Mike Nicosia was battling fellow freshman Mike Rambone late in the third period of Wednesday\u2019s first bout among EPC rivals Bethlehem Catholic and Easton.<\/p>\n
Nicosia, who fought off multiple Rambone\u2019s scoring opportunities earlier in the match, was comfortable with a 4-1 lead and in the scrambling position he was in when the Golden Hawk saw an opening.<\/p>\n
He hit the six-point move in the final several seconds to turn a precarious lead into a major decision.<\/p>\n
Teammate and fellow freshman Gino Bozzi did nearly the identical thing in the following bout at 114 pounds, turning a decision into bonus points in the final seconds.<\/p>\n
Bethlehem Catholic was up eight points after the first two bouts, which were toss-ups, but it had all the emotional momentum.<\/p>\n
Sophomore Nico Emili followed with two sets of back points in the third period at 121 for a third consecutive major decision, and the Golden Hawks were in control the rest of the way.<\/p>\n
Bethlehem Catholic never trailed and pulled away for a 40-17 victory.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would say those first three bouts,\u201d head coach Mike Cole said, \u201cthose guys did their jobs. I had those first two as toss-ups with us favored by 55%. I was hoping for one. Not only did we get two, we scored majors right at the end in both.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is wrestling. That\u2019s what we need. That\u2019s the selflessness, the thought of the team.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Red Rovers pulled within 15-12 after seven bouts when Ethan Krazer won 4-0 over Andre Cerrato at 145. But Keanu Dillard, Mason Thomas and Zach Papcsy followed with pins for the Golden Hawks.<\/p>\n
Grant Mulhern, a first-year senior, finished it off with his first victory \u2014 a pin at 285.<\/p>\n
\u201cI started the season a little rough, going 0-4,\u201d Mulhern said. \u201cBut each practice, all the guys are just working to get better. I was feeling a little antsy with my shoulder [that forced him to miss all of last season], but after getting this win I feel like I\u2019m back.\u201d<\/p>\n
But it was the lightweights who dictated how things went from the start for Bethlehem Catholic.<\/p>\n
Nicosia, who doesn\u2019t weigh close to 107 pounds, said he\u2019s still fighting nerves as much as his opponents. But he let his skills take over when it mattered most against Rambone.<\/p>\n
\u201c[Rambone] was really strong,\u201d Nicosia said, \u201cand I was really nervous at the beginning because I didn\u2019t know if I was going to get the takedown. But when I got that takedown in the second period, I knew I was going to win it.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd late in the third I felt that duck under and was able to hit to get the bonus points for the team.\u201d<\/p>\n
Several scrambles did not produce any points in the first two minutes, but Nicosia got his takedown with 13 seconds left in the second for a 4-0 lead. That was a sign of things to come.<\/p>\n
Up 4-1 late in the third, Nicosia hit the duck under for the takedown and three back points for a 10-1 major.<\/p>\n
After Bozzi gave up a first-period takedown to Easton\u2019s Brayden Abrams, the Bethlehem Catholic 114-pounder took the lead with 45 seconds left in the second period with a takedown. He got four back points as time expired in that period. Then after getting reversed and escaping in the third, Bozzi secured a takedown with one second left for another bonus-point victory.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose two easily could have sat on their leads,\u201d Cole said. \u201cEasily. That\u2019s pretty good for two freshmen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Emili then dealt Easton freshman Tanner Milburn his first loss of the year with a 13-0 major, dominating from the top position.<\/p>\n
Freshman Jack Famularo got the Red Rovers on the board with an 8-4 win over A.J. Gomez at 127 and returning state champion Nick Salamone followed by a pin in 5 minutes, 44 seconds in a testy 133-pound matchup with freshman Jack Cole to get coach Corey Keener\u2019s club within 12-9.<\/p>\n
But Reef Dillard righted the ship with a 7-2 decision at 139, then the three decisive pins a short time later for the Golden Hawks.<\/p>\n
Keener said Easton has to wrestle smarter and understand situations better as it moves forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt shows how we have to be more tactical in some of those positions,\u201d Keener said of the first couple bouts. \u201cGiving up a takedown at the end, you\u2019ve got to know to bail. They are young kids. They will learn. But, definitely, the tone of the match changes.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to continue to work on the things we\u2019re not having success with. We can\u2019t continue to make the same mistakes time after time and multiple times in a match. We have to be able to adjust mid-match. That\u2019s what really good wrestlers do. You have to be able to make the adjustments.\u201d<\/p>\n
Up next<\/p>\n
Bethlehem Catholic (2-1) and Easton (6-3) are among the seven area teams headed to the Beast of the East tournament on Saturday and Sunday at the University of Delaware\u2019s Carpenter Center.<\/p>\n
Bethlehem Catholic 40, Easton 17<\/p>\n
107: Mike Nicosia (BC) maj. dec. Mike Rambone, 10-1<\/p>\n
114: Gino Bozzi (BC) maj. dec. Brayden Abrams, 13-5<\/p>\n
121: Nico Emili (BC) maj. dec. Tanner Milburn, 13-0<\/p>\n
127: Jack Famularo (E) dec. A.J. Gomez, 8-4<\/p>\n
133: Nick Salamone (E) pinned Jack Cole, 5:44<\/p>\n
139: Reef Dillard (BC) dec. Noah Fenner, 7-2<\/p>\n
145: Ethan Krazer (E) dec. Andre Cerrato, 4-0<\/p>\n
152: Keanu Dillard (BC) pinned Wyatt Snyder, 1:16<\/p>\n
160: Mason Thomas (BC) pinned Logan Young, 0:46<\/p>\n
172: Zach Papcsy (BC) pinned Tyler Cruise, 4:49<\/p>\n
189: Justin Cosover (E) tech. fall James Bozzi, 19-4, 2:27<\/p>\n
215: Connor Gillahan (BC) dec. Alonzo Parker, 10-3<\/p>\n
285: Grant Mulhern (BC) maj. dec. Dan Vargas, 13-5<\/p>\n
Referee: Jason Magditch<\/p>\n
Senior writer Tom Housenick can be reached at thousenick@mcall.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mike Nicosia was battling fellow freshman Mike Rambone late in the third period of Wednesday\u2019s first bout among…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":63927,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154,305,25331,726,432],"class_list":{"0":"post-63953","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bethlehem","8":"tag-bethlehem","9":"tag-bethlehem-headlines","10":"tag-bethlehem-news","11":"tag-high-school-sports","12":"tag-high-school-wrestling","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-top-stories-tmc"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63953","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=63953"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63953\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}