Bethlehem Catholic ends Wildcat run in PIAA semifinals
HERSHEY, PA – Central Mountain’s wondrous wrestling season, 10 dual meet wins a row, came to end at the Giant Center in Hershey on Friday night, just a couple wins short of a state title. The Wildcats ran head-on into arguably the best scholastic wrestling program in the state over the last couple decades. That would be defending PIAA AAA team dual champion Bethlehem Catholic.
The Golden Hawks and the Wildcats met in the AAA semifinals and the District 11 power had too much talent up and down the line-up, piling up a 53-3 win over the now 10-1 ‘Cats.
Only Rocco Serafini at 189 pounds, in the second bout of the night, emerged a winner for CM, a 1-0 decision over Landon Muth. The Wildcats trailed 5-3 at that point and that would be as close as they would get.
The Golden Hawks even downed all three Central Mountain middleweight standouts, all three losing close decisions to their talented opponents.
The loss drops CM into an 11 a.m. consolation semifinal on Saturday. They will face the winner of a 9 a.m. match between Central Dauphin and Pennridge. A Wildcat win would move them into as third place match at 1 p.m. Saturday.
Meanwhile Bethlehem Catholic, now 17-0, will meet District 11 rival Nazareth for the state title at 1 p.m. Saturday. The Golden Hawks already own a 33-25 win over Nazareth in their district dual meet final.
172 – Luke Thomas won by tech. fall over Jacob Weaver, 20-5 4:45 (5-0)
189 – Rocco Serafini dec. Landon Muth, 1-0 (5-3)
215 – Augustus Warke maj. dec. Giovanni Tarentella, 14-5 (9-3)
285 – Elijah Thompson dec. Brayden Blackwell, 5-1 (12-3)
107 – Keanu Dillard pinned Collin Bauman, 0:39 (18-3)
114 – Nathan Desmond won by forfeit (24-3)
121 – Ryder Campbell pinned Jaggar Pardoe, 2:57 (30-3)
127 – Marco Frinzi won by tech. fall over Carnell Noone, 18-2 4:47 (35-3)
133 – Cael McIntyre dec. Luke Simcox, 5-2 (38-3)
139 – Kollin Rath dec. Dalton Perry, 1-0 (41-3)
145 – Charlie Scanlan dec. Griffin Walizer, 4-3 (44-3)
152 – Jake Dailey dec. Braylen Corter, 11-6 (47-3)
160 – Andrew Harmon pinned Bryce Brungard, 1:45 (53-3)
Central Mountain wrestlers in bold.
