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LEHIGH VALLEY WEATHER

Becahi wrestling team kings of the mountain

Bethlehem Catholic came home from the King of the Mountain tournament over the weekend with a finish that you should have expected first place.

The Golden Hawks placed 10 out of 13 wrestlers and had four wrestlers in the finals to take home the team title with 201 points.

Boyertown, ranked in the top five in 3A this year, took second with 179 points.

The first place finish was one that made head coach Jeff Karam ecstatic about the results his team took away from the challenging 34 team tournament.

"You had six of the top five teams in both [PIAA] classifications at this tournament," Karam said. "The guys really exceeded my expectations. It was a great weekend."

That's probably the last thing opponents want to hear about the Golden Hawks, who opened the dual meet season with a 71-0 spanking over Whitehall last week.

But with four finalists over the weekend, the Hawks are proving that they have plenty of ammunition in the barrel this season.

Seniors Zeke Moisey (126) and Nick Cortopassi (170) each brought home gold medals from the tournament, while freshman phenom Mikey Labriola (138) and senior Andrew Dunn (220) settled for silver medals after falling in the finals.

Moisey scored an 8-4 decision over Schuylkill Valley's Josh Giorgio in the finals and Cortopassi squeezed out a 4-3 decision over Corey Hazel of Penns Valley.

Moisey used two falls and a major decision en route to topping Girgio in the finals and Cortopassi didn't allow a single offensive point to be scored on him throughout the tournament.

Labriola met his match in the finals, getting pinned by Hayden Hidlay of Mifflin County in 2:19. Dunn was the victim of a 5-1 decision to Boyertown's Jordan Wood, who is the top ranked 220-pounder in the state.

"The biggest thing coming into the tournament is that you didn't know what you were going to get from the younger guys," said Karam. "It answers a lot of questions on what type of tournament team we can be, but we still don't really know what kind of dual meet team we are."

Joining the medal count for Becahi included Jake Riegel (106, third), Luke Karam (113, third), Joey Gould (120, eighth), Stephen Maloney (132, seventh), Mason Angstadt (145, seventh) and Jose Ortiz (182, fifth).

The Hawks take on Central Catholic tonight before prepping for this weekend's Beast of the East tournament, where Karam hopes his team can claim a top-10 finish out of the 107 participating teams.

Liberty took second at the Penn Manor wrestling tournament over the weekend, collecting 190.5 points to fall short of team champion Solanco (199).

KJ Fenstermacher was the lone Hurricane to bring home a title, winning a 3-2 decision over Connor Sheehan of Solanco in the finals.

Luke Werner (106) also found himself in the finals, but was pinned by Lancaster Catholic's Joe Lobeck in 1:59.

Noah Klingborg (170), Orlando Miller (195), Jake Gunning (220) and Andrew Gunning (285) each took third in the tournament to round up the Hurricanes medal contingent.