Easton Area High School's team-score lead among many surprises at District 11 Class AAA wrestling tournament

FROM THE EXPRESS TIMES

Surprise, surprise.

The District 11 Class AAA tournament threw up all kinds of surprises on at its opening session Friday night in front of a half-full Memorial Gym at Liberty High School.

Start with the team score.

Easton Area High School, already with two junior varsity starters, likely lost two more varsity stalwarts this week, meaning the Red Rovers came into Liberty with four JV wrestlers in its lineup.

So, many were surprised, at the least, to see Easton leading the team score with 79 points to Parkland's 70 and with eight semifinalists, more than any other school. The Trojans and Blue Mountain have six each.

"We're running out of JV wrestlers," Easton coach Steve Powell said. "I have faith in all of my guys we have out there to win. We have eight semifinalists and Jagger Miller (170) almost made it. It's hard to see us having any more than that."

Some of the Red Rovers in the semis were no surprise at all, such as senior captain Mitch Minotti at 145 pounds, who won his 150th career match in the first round with a pin of Ardis Smith of Liberty in 3:59.

But 11th-seeded junior Kyler Kilpatrick (152) and 13th-seeded Jose Roche (126) certainly raised eyebrows as they marched into today's 10:30 a.m. semifinal round alongside Anthony Parisi (106), Peter Stanley (120), Robbie Rizzolino (132), Tyler Greene (182) and Francis Slover (195).

Kilpatrick (17-10), upset No. 6 seed Jake Young of Freedom 6-4 in overtime in his opener and then handled No. 3 seed Gordon Daichendt of Emmaus 3-1 in the quarterfinals.

But Kilpatrick at least has been on the varsity all season -- unlike Roche, a sophomore who won the District 11 JV championship at 133 pounds last weekend.

"I found out Monday I'd be wrestling varsity this week," said Roche, who's now 7-0 as a varsity wrestler this year with Powell joking he "could be the next Cael Sanderson (Penn State's coach who was unbeaten in college)."

Roche was no joke Friday, though, dismantling No. 4 seed Kody Stencovage of Pottsville 14-5 in his opener and No. 5 Mason Byrne of East Stroudsburg South in the quarterfinals.

"I was a little nervous this morning but I knew I couldn't be nervous tonight and just had to go out and wrestle," said Roche, who credited his Saints youth coach, Brian Lutz, with getting him started strongly in the sport in sixth grade. "My conditioning was great this week, even when I cut some weight which was a little difficult, and conditioning was a big help to me. Even though this was a last-minute thing I felt pretty good out there."

Powell credited Minotti with his team's success.

"It's always a big help to have such a good kid as Mitch in the lineup, and it's always bigger when he's a great leader," Powell said. "He acts as a coach in the room in a positive way."

Easton's eight are among 22 local wrestlers in the semifinals. They're joining Nazareth's Tyrone Klump (106), Chase Zemenak (120), David Wilke (195), Aaron Bradley (220) and Brandon Lance (285); Northampton's Zach Valley (113), Jason Stephen (138), Cole Sheptock (152) and Marcus Newson (182); Liberty's Grimaldi Gonzalez (120) and Devon Lotito (126), Freedom's Josh Young (160) and Evan Kauffman (220); and Bangor's Charlie Sell (126).

Surprises popped up several places on that list, notably in Sell and Lance, two freshmen who looked anything but freshmen on Friday.

Sell (14-5 on the season), was seeded sixth at 126 but defeated Dieruff's Kenneth Nguyen and Parkland's Billy Hoh for a semifinal date against Blue Mountain's 38-1 Corey Keener.

"I was nervous today, my first time being here," Sell said. "I've put a lot of hard work in and it's paying off, but I never even thought I'd be in the district semifinals."

Slaters coach Rick Thompson couldn't be happier for Sell, who said he attends every club practice he can after Bangor workouts.

"He has the best work ethic and is the most dedicated kid on the team," Thompson said. "He's a cross country kid, a track kid, but his best sport is wrestling. Every Bangor kid who wants to wrestle should emulate what Charlie does."

The biggest surprise of the night came in close to the last bout of the night when Nazareth's Lance (16-11), the No. 10 seed, handed Freedom junior Tyler Peerson a 3-2 tiebreaker loss in a 285-pound quarterfinal. Peerson (28-5) was the highest seed (No. 2) to lose Friday, and Lance avenged a 5-2 loss in the regular season to Peerson.

"This is what I've been working towards the whole year," said Lance, a 15-year-old who's been wrestling since he was 4. "This was my fifth overtime match this season, and I lost my first two, but then I got Aaron Bradley and David Wilke to take it to me every day in practice and that really helped. It's all about experience."

Peerson's long, lanky body contrasted sharply to the more compact Lance, but the Blue Eagle freshman said that wasn't a problem.

"You just have to keep pushing him, find a hole and close in on it," said Lance, who reversed Peerson in the tiebreaker for the win. "This may have been my first year in high school districts, but there's no difference, it's just like any other match. I had to keep my composure and stay away from his big moves. He took me down twice in the regular season but not at all this time."

That was no surprise to Lance -- even if it was to everybody else.

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