer, and Caiden Scouten slammed the door shut at 145 pounds with a second-period pinfall to put the match out of reach.
The Mountaineers improved to 4-0 with just Tunkhannock standing between them and a perfect division season. Berwick dropped to 3-1, and they’ll finish up the regular season against Hanover Area next Wednesday.
Dallas 39, Berwick 28
107 — Misael Rivera (BER) won by forfeit; 114 — Double forfeit; 121 —Carmen Malt (Ber) pinned Aidan Jennings, 0:56; 127 — Tyler Roberts (DAL) won by forfeit; 133 — Sawyer Keller (BER) maj. dec. over Aidan Hilburt, 13-1; 139 — Conner Roberts (BER) pinned Noah Moran, 3:21; 145 — Caiden Scouten (DAL) pinned Brett Knorr, 3:25; 152 — Jacob Guerriero (BER) pinned Troy Jones, 3:17; 160 — Bobby Booth (DAL) maj. dec. over Brock Simms, 13-4; 172 — Hunter Pitcavage (DAL) tech fall over Skyler Nevel, 18-2; 189 — Kenny Martin (DAL) pinned Francis Yosh, 4:00; 215 — Jayden Benscoter (DAL) pinned Jamir Ramos, 0:52; 285 — William Henniger (DAL) pinned Jaxson Reader, 1:48.
Match started at 172 pounds