Impressive showing for District 11 wrestlers at PIAA Class AAA Northeast Region tournament

FROM THE EXPRESS TIMES

After Day 1 of the PIAA Class AAA Northeast Regional tournament, a total of 40 District 11 wrestlers advanced to today's semifinals at Freedom High School.

Easton Area High School sits at the top of the team race with 45 points after advancing eight of its nine regional qualifiers into the semifinals.

Ultimate underdog Jose Roche (126 pounds) is still lighting up the mats for the Red Rovers. Roche posted a fall in 1:08 and a 13-7 victory to set up his semifinal rematch with Pleasant Valley's Mike Dahlstrom.

"I wasn't really expecting to be in the semis, but I knew if I came out and wrestled that I could do it," Roche said. "Right now I'm the underdog so I go out and just wrestle because I really have nothing to lose."

In last weekend's District 11 semifinals, Roche pinned Dahlstrom in 54 seconds when most people expected his success to come to a halt.

"He might think that I caught him last time so I know that he (Dahlstrom) is going be coming out strong," Roche said. "I'm not expecting anything easy so I'm going to come out just as strong."

Roche will be joined in the semifinals by teammates Anthony Parisi (106), Peter Stanley (120), Robbie Rizzolino (132), Mitch Minotti (145), Dyvon Gibson (160), Tyler Greene (182) and Francis Slover (195).

Parisi, Gibson, Greene and Slover also will have rematches in the semifinals where all but Greene hope for a change in the outcome.

Parkland is in second place with 33 points and five semifinalists. Ethan Lizak, who is set to face Parisi for the fourth time this season, has yet to break a sweat. Lizak only needed 53 seconds to take care of Northampton's Mike Scheetz.

With an identical looking 106-pound bracket from the District 11 tournament, Nazareth's Tyrone Klump also has been impressive early on.

"Tyrone is wrestling real well. I was a little scared of that one but he was solid," Nazareth coach Dave Crowell said of Klump's quarterfinal 16-1 technical fall win over Roshaun Cooley of Williamsport.

Klump wasn't the only Nazareth wrestler to make it to the semifinals. The Blue Eagles also have Chase Zemenak (120), David Wilke (195), Aaron Bradley (220) and Brandon Lance (285) still alive for gold medals.

"I really liked how our heavier guys wrestled, especially our 195 (Wilke) and 220 (Bradley) who just kept attacking and staying offensive," Crowell said. "They really looked good."

Bradley had an easy time in the quarterfinals with a pin of Pottsville's Stanley Burke in 2:35. Wilke and Lance didn't have it as easy but still managed to earn 4-2 and 3-2 quarterfinal victories.

Freedom freshman Jake Young got the home crowd on its feet when he scored a takedown and two back points to break a 1-1 tie in the last 10 seconds of the third period to defeat Michael Carr of Abington Heights at 152.

"Coach (Brandon Hall) always says to own the last 30 seconds of every period so that's what I did," Young said. "We practice taking over a match with short time left all the time so I knew that I would be able to get the takedown when there was only 10 seconds left."

Young's victory put him into the semifinals where he will face Northampton's top-ranked Cole Sheptock.

"I'm a little nervous to face him," Young said. "This time I feel like I've gotten better and that I am more prepared to wrestle then I was before."

Young's teammate Evan Kauffman (220) also will be facing a familiar opponent in Parkland's Shaun Heist, who Kauffman defeated 9-0 in last week's district semifinal.

Along with Sheptock, the Konkrete Kids have Zach Valley (113) and Jason Stephen (138) still competing for gold as well.

Grimaldi Gonzalez (120) and Devon Lotito (132), who captured his 100th victory by pinning Honesdale's Matt Evans in 1:05 at 132, are representing Liberty in the semifinals.

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