DALLAS — In the blink of an eye, what looked like a dream start in Wednesday night’s district semifinals turned into a nightmare for Dallas.
Western Wayne fell behind 13-0 before a mixture of pins and forfeits tallied up 42 straight points as the Wildcats took down Dallas 47-24 and secured their spot in Saturday’s District 2 Class 2A team wrestling championship match.
The Wildcats will have a tall task ahead of them in the form of defending champions Honesdale, but wins over two tough opponents one after the other in Dallas and Berwick could provide some momentum for Western Wayne.
“We’ve had a tough season, we’ve got some young kids and we’ve lost some matches that were deflating,” said Western Wayne head coach Josh Harrison. “Winning these two matches is going to boost this team’s confidence a lot.”
Both semifinal teams were on their second dual of the night; Dallas got past Mid Valley 39-30 while Western Wayne took down Berwick 41-32 in the quarterfinal round that preceded the semis.
Dallas exercised their muscle early on, with two tech falls from Bobby Booth and Hunter Pitcavage. After Kenny Martin gutted out a 6-4 decision victory, the Mountaineers opened up a 13-0 lead.
In the 215-pound bout between Dallas’s Jayden Benscoter and Western Wayne’s James Jimenez, the Mountaineers looked primed to add to their lead as Benscoter held a comfortable lead in points.
All Jimenez needed was the slightest of openings, and he got it in the second period. The Wildcats senior was able to shift his body weight, flip over Benscoter and win the fall for Western Wayne’s first points of the dual.
From there, the floodgates opened for the Wildcats. Paul Borowski won a pinfall at 285 pounds before two forfeit wins at 107 and 114 put Western Wayne in front.
By the time Dallas was finally able to get back on the board, the Wildcats had rattled off three more pins and led 42-13, sealing the match even with three weight classes left to go.
“In high school wrestling, you just need that little momentum shift,” Harrison said. “The kids responded well and we just took off from there.”
Noah Moran picked up a pin at 139 and Troy Jones won a tech fall at 145 to help Dallas make up some ground, but the damage had been done. Gavin Morcom scored a tech fall of his own in the final bout of the night to wrap things up for Western Wayne.
Both Jones and Moran were double winners for Dallas, each scoring a pin in the Mountaineers’ quarterfinal win over Mid Valley.
Martin won a 9-7 decision in the quarterfinals to go with his decision win in the semis, and Pitcavage won by forfeit in the quarters before his tech fall victory in the semis.
Caiden Scouton was the one to put the dual away for Dallas in the quarters with a pinfall victory.
Berwick was plagued by forfeits in the Bulldogs’ loss to Western Wayne, conceding three weight classes to the Wildcats. Conner Roberts and Francis Yosh won falls for Berwick.
In the consolation bout, Mid Valley triumphed over Berwick 40-35. Mid Valley also saw a career milestone achieved on Wednesday night, as Matt Almedina picked up his 100th win in the Spartans’ quarterfinal loss.
PIAA District 2 Class 2A Team Wrestling Semifinals
Western Wayne 47, Dallas 24
107 — Nick Patuto (WW) won by forfeit; 114 — Judah Strocchia (WW) won by forfeit; 121 — Jacob Wells (WW) pinned Aiden Jennings, 0:53; 127 — RJ Walton (WW) pinned Tyler Roberts, 2:43; 133 — David Skelton (WW) pinned Aidan Hilburt, 4:22; 139 — Noah Moran (DAL) pinned Hunter Rodger, 2:44; 145 — Troy Jones (DAL) tech. fall over Kalob Franko, 17-1; 152 — Gavin Morcom (WW) tech. fall over Caiden Scouton, 20-3; 160 — Bobby Booth (DAL) tech. fall over Landon Wargo, 19-2; 172 — Hunter Pitcavage (DAL) tech. fall over Ashton Jones, 18-2; 189 — Kenny Martin (DAL) dec. over Seth Montijo, 6-4; 215 — James Jimenez (WW) pinned Jayden Benscoter, 2:34; 285 — Paul Borowski (WW) pinned William Henniger, 1:22.
Match started at 160 pounds
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