Wrestling: Hawks aim to impress at districts
With the District 11 wrestling tournaments kicking off this weekend, Bethlehem Catholic is getting back to focusing on what really matters during the season and that's results.
The Golden Hawks are the clear cut favorites to run away with the team title this weekend and will look to medal in all 14 weight classes when things wrap up Saturday evening at Liberty's Memorial Gymnasium.
Becahi advanced 12 wrestlers to last year's Southeast Regional Tournament, crowned seven champions and won the team title. Head coach Jeff Karam hopes his program can equate, if not, surpass those results when 2A wrestling starts at Freedom High School on Friday, before shifting the medal rounds to Liberty Saturday afternoon.
"Every team wants to get as many guys through to regionals," Karam said. "I think we have a really good chance to get all 14 guys through and that's what we're shooting for."
The Hawks return four district champions from last year, as Luke Karam (113), Zeke Moisey (126), Jose Ortiz (182) and Andrew Dunn (220) look to duplicate their gold medal status this year.
Nick Cortopassi (170) reached last year's finals but fell short. He's the leading candidate in his weight class to walk away with gold this time around and some of his teammates hope they can join the aforementioned group atop the podium.
Jake Riegel (106), Joey Gould (120), Stephen Maloney (132) and Mike Labriola (138) are likely candidates to land in the finals to give the Hawks a healthy amount of participants on Saturday's main stage.
Moisey will also look to join Becahi history in becoming the second Hawk in school history to win four district titles. Duane Peoples accomplished that feat in the 80's and Moisey is likely to join him in the record books this weekend.
"That's going to be a special accomplishment for Zeke if he's able to do it," Karam said. "We've had a lot of great wrestlers at Becahi over the years and to be able to achieve that would be extraordinary."
With the Hawks postseason now in full throttle for individual success, Karam knows that this weekend is the springboard for many of his wrestlers.
"It's all about the individual right now and we're really focusing on technique," he said. "This is why we go out and wrestle in the best individual tournaments throughout the season. This is what we prepare for. Everything we've accomplished so far has been status quo, but we still have a lot more we want to achieve."








