Abington Heights’ Chace Berry, top, secures a takedown against Wallenpaupack’s Kyle Scartelli in the 145-pound match Wednesday in the District 2 Class 3A duals semifinals at Wallenpaupack High School. JOE BARESS / STAFF PHOTO
HAWLEY — Abington Heights coach Gregory Theony stressed one thing to every wrestler who stepped on the mat — do your job.
Chace Berry took that to heart.
Even with the Comets leading by 16 points over Wallenpaupack after five bouts, the Abington Heights sophomore stayed focused on his role.
Berry’s four-point second period fueled a two-point decision victory over Kyle Scartelli to keep the line moving.
That was the epitome of the team Wednesday night, as every Abington Heights wrestler did his job, as the third-seeded Comets outdueled the No. 2 Buckhorns, 35-31, in the District 2 Class 3A duals semifinals at Wallenpaupack High School.
“I thought everybody did their role,” Berry said. “I know Scartelli. He’s a pretty good wrestle. He just came back from an injury, but I’m pretty proud that I pulled that together and I was able to win for the team because the score was really close. So, if I had lost that match, we had the possibility to lose the entire match. I was glad that everybody did their part. I feel like we wrestled as a team today.”
Abington Heights will host No. 5 Pittston Area on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. in the final.
The Comets (14-4) topped No. 6 Delaware Valley, 45-23, to advance to the semifinal, while Wallenpaupack (15-5) defeated No. 7 Crestwood, 64-12, earlier in the night.
The Lackawanna League Division I champion defeated the Buckhorns, 50-17, on Jan. 14, with Wallenpaupack missing a few wrestlers because of injury. So, gaining bonus points in wins and not ceding them proved key for the Comets.
Lucas Kareha opened the semifinal, rolling to a 19-3 technical fall over Benson Kizer in the 114-pound bout for a 5-0 lead. That matched the result of when they faced off two weeks ago.
Dakota Sandy (121) improved on his result over Declan Brown, needing just 55 seconds to pin the Wallenpaupack wrestler. Two weeks ago, the Comets freshman secured a major decision against Brown.
Brady Full (127) pushed the lead to 14-0 with an 8-4 decision over Ayden Blaut in a battle of state-ranked wrestlers.
Ranked 10th in the state according to PA Power Wrestling, the Abington Heights freshman secured a takedown in the first period and an escape to start the second for a 4-0 lead. Blaut, ranked 25th in the state, responded with a takedown to cut the deficit to 4-3. However, Full answered with an escape and a takedown for an 8-3 lead at the end of the second period.
“(I was) just getting to my attacks, staying aggressive, heavy on the end, keeping him on the edge,” Full said. “I love that righty sweep. It’s there all day. I did give up a takedown on the edge, but I was able to keep my head in it and keep scoring points.”
Full rode out Blaut for half of the third period before Blaut got an escape, but that was it as Full secured his 27th victory of the season.
“What’s good about him is he keeps his head, he never gives up, he never gets down too much, and stays in great position,” Theony said. “So, he’s always ready to score.”
Gio Lomonaco (133) secured a win over J.J. Beck, but Beck limited bonus points, losing by 13-2 major decision.
After a Wallenpaupack forfeit at 139, Berry got in two scrambles with Scartelli in the first period, but neither wrestler scored.
Berry chose down to start the second, got an escape, secured a takedown and rode out Scartelli for the rest of the period for a 4-0 lead.
“He’s very stable in his neutral position, so I knew that I just had to wrestle smart against him,” Berry said. “I had to stay persistent and aggressive, and I knew that if I was able to defend enough of his shots that he would eventually break down, and I would be able to get points.”
Scartelli chose neutral to start the third, and secured a takedown to cut the deficit to 4-3. However, Berry got an escape and didn’t allow a takedown to secure the win.
“He wrestled really well tonight,” Theony said. “He wrestled smart. We made the move at (139) because he actually weighed in at (139) and wrestled up. We knew that was going to be a tossup match. He’s been coming on and improving every match.”
Lucas Drake (152) secured a first-period pin over Sawyer Jones to give the Comets a 29-4 lead with six bouts left. The Abington Heights freshmen — Drake, Full, Sandy and Kareha — went 4-0 and compiled 20 points.
“The freshmen have been great,” Full said. “Lucas Drake, Dakota Sandy getting a pin out there. (Sandy) had a close match with that kid last time, so that was a big six. Lucas Kareha fighting for the team, getting the tech. So, we’ve just been really great at the freshman position.”
The Buckhorns battled back with Tristan Braxton (160) securing a tech. fall over Jack Kotchick and Gabe Caufield (172) pinning Coen Holland in 35 seconds.
