Bethlehem Catholic High School's wrestling win over Nazareth no surprise this year

FROM THE EXPRESS TIMES

When Bethlehem Catholic High School's wrestlers defeated Nazareth Area High School last January the result surprised many longtime area fans.

The only thing surprising about Wednesday night's 57-6 Golden Hawk romp was the size of the margin.

The Lehigh Valley Conference match belonged to Becahi (4-0 overall and league) from the start. The Blue Eagles (2-3 overall, 2-2 league) won just one bout - Aaron Bradley's 47-second pin at 220 pounds - and scored just two takedowns the entire match.

Becahi coach Jeff Karam said the margin was deceiving.

"(Nazareth coach ) Dave Crowell could have made it closer but he went for some better matchups," Karam said. "They're missing a whole lot of kids and they are a lot better than they showed tonight."

Crowell acknowledged his team's injuries, but is perhaps losing patience with the inexperience argument.

"If you're going to lose at least go out there and shoot, lose because you're shooting and trying to score and I don't think we did that." he said. "Some guys are maybe going out there afraid to lose, and if you go out there that way you'll never do enough to win. We have some young guys but we've been practicing for a while and you have to get past that. It's time for us to take the next step."

For an example of what Crowell would like to see, look at Becahi junior 195-pounder Josh Alpha. Last year he lost to the Blue Eagles' David Wilke by 1-0; Wednesday he won 3-2 by controlling the bout with the only takedown and escaping from Wilke to start the second period.

"Last year coaches didn't trust me (to get out) on the bottom but I've made a lot of improvement in all my positions," Alpha said. "Having more offense is both confidence and technique, and the work I put in the summer and in the room, staying later, working on my shots and setups and getting extra help. I got better on my feet from an awful lot of practice."

Despite the final score there were several close bouts -- but all won by Becahi, such as Alpha, Ryan Todora (2-1 at 160), Aaron Morekin (6-1 at 152, thanks to five late third-period points), Ben Bunce (3-2 at 285) and Nick Frankenfield (8-6 at 120).

"You know you were in trouble when a reporter comes up to you and says you were in some of the matches," Crowell said. "We have to go out and give a good accounting of ourselves. If you just go out and stand there and get pinned you've not learned anything, you've just gotten pinned. I think we could have done better."

Blue Eagle junior Bradley Gross had the other Nazareth takedown -- he came out of the gate and took down Becahi's two-time state runner-up Randy Cruz at 138 to open their bout. Cruz came back for a second-period fall, but Gross went down shooting.

Some of the closer matches may have been due to Karam bumping his lineup up a weight, and the Becahi coach liked what he saw even so.

"I thought we wrestled well as a team," he said. "We had to be ready for Nazareth; we had this match scored one way as a tossup. Getting to the main swing of our schedule, we want our kids to be challenged."

Crowell would have liked to give Karam even more of what he wanted challenge-wise - but not this year.

NOTES: Becahi frosh Rick Frable put on a show at 132 with a first-period technical fall ... Both teams will be away over the weekend, with Becahi at the Escape the Rock Tournament at Council Rock South while Nazareth travels to the Virginia Duals.

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