Nazareth's Zemenak aces early test

FROM THE MORNING CALL

A controversial call at the end of regulation tested Nazareth sophomore Chase Zemenak both physically and mentally.

His 126-pound bout in the quarterfinal round of Wednesday's Bethlehem Holiday Wrestling Classic at Liberty High School was tied 4-4 after Bryan Israel of Saucon Valley scored a reversal as time expired. The former summertime wrestling-room partners remained deadlocked until Israel elected to take top in the ultimate tiebreaker. Zemenak needed just nine seconds to escape and secure the 5-4 victory.

He is one of three Blue Eagles who advanced to today's tournament semifinals at Memorial Gymnasium. Overall, Nazareth is second among the 30 teams entered with 103 points. Wyoming Seminary leads the way with 132. Phillipsburg is third with 93 points.

"I was looking for a major so I wasn't expecting to be pushed that hard," said Zemenak, who is the No. 7 seed while Israel is seeded second. "I was frustrated. I was surprised when it went into OT, and I was out of gas. But even though he rode me out in overtime, I was confident I could get out if I really needed to."

Blue Eagles coach Dave Crowell said it's a match Zemenak likely would have lost a season ago.

"That was a big step in the mental category. The call at the end of regulation was questionable and now he's thinking all of the sudden it's overtime. It would've been easy for Chase to hang his head but he was able to fight through and win it," Crowell said. "And, he won it from bottom. A year ago, that was his weakest position.

"He's certainly made a big jump and that's really good to see."

Zemenak, who went 29-16 and finished third in the District 11 Class 3A tournament last season, meets unseeded freshman Max Elling of Phillipsburg in the semifinals. A victory over Elling would advance Zemenak into the championship round where he would likely meet Wyoming Seminary star Dom Malone, who is ranked third in the country.

"My goal is to make the final and wrestle Malone," he said. "I want to wrestle the third-best wrestler in the nation and see how I fare."

The two other Blue Eagles to reach the final four at their weight class are rapidly improving lightweight Tyrone Klump and 220-pounder Aaron Bradley.

Klump was a pedestrian 13-11 last winter but, according to Crowell, worked relentlessly in the offseason and is now one of the district's top 106-pounders. The unseeded Klump won a preliminary bout by fall, defeated highly regarded freshman Shane Jones of Stroudsburg 7-1, then decisioned second-seeded Tyler Harka of Saucon Valley 3-0.

Bradley, meanwhile, easily won his two matches as he rounds into shape after football season.

"I've seen big improvement from our team overall," Crowell said. "The majority of the years I've come to this tournament I've left upset and discouraged. But this group of guys, win or lose, they will fight. And as a coach, that's all you can ask for."

Like Nazareth, Pen Argyl has three wrestlers in the semifinal round.

State champion Mikey Racciato at 145 pounds, Dylan Evans at 195 and Kirby Mutton at 285 all prevailed as higher-seeded wrestlers in the early rounds. Racciato — the most accomplished of the trio — is a second seed while Evans and Mutton are both seeded No. 1.

Each of the three is also rounding into wrestling shape after a long and successful football season.

Mutton, a Colonial League all-star as an interior lineman, broke a Bethlehem Holiday Classic curse and earned his first two victories at the tournament. He entered 0-for-4, missing the event as a sophomore. Mutton eked out a 5-4 win in the first round, defeated Northern Lehigh's Brandon Loch 3-1 in overtime in the quarterfinals and then offered an honest assessment of his performance.

"I want to win the title, that's the goal," the Green Knights' three-sport standout said. "I think I can do that if I wrestle well, but I'm going to need to pick it up a lot tomorrow. I wrestled pretty bad today."

Pen Argyl is the top Colonial League team in the tournament, and ninth overall, with 83.5 points.

Host Liberty will be represented by two semifinalists — 120-pounder Grimaldi Gonzlez and 132-pounder Devon Lotito. Both third-seeded Gonzalez and second-seeded Lotito advanced with a pair of pins.

http://www.mcall.com/sports/varsity/mc-wrestling-bethlehem-20111228,0,7913916.story