Comets Braghan Pallis ties up with Drew Churchill of Delaware Valley during the 139-pound bout.
Buck Norton-Jennings | For Abington Journal
Jack Kotchick of Abington Heights battles to obtain the wrists of Nick D’Ambola of Delaware Valley.
Buck Norton-Jennings | For Abington Journal
Andrew Elliott of Delaware Valley gets wrapped up by Abington Heights Brady Full.
Buck Norton-Jennings | For Abington Journal
Trail’s Joey Thomas throws Chase Knecht of Western Wayne during the 127-pound bout.
Buck Norton-Jennings | For Abington Journal
Matthew Shaffer collects a Lackawanna Trail pin on Nicholas Patuto of Western Wayne.
Buck Norton-Jennings | For Abington Journal
Joshua Fowler grapples with David Skelton of Western Wayne on Jan. 7 at Lackawanna Trail High School.
Buck Norton-Jennings | For Abington Journal
Riley Borruso collects a Lackawanna Trail pin over Western Wayne’s Anthony Allen, during dual action.
Buck Norton-Jennings | For Abington Journal
Scranton Prep’s Jake Barrett looks to pin David Carter of Montrose in duals action at Scranton Prep.
Buck Norton-Jennings | For Abington Journal
Prep’s Jeremiah Duke lifts Montrose’s Lucas Brooks during their dual meet at Scranton Prep.
Buck Norton-Jennings | For Abington Journal
Joe Wehlan of Scranton Prep sprawls on Carl Nolt of Montrose during the 145-pound bout at Scranton Prep.
Buck Norton-Jennings | For Abington Journal
Scranton Prep’s freshman Jordan Henning gets his arm raised after acquiring a pin and ultimately clinching the Prep victory.
Buck Norton-Jennings | For Abington Journal
Peter Durkan of Scranton Prep drives through Lincoln Hobbs of Montrose en route to a pin.
Buck Norton-Jennings | For Abington Journal
CLARKS SUMMIT – Abington Heights suffered three of its four regular-season dual meet losses on the same day, Jan. 5, in the Parkland Winter Duals.
Beginning with the seventh-place match at that 12-team tournament, the Comets have been unbeatable in dual meet competition.
Abington Heights followed up a 34-31 win over Quakertown for seventh place at Parkland by winning Lackawanna League Division 1 matches on three straight Wednesdays.
“As a team, we have wrestled well since Parkland,” Comets coach Greg Theony said. “We didn’t have a great Parkland outing. We had some things go wrong right away.
“But, we managed to get through that downtime and things just seemed to change after that. Everybody started to understand their role on the team. It isn’t the superstar that wins matches; it’s everybody.”
The Comets took the Division 1 title by adding to a December win by beating host West Scranton 54-18, host Wallenpaupack 50-17, then visiting Delaware Valley 40-23 on Senior Night Jan. 21. The win over Wallenpaupack broke a first-place tie and the victory over Delaware Valley, on the final night of the regular season, prevented the Warriors from forcing a three-way tie at the top of the division standings.
The final Division 1 standings were: Abington Heights 4-0, Wallenpaupack 3-1, Delaware Valley 2-2, West Scranton 1-3, Scranton 0-4.
The three divisional wins were part of a seven-match winning streak that Abington Heights took into the opening night of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Class 3A state tournament Feb. 3 at Scranton High School. The Comets needed one win there to be one of eight teams out of the 20-team bracket to advance to the last two days of the state tournament in Johnstown.
Dakota Sandy, Jason Beck, Mason Whitney, Braghan Pallis, Edward Reed, Chace Berry and Lucas Drake put together consecutive pins from 121 through 160 pounds against West Scranton. Frank Scialpi and Dane Wheeler also had pins at 215 and 285.
Whitney and Scialpi had first-period pins at 139 and 215 in the victory at Wallenpaupack to take over sole possession of first place. Beck (127), Berry (145) and Drake (152) also had pins.
Lucas Kareha provided a technical fall at 114. Sandy (121), Brady Full (133) and Coen Holland (160) all won major decisions and Wheeler pulled out an overtime victory at 285.
Full (127), Reed (145), Drake (160) and Scialpi (215) had pins against Delaware Valley. Scialpi won in 19 seconds.
Berry won a major decision, while Justin Baret (121) and Ayden Kane (172) also won decisions.
Scranton Prep
Scranton Prep remained in title contention in Lackawanna Division 3 until the final night of the regular season when it lost at Blue Ridge 52-18.
The Cavaliers prepared for the resumption of the league season by facing Honesdale, the eventual Lackawanna Division 2 champion and losing a non-league match 63-3 Jan. 7.
Scranton Prep then defeated Montrose 34-30 and Mountain View 46-18 three days apart in mid-January to set up the first-place showdown.
Jake Barrett, Joseph Whelan and Jeremiah Duke had first-period pins from 139 through 152 and Jordan Henning added another at 285 against Montrose.
Peter Durkin (172) also won by pin while Greyson Simpson (189) had a major decision.
Whelan had a pin in one minute, Durkin won a major decision and the Cavaliers picked up six forfeits from Mountain View.
Final Division 3 standings: Blue Ridge 4-0, Scranton Prep 3-1, Montrose 2-2, Elk Lake 1-3 and Mountain View 0-4.
The Cavaliers are 5-8 overall in duals.
Lackawanna Trail
The Lions, who are 3-10 overall, went winless in Lackawanna Division 2.
Final Division 2 standings: Honesdale 4-0, Western Wayne 3-1, North Pocono 2-2, Valley View 1-3, Lackawanna Trail 0-4.
Following the league season, the Lions also lost a non-league match to Montrose 38-23.
