At PIAA Class 3A tournament Trojans triumphed over Easton to take team title

FROM THE MORNING CALL

Of all the wrestlers introduced before Saturday night's PIAA Class 3A Northeast Regional championships, Whitehall junior Matt Bonshak might have had the least impressive credentials.

But Bonshak was probably one of the most accomplished all-around athletes in the finals: He's also a football and baseball player at Whitehall.

It is now appropriate to refer to Bonshak as a standout in three sports.

One week after winning a District 11 title, the Zephyr added a regional crown to his resume with a 5-4 win over Aaron Transue of Stroudsburg at 160 pounds. Bonshak's wrestling career before this unlikely postseason run was "probably a little above average," as he called it. He had previously failed to place at districts, and therefore qualify for regions, as a freshman or sophomore.

"These last two weeks exceeded my expectations by a longshot," Bonshak said. "I don't know what it is. From last year to this year, my confidence level is just way up. I'm feeling terrific."

Bonshak was the lone Whitehall wrestler in a final round that was ruled by Lehigh Valley Conference parity. District 11 champion Easton, Liberty, Nazareth and Northampton all crowned two champions while Parkland took home the team title.

Parkland edged out Easton in the team standings, 110-104.5. Nazareth finished third with 103. Veteran Red Rovers coach Steve Powell protested the final numbers, but a suspenseful recalculation confirmed the Trojans as champions.

The roll call of regional champions included Parkland's Ethan Lizak (106), Pleasant Valley's Sean Bianco (113), Liberty's Grimaldi Gonzalez (120) and Devon Lotito (132), Northampton's Jason Stephen (138) and Cole Sheptock (152), Easton's Mitchell Minotti (145) and Tyler Greene (182), and Nazareth's David Wilke (195) and Aaron Bradley (220).

Of the 14 regional gold medalists, 11 won district titles one week earlier.

The 160-pound matchup between Bonshak and Transue was one of the most competitive. Bonshak, who is 28-2 this season, scored the opening takedown in the first period but Transue rallied to take a brief 4-2 second-period advantage. Bonshak came back almost immediately with an escape and another takedown for a one-point lead entering the final two minutes.

Neither wrestler scored in the third period.

"He's a big-move kind of wrestler," said Bonshak, who missed several weeks of action early this season with a knee injury. "I just focused on staying fundamentally sound."

Whitehall coach Tim Cunningham and Bonshak both are enjoying all of the postseason success.

"Matt's peaking at the right time," Cunningham said. "He only wrestles during the season and he took a loss his first match. We reminded him that he needed to be ready when it mattered most, not early on. He's the kind of kid you don't need to talk to, though. He gets himself motivated and focused. And he's one of the nicest kids you'll meet and a straight-A student."

"A big thing for me," Bonshak said, "is the incredible amount of support I'm getting from the Whitehall community and the surrounding area. I really appreciate it. And now I'm very excited to go to Hershey. I'm going to enjoy every moment."

Another LVC standout who enjoyed a memorable weekend was Liberty's Lotito, who kicked it off Friday by winning his 100th career match.

Like Bonshak, Lotito repeated his district finals performance with an exciting come-from-behind 8-4 win over Dieruff's DeMarquis Holley. (Lotito edged Holley 1-0 in the district final.) A three-point near fall put Holley in control in the second period, but an escape, a takedown and a penalty point helped Lotito get back in contention.

Lotito secured the victory with a takedown and two near fall points in the final period.

"After last week I thought I needed to open up more against him," Lotito said of his strategy against Holley. "I guess him getting the three near fall points was a good thing. I opened up and it provided a little extra motivation."

"Everyone panicked when Devon gave up those three," Liberty coach Jody Karam said. "I just looked at it like Devon made it a little interesting. I knew he'd win."

Karam also complimented Gonzalez, who won a 10-2 major over Nazareth's Chase Zemenak.

"You gotta respect Grim. He's established himself as one of the premier wrestlers in the area and state. I expect he'll come back from Hershey with hardware, and he's training for it to be gold," the coach said.

Perhaps the evening's most dominant performance came from a Northampton wrestler.

Sheptock scored a 16-0 technical fall over Parkland's Bryson Berard in the 152-pound final. Sheptock seems to be peaking at the right time -- earning his three region wins by fall, major and technical fall.

