Berks Catholic was eliminated from title contention at the PIAA Team Wrestling Championships with a 40-15 loss to Faith Christian in a Class 2A semifinal match Friday at Hershey’s Giant Center.
The Berks and District 3 champion Saints (24-1) led 15-7 after five bouts, but the District 1 champion Lions (12-1) then showed why they are the top-ranked Class 2A team in the state by Pa. Power Wrestling. Faith Christian won the final eight bouts, picking up bonus points in six of them.
Berks Catholic, which advanced with a 30-19 win over Brookville earlier Friday, will wrestle in a fourth-round consolation match Saturday at 11 a.m. against the winner of the third-round consolation match between District 5 champ Chestnut Ridge (16-3) and District 11 runner-up Saucon Valley (19-3), which takes place at 9 a.m.
Should the Saints win that, they would advance to the third-place match at 1 p.m.
District 7 champ Burgettstown (17-1) will face either District 11 champ Notre Dame-Green Pond (13-2) or District 9 champ Brookville (20-3) in the other fourth-round consolation match.
Faith Christian will meet District 10 runner-up Fort LeBoeuf (18-5) in the championship match at 1 p.m. Fort LeBoeuf beat Burgettstown 31-23 in the other semifinal.
In the semifinals, Berks Catholic fell behind in the opening bout as Timothy Saylor lost a 9-1 major decision to Jason Singer at 189 pounds.
Brody Kline cut it to 4-3 when he beat Mark Effendian 3-2 with an escape in the ultimate tiebreaker at 215, and the Saints went up 9-4 when Owen Reber won by forfeit at 285.
Faith Christian’s Kole Davidheiser defeated Christopher Smith 12-7 at 107, but Berks Catholic’s Brayden Hartranft won by forfeit at 114 to give the Saints a 15-7 lead.
The Lions, who sent seven freshmen and four sophomores out to mat against the Saints, didn’t lose again.
Gauge Botero won an 11-3 major decision over Gunnar Maciejewski at 121, Arment Waltenbaugh beat Marvin Armistead 12-9 in the tiebreaker at 127, and Mason Wagner defeated Noah Rosa 6-2 at 133 to put the Lions up 17-15.
Chase Hontz pinned Nathan Moschak in 4:17 at 139, Max Stein had a 12-1 major decision over John Maurer at 143, and Cael Weidemoyer had a 11-2 major decision over Carmine Lenzi at 152 to clinch it at 31-15.
In the final two bouts, Luke Segalski had a 16-5 major decision over Ricardo Tinoco at 160, and Adam Waters won by technical fall over Gabe Davis in 5:50 at 172.
Berks Catholic still has a chance to become just the second Berks Wrestling League team to finish third in the state team tournament, joining Schuylkill Valley in 2009.
The Saints already are just the sixth Berks League team to reach the semis, joining Brandywine Heights (2001, 2005), Schuylkill Valley (2009, 2010) and Hamburg (2014), all in Class 2A. None were able to win in the semis.
Boyertown, competing out of the Pioneer Athletic Conference, reached the Class 3A final in 2016, losing to Bethlehem Catholic.
Source: Berkshire mont
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