Hazleton Area wrestling placed five wrestlers in Monday’s semifinals of the Bethlehem Holiday Wrestling Classic.
Gabe Benyo (121), Jake Benyo (127), Jude Salko (133), Tyler Courtcourt (160) and Mason Marolo (189) all reached that round of the tournament Sunday.
Gabe Benyo, who entered as the No. 21 seed, started his day with a 7-0 win over Garnet Valley’s Caleb Ayala, and picked up a 7-4 win over Liberty’s Elijah Heimbach. In the quarterfinals against West Scranton’s Santino Aniska, Benyo used a second-period reversal for the match’s lone score in a 2-0 victory. He’ll face off with top seed Teagan Caciolo of Emmaus in the semifinals.
Jake Benyo, also seeded 21st, started off with a 10-3 decision over Garnet Valley’s Peyton Duffy, and used a 10-0 major of Northwestern Lehigh’s Weston Killar to advance to the quarters. There, he used three nearfall points in the second OT period to beat Abramm Schaffer of Wilson West Lawn. In the semifinals, he’ll meet up with top seed Emilio Albanese of Emmaus.
Salko, the No. 2 seed, pinned Wilkes-Barre Area’s Cameron Grohowski in 51 seconds to reach the quarters, and also pinned North Allegheny’s Gus Stedeford after trailing, 3-2, heading into the third. Salko faces Wilson West Lawn’s Charlie Griffin in the semifinals.
Youngcourt, the No. 6 seed, used two first-period pins to advance to the quarters. In that round, Youngcourt scored four points in the third period to force OT. There, he scored a takedown to beat Whitehall’s Mason Hopkins. He’ll face off with Emmaus’ Xyler Sallit next.
Marolo, the third seed, dominated in his two matches — pinning Warwick’s Owen Bowlby in 40 seconds, and following it up with a second-period tech fall of Boyertown’s Josh Larrimore. He’ll face off against Nazareth’s Brayden Zuercher in the semifinals.
Wilkes-Barre Area’s Liam Evanko is the only other WVC wrestler still alive in the tournament, wrestling in the consolation round.
Hazleton Area sits in 11th place with 75.5 points. Emmaus leads the tournament with 105 points. Whitehall is second with 100.5. Nazareth, Council Rock South and Boyertown round out the top five.
Turner Holiday Classic: At Berwyn, Pittston Area’s Brody Spindler finished second in the 215-pound weight class at the Turner Holiday Classic at Conestoga High School.
Spindler picked up a 5-1 win over Avon Grove’s Wyatt Holdren in the semifinals. In the final, he lost, 1-0, to St Joseph Prep’s John Boggs after Boggs got his escape to begin the second period.
Ethan Aftewicz and Noah Gruber both placed fifth at the event, and teammate Tibor Toth was sixth. Freshman David Krantz ended in seventh place.
Girls’ Basketball
Hazleton Area 80, Padua Academy (DE) 50: In Wildwood, N.J., the Cougars led by two after one quarter, but used an 11-point edge in the second quarter to pull away from the Delaware school at the Boardwalk Classic in the Wildwoods.
Hazleton Area scored 20-plus points in three of the four quarters.
Junior Kaitlyn Bindas netted 17 of her game-high 27 in the first half. Sophia Benyo added 13 points, and Molly Temchatin netted 12.
Hazleton Area has one more game left in the tournament, taking on Germantown Academy on Monday.
Colonie Central (NY) 55, Holy Redeemer 33: In New York, trailing by three at halftime, Holy Redeemer was outscored in the third quarter, 22-7, and fell to Colonie Central at the Amsterdam Holiday College Showcase.
Colonie Central is undefeated and ranked in the top four in the state of New York regardless of classification.
McKenzie Chimock netted 11 to lead Holy Redeemer, while Tessa Cegelka and Bella Boylan each had seven for the Royals.
Daemen University commit Olivia Hoffman scored a game-best 16 points for Colonie.