There was no question what the last District 11 Class 3A individual championship bout would be.<\/p>\n
The final at 133 pounds, featuring Bethlehem Catholic senior Keanu Dillard, a three-time PIAA 3A champion, and Whitehall senior Willmont Kai, who won the state title at 114 last year, was the main event everyone who packed into Liberty\u2019s Memorial Gym wanted to see.<\/p>\n
That meant that Dillard\u2019s younger brother, Reef, who bumped up to 139 so Keanu could drop to 133 ahead of the individual postseason, would compete in the first final.<\/p>\n
Reef, a junior, captured his first District 11 championship with a 20-3 technical fall in 5:32 over Easton junior Noah Fenner.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously last year, coming up short at districts, it feels great to be on top of that podium and show everyone how good I really am,\u201d said Dillard, who lost via tiebreaker in the district final as both a freshman and sophomore.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a little bit easier, I\u2019m barely cutting at all so that\u2019s kind of nice,\u201d Dillard added with a smile of competing at 139. \u201cI guess will see in two weeks if this was the right weight for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wrestlers who placed in the top five of their weight class at districts qualified for next week\u2019s PIAA 3A Northeast Regional tournament at Liberty. The top five placewinners in that tournament, which starts 4 p.m. Friday, advance to the PIAA 3A tournament at the Giant Center in Hershey March 5-7.<\/p>\n
Against Fenner, Dillard scored three takedowns, two reversals and seven nearfall points.<\/p>\n
![\"2026](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/DNNSF5YBJVGZLL2WVE7MWNDTKA.JPG\")
Bethlehem Catholic\u2019s Reef Dillard (yellow) and Easton\u2019s Noah Fenner wrestle at 139 pounds during the District 11 3A individual wrestling finals on Feb. 21, 2026. Dillard went onto win the bout. Saed Hindash | For lehighvalleylive.com<\/p>\n
\u201cWe also went to the same club growing up, we used to be basically practice partners every day,\u201d Dillard said. \u201cA lot of history with him. He\u2019s a good wrestler, it was a good match.\u201d<\/p>\n
After earning district gold with his third win over Fenner of the season, Reef had to wait about 90 minutes to watch Keanu become a four-time district champ.<\/p>\n
Keanu Dillard rode out Kai in the second period and escaped about 25 seconds into the third to earn a 1-0 win in the final at 133. Kai pushed forward in the final minute and drew a stall warning on Dillard, but couldn\u2019t score the decisive takedown.<\/p>\n
Sophomore Nico Emili was the Golden Hawks\u2019 other champion. Thanks in large part to a seven-point move halfway through the third period of the final at 121, Emili defeated Emmaus junior Teagan Caciolo 8-1.<\/p>\n
Despite crowning more champions than any other team, Bethlehem Catholic finished fifth in the team standings with 162.5 points. Easton, which had three finalists, finished three points ahead of the Golden Hawks.<\/p>\n
Notre Dame won the team title with 219.5 points, 11.5 ahead of runners-up Nazareth. Northampton finished third with 190.5 points. The top three teams all crowned two champions.<\/p>\n
Albanese comes out with a close one<\/p>\n
Like Reef Dillard, Emmaus junior Emilio Albanese fell short in his first two trips to a District 11 final.<\/p>\n
In order to attain that first district title, Albanese had to beat a defending state champion.<\/p>\n
In the final at 127, a takedown at the edge of the mat 30 seconds into the third helped Albanese defeat Easton senior Nick Salamone, who won the state title at 121 last year, 4-2.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a great scrambler, he\u2019s fast on his feet,\u201d said Albanese, who lost to Salamone once in each of his freshman and sophomore seasons. \u201cHonestly, I just had to finish tight and get the score.\u201d<\/p>\n
Albanese got in on a low shot on Salamone at the edge of the mat near the scorers\u2019 table and was able to gain control just before they went out of bounds.<\/p>\n
\u201cI kind of circled in. I know where the circle is because I wrestle on the mat so much,\u201d Albanese said. \u201cJust extended my feet and got the takedown.\u201d<\/p>\n
Albanese, who finished third in the state at 114 as a sophomore and fourth at 107 as a freshman, will enter the regional tournament with a 33-2 record on the season and is currently on a 10-match win streak.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I\u2019ve done pretty good. There\u2019s always room for improvement, always can get better,\u201d Albanese said. \u201cThis week, keep working on my offense, maybe work on top a little bit. Just keep attacking.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tunison continues to improve<\/p>\n
Nazareth senior Dominick Tunison also earned his first district championship, albeit in more dominant fashion. Tunison took down Parkland senior Jorge Moya once in each period of a 10-1 major decision in the final at 160.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I learned significantly was that, if I commit to a shot, then I can get the takedown,\u201d Tunison said. \u201cIf I just keep pushing the pace, I open up a lot more shots and a lot more abilities to score… I\u2019m definitely a lot more confident on my feet, my top game as well. I just feel like I\u2019m a way better wrestler.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"2026](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/RMTCBGMV7FDKJGQZGKGOPQLLV4.JPG\")
Nazareth\u2019s Dominick Tunison (white) and Parkland\u2019s Jorge Moya wrestle at 160 pounds during the District 11 3A individual wrestling finals on Feb. 21, 2026. Tunison went onto win the bout. Saed Hindash | For lehighvalleylive.com<\/p>\n
Due to the strength of the Blue Eagles\u2019 lineup at the mid-to-upper weights, Tunison spent most of the season wrestling at 172 or 189 before cutting down to 160 for the individual postseason.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been alright actually,\u201d Tunison said of making weight at 160. \u201cI\u2019ve been leaving practice around \u201963, \u201962 consistently. It\u2019s been decent.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tunison finished third at districts and fell one win shy of qualifying for states as a junior.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m really excited for what\u2019s to come in the next couple of weeks,\u201d Tunison said. \u201cI feel my hard work definitely paid off. I\u2019m a lot more confident with my skills and my training now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nazareth senior Jack Campbell earned his second district title with a 7-2 decision over Notre Dame senior Gavyn Kelton.<\/p>\n
Northampton sophomore Brayden Wenrich (16-1 tech fall at 114) and junior Gabe Ballard (7-3 decision at 152) both won their second district titles.<\/p>\n
Southern Lehigh senior Brock Frable and Pleasant Valley senior Evan Gillespie ended lengthy district title droughts for their respective programs.<\/p>\n
Frable scored two takedowns to defeat Nazareth senior Elijah Simak 7-6 in the final at 172. Gillespie pinned Notre Dame senior Connor Smalley in 1:12 in the final at 215.<\/p>\n
Freedom senior heavyweight Daniel Schiffert majored Easton senior Kurtis Crossman 11-1 to defend his district title.<\/p>\n
Notre Dame freshman Max Quarry responded to giving up the first takedown in the final at 107 with two of his own in an 8-3 win over Parkland junior Luis Moya. Notre Dame senior Dominic Sumpolec took down Nazareth senior Brayden Zuercher with less than five seconds left to triumph 4-3 in the final at 189.<\/p>\n
The Crusaders traditionally do not participate in interviews until after the conclusion of the individual postseason.<\/p>\n
District 11 Class 3A brackets<\/p>\n
107<\/a> | 114<\/a> | 121<\/a> | 127<\/a> | 133<\/a> | 139<\/a> | 145<\/a> | 152<\/a> | 160<\/a> | 172<\/a> | 189<\/a> | 215<\/a> | 285<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There was no question what the last District 11 Class 3A individual championship bout would be. The final…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":120613,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154],"class_list":["post-120612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120612","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120612"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120612\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/120613"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}