Jake Rafferty (189) added an 11-0 major decision over Ayden Kane to cut the deficit to 29-19, but again Kane saved some points after losing to Rafferty by pin two weeks ago.
“If you save points, then you’re contributing to the team, as long as you don’t get pinned,” Berry said. “For example, Ayden Kane. It was 11-0. He didn’t get teched or pinned, so he saved us points.”
Abington Heights’ Frank Scialpi (215) secured a first-period takedown against Max Fisakov. Then, Scialpi chose down to start the second period, got an escape and secured a takedown for a 7-0 lead. On that takedown, Fisakov suffered a brutal injury to his left arm. He was attended to on the mat before he walked off in an arm sling. The match ended by injury default and the Comets took an insurmountable 35-19 lead with two bouts left.
“(We were) gutsy, physical and (had) no quit,” Wallenpaupack coach Steve Krushnowski said. “When you see kids go out and give everything they have and keep fighting no matter what, it’s huge. We won the toss, which was big. We were at full strength, and we knew it was going to come down to those late matches. Max got hurt there. He wrestled a great match for a kid who’s a sophomore and what can you do. We just came out on the wrong end. Hats off to Abington. They came out, they wrestled their butts off, but we made them earn it.”
On Saturday, the Comets will once again look to do their jobs and capture their first district duals title since 2022.
“I think the team performed well tonight,” Theony said. “We knew we had some mismatches out there, and before everybody went out, I said do your job, and some of the jobs were stay off your back, fight hard, not give up bonus points and that’s what they did.”
114: Kareha (AH) tech. fall Kizer, 19-3; 121: Sandy (AH) pinned Brown, 0:54; 127: Full (AH) dec. Blaut, 8-4; 133: Lomonaco (WAL) maj. dec. Beck, 13-2; 139: Pallis (AH) by forfeit; 145: Berry (AH) dec. Scartelli, 5-3; 152: Drake (AH) pinned Jones, 1:38; 160: Braxton (WAL) tech. fall Kotchick, 16-1; 172: Caufield (WAL) pinned Holland, :35; 189: Rafferty (WAL) maj. dec. Kane, 11-0; 215: Scialpi (AH) injury default Fisakov; 285: Gallo (WAL) by forfeit; 107: Tufaro (WAL) by forfeit.
Consolation quarterfinals
Delaware Valley 60, Crestwood 17
114: Colon (DV) by forfeit; 121: Santiago (DV) by forfeit; 127: Elliott (DV) by forfeit; 133: Snyder (DV) by forfeit; 139: Churchill (DV) by forfeit; 145: Engelman (CRE) tech. fall Kimble, 20-2; 152: Konschnik (CRE) pinned Eckert, 3:32; 160: D`Ambola (DV) pinned Hoovler, 1:35; 172: Wisnewski (CRE) pinned McAfee, 1:25; 189: Segal (DV) pinned Bibla, 1:05; 215: Capo (DV) by forfeit; 285: Seltzer (DV) pinned Said, 1:43; 107: Kahmar (DV) by forfeit.
Quarterfinals
Abington Heights 45, Delaware Valley 23
107: Kahmar (DV) by forfeit; 114: Colon (DV) pinned Kareha, 4:52; 121: Sandy (AH) tech. fall Santiago, 19-2; 127: Full (AH) pinned Elliott, 3:24; 133: Whitney (AH) pinned Snyder, 1:46; 139: Churchill (DV) dec. Pallis, 5-2; 145: Berry (AH) tech. fall Sieber, 18-3; 152: Drake (AH) Eckert, 20-4; 160: Kotchick (AH) pinned D`Ambola, 2:11; 172: J. Scialpi (AH) pinned McAfee, 5:29; 189: Segal (DV) tech. fall Kane, 16-0; 215: F. Scialpi (AH) pinned Capo, :56; 285: Seltzer (DV) dec. Wheeler, TB-1 4-3
Wallenpaupack 64, Crestwood 12
107: Nalesnik (WAL) by forfeit; 114: Kizer (WAL) by forfeit; 121: Brown (WAL) by forfeit; 127: Blaut (WAL) by forfeit; 133: Lomonaco (WAL) by forfeit; 139: Scartelli (WAL) by forfeit; 145: Engelman (CRE) pinned Yancewicz, :55; 152: Jones (WAL) tech. fall Konschnik, 18-2; 160: Braxton (WAL) pinned Hoovler, 1:28; 172: Caufield (WAL) tech. fall Wisnewski, 17-1; 189: Bibla (CRE) injury default Rafferty; 215: Gallo (WAL) by forfeit; 285: Emilio (WAL) pinned Said, :45.