Everything was on the line for Joey Barno and the Emmaus wrestling team when the Hornet junior took the mat. East Stroudsburg South had picked up two straight falls to get within 32-30 with one bout remaining.

There was certainly pressure, but Barno wasn’t deterred under a win-or-go-home situation.

Barno secured a hard-fought 6-2 decision over Dan Opong-Duah to solidify a 35-30 victory for Emmaus over East Stroudsburg South on Saturday afternoon at Shawnee Middle School. The win placed the Hornets ninth in the league at the EPC Wrestling Championships.

“Getting an anchor opportunity is a pretty neat experience, when you are the last guy to either close out a match or be the goat in a match,” head coach Jeff Arbushites said. “The extra pressure, some people fold under it. I knew he wasn’t going to.”

Barno held a slim 2-0 lead after the first period, and Opong-Duah got within 2-1 in the second. But a late takedown in the final five seconds of the second period gave him a 4-1 advantage. He later added another takedown in the third. It was a situation he had never been in before Saturday.

“I was kind of pushing my mental ability to push it to the next level,” Barno said. “He wasn’t really that good on his feet, so I kind of took that as an advantage. He wasn’t really good on bottom either, so I took that as an advantage, too.”

The Hornets had led 26-12 after three straight wins from a number of their experienced wrestlers. Jacob Alcaro earned a pin at 145 pounds. Tyler Corpora won with a convincing 15-7 major decision at 152. Caden Wright shut out Brandon Finn 10-0 for another major win.

Arbushites was not surprised with those three outcomes. It was a fast start that he had game planned for.

“It played out pretty close to how I had it,” Arbushites said. “When I drew it on paper about a dozen times it came out six different ways. I knew in many of the scenarios it is going to come down to heavyweight. And when I found out we were starting at 106, I was OK with that because I think [Barno] is progressing well and working hard in the room.”

One of the early-match surprises came right off the bat when Jimmy Bowie grinded out a 13-10 decision to kick off the match. Peyton Brown then pinned Matt Ruiz in less than a minute to give Emmaus a 9-0 advantage out of the gate.

“I knew we had to steal one in there so we had eight victories,” Arbushites said. “Jimmy Bowie was actually the one toss-up that we got right out of the gate. I rolled the dice early on moving up Peyton to 113. I thought we could go 2-0 at the first two weights, and it was a gamble that paid out well.”

That early match success was the deciding factor, according to Arbushites.

“I had to make sure I won two of three down below, not the other way,” Arbushites said. “That’s what I went out with the mindset to do.”

The Hornets also received victories from Chase Pavelko (132) and Jared Skibinski (182).

Pavelko got off to a slow start but finished strong. Trailing 2-1 in the third and final period, Pavelko earned an escape to tie the bout. Then, a late takedown and back points in the final seconds helped the Emmaus senior pick up a 6-2 decision

“I think that kid was a full-sized 132-pounder, and he probably had a little adrenaline and a little strength going against him early on,” Arbushites said. “Until he settled, I think he realized he was the better wrestler.”

Bethlehem Catholic defeated Nazareth, 40-20, to take home first place in the event.