"I guess you could say this is my best match," said the brother of former Konkrete Kids standout Jimmy Sheptock. "I feel really good. I'm definitely looking forward to states and hopefully getting another shot at [Garrett] Peppelman."

Sheptock lost 8-5 to Peppelman of Central Dauphin, one of the state's top 152-pounders, at the Beast of the East in December.

Team titlist Parkland crowned one individual champion in Lizak, who defeated Nazareth's Tyrone Klump 16-5 in the final. The Trojans won it, though, with their overall balance as four wrestlers competed in the finals and five advanced to states. Shaun Heist (220) won a third-place consolation.

"We really don't put a whole lot of emphasis on winning the regional tournament," Parkland coach Ryan Nunamaker said, "but we want to place as many as we can and if you do that, maybe a team title is the result. We brought seven and six finished in the top four."

Easton missed an opportunity to take home the hardware when Francis Slover dropped a 6-4 overtime decision to Nazareth's Wilke at 195. Greene put the Red Rovers in position to claim the title by scoring a takedown in the final seconds at 182 to prevail over Martin Strenk of Delaware Valley.

Blue Mountain's Corey Keener won the title at 126 pounds, his fourth regional championship. Easton's Minotti captured his third.

Among those who earned trips to Hershey with third-place consolation victories were Kenny Yanovich of Pleasant Valley (106), Zach Valley of Northampton (113), Colby Ems of East Stroudsburg South (120), Robbie Rizzolino of Easton (132), Ray Nicosia of Pocono Mountain East (152), Heist (220) and Tyler Peerson of Freedom (285).

The top three finishers in each weight class qualified for the state tournament.

Michael Blouse is a freelance writer.

PIAA CLASS 3A NORTHEAST REGION

TEAM SCORES

1. Parkland 110, 2. Easton 104.5, 3. Nazareth 103, 4. Northampton 80.5, 5. Pleasant Valley 67.5, 6. Delaware Valley 64.5, 7. Blue Mountain 63.5, 8. Stroudsburg 59, 9. Liberty 49, 10. Freedom 43, 11. Coughlin 33, 12. Dieruff 30.5, 13. Pittston 28, 14. Whitehall 27, 15. Pocono Mountain East 25.5, 16. East Stroudsburg South 24.5, 17. Williamsport 22, 18. Crestwood 21.5, 19. Shikellamy 20, 20. Hazleton 17.5, 21. Abington Heights 15, 21. Honesdale 15, 21. Pottsville 15, 21. Scranton 15, 25. Wallenpaupack 14, 26. Selinsgrove 11, 27. Emmaus 10, 27. West Scranton 10, 29. Wyoming Valley West 8, 30. Jersey Shore 6, 31. Southern Lehigh 2, 31. Tunkhannock 2, 33. Allen 1, 34. Bangor 0, 34. Berwick 0.

CHAMPIONSHIPS

106: Ethan Lizak (Parkland) major dec. Tyrone Klump (Nazareth) 16-5

113: Sean Bianco (Pleasant Valley) pin Guesseppe Rea (Stroudsburg) 2:42

120: Grimaldi Gonzalez (Liberty) major dec. Chase Zemenak (Nazareth) 10-2

126: Corey Keener (Blue Mountain) dec. Michael Dahlstrom (Pleasant Valley) 6-4

132: Devon Lotito (Liberty) dec. DeMarquis Holley (Dieruff) 8-4

138: Jason Stephen (Northampton) dec. Josh Ortman (Parkland) 4-0

145: Mitchell Minotti (Easton) def. Kyle Hankinson (Crestwood) 8-1

152: Cole Sheptock (Northampton) tech. fall Bryson Berard (Parkland) 16-0 5:12

160: Matt Bonshak (Whitehall) dec. Aaron Transue (Stroudsburg) 5-4

170: Marc Wagner (Delaware Valley) dec. Nezar Haddad (Parkland) 4-3

182: Tyler Greene (Easton) dec. Martin Strenk (Delaware Valley) 3-2

195: David Wilke (Nazareth) dec. Francis Slover (Easton) 6-4 OT

220: Aaron Bradley (Nazareth) dec. Evan Kauffman (Freedom) 5-1

285: Brad Emerick (Coughlin) pin Chris Wesolowski (Pittston) 1:05

THIRD-PLACE CONSOLATIONS

106: Kenny Yanovich (Pleasant Valley) dec. Jamie Scarantino (Pittston) 6-3

113: Zach Valley (Northampton) dec. TJ Tressler (Williamsport) 6-2

120: Colby Ems (East Stroudsburg South) dec. Tom Hendry (West Scranton) 7-3

126: CJ Palmer (Delaware Valley) dec. Jose Roche (Easton) 3-2

132: Robbie Rizzolino (Easton) pin Cody Kievman (Blue Mountain) 4:59

138: Matt Neff (Shikellamy) dec. Sage Karam (Nazareth) 4-3

145: Ray Nicosia (Pocono Mountain East) dec. Michael Marano (Parkland) 6-0

152: Michael Carr (Abington Heights) dec. Jake Young (Freedom) 4-2 OT

160: Mark Granahan (Scranton) dec. Joseph Fogle (Pocono Mountain East) 7-1

170: Mitch Myers (Blue Mountain) dec. Shawn Cicero (Pottsville) 4-3

182: Travis Moyer (Blue Mountain) dec. Marcus Newsom (Northampton) 8-3

195: Chad Hoffman (Hazleton) dec. Jovon Reyes (Dieruff) 3-1 OT

220: Shaun Heist (Parkland) major dec. Jack Fagan (Delaware Valley) 11-0

285: Tyler Peerson (Freedom) dec. Brandon Lance (Nazareth) 3-1

SEMIFINALS

106: Ethan Lizak (Parkland) pin Anthony Parisi (Easton) 3:53; Tyrone Klump (Nazareth) dec. Kenny Yanovich (Pleasant Valley) 5-0

113: Guesseppe Rea (Stroudsburg) dec. Zach Valley (Northampton) 3-2 UTB; Sean Bianco (Pleasant Valley) major dec. Larry Romanchick (Hazleton) 11-2

120: Grimaldi Gonzalez (Liberty) dec. Frank Carozza (Delaware Valley) 8-1; Chase Zemenak (Nazareth) dec. Peter Stanley (Easton) 3-0

126: Corey Keener (Blue Mountain) major dec. Kyle Krasavage (Wyoming Valley West) 11-3; Michael Dahlstrom (Pleasant Valley) def. Jose Roche (Easton) 9-5

132: Devon Lotito (Liberty) dec. Cody Kievman (Blue Mountain) 7-0; DeMarquis Holley (Dieruff) dec. Robbie Rizzolino (Easton) 6-4

138: Jason Stephen (Northampton) major dec. Frank Mahmound (Coughlin) 14-4; Josh Ortman (Parkland) dec. Derrick Simms (Wyoming Valley West) 3-2

145: Mitchell Minotti (Easton) tech. fall Angelo Lussi (Pittston) 16-1 5:15; Kyle Hankinson (Crestwood) dec. Ray Nicosia (Pocono Mountain East) 4-3

152: Cole Sheptock (Northampton) major dec. Jake Young (Freedom) 8-0; Bryson Berard (Parkland) dec. Matt Hammerstone (Crestwood) 4-3

160: Aaron Transue (Stroudsburg) pin Mark Granahan (Scranton) 3:08; Matt Bonshak (Whitehall) dec. Dyvon Gibson (Easton) 12-9

170: Marc Wagner (Delaware Valley) dec. Shawn Cicero (Pottsville) 5-2; Nezar Haddad (Parkland) dec. Eric Eaton (Selinsgrove) 3-2

182: Tyler Greene (Easton) dec. Tom Alcaro (Emmaus) 8-1; Martin Strenk (Delaware Valley) dec. Travis Moyer 4-3

195: David Wilke (Nazareth) dec. Chad Hoffman (Hazleton) 3-2; Francis Slover (Easton) dec. Troy Newhard (Emmaus) 8-5

220: Aaron Bradley (Nazareth) pin Jack Fagan (Delaware Valley) 1:15; Evan Kauffman (Freedom) dec. Shaun Heist (Parkland) 4-3

285: Brad Emerick (Coughlin) pin Brandon Lance (Nazareth) 2:52; Chris Wesolowski (Pittston) dec. Mike Benner (Pleasant Valley) 5-1 OT

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