Area trio falls short in medal bid
While Bethlehem Catholic came home with plenty of hardware from last weekend’s PIAA wrestling championships in Hershey, Liberty and Freedom brought home experience from their stay at the Giant Center.
Freedom’s Luis Vargas (120) and Liberty’s Jason Rezac (145) and Javien Deleon (113) were bounced out of the tournament before the medal rounds, leaving Vargas and Rezac, both seniors, without another shot to bring home a medal from states. On the other hand, Deleon, a sophomore, can use the experience as motivation heading into the off season.
Vargas started the tournament off with a 10-2 major decision victory over Jimmy King of West Chester Rustin, but would lose his next two bouts to be eliminated.
He fell to Bellefonte’s Lane Aikey 3-0 in the next round before losing to Rafael Portilla of Carlisle 7-2 in the consolation bracket.
Despite the exit, head coach Dante Terenzio was proud of what Vargas was able to accomplish on the year, becoming the first Freedom wrestler to win 40-matches in a season.
“Every Pennsylvania high school wrestler’s goal is to wrestle at states in Hershey, and it was great to see Luis get that experience,” said Terenzio. “We went in with the goal of bringing home a medal. Unfortunately we fell short, but not due to a lack of effort. Luis got after it in all three of his matches, as he has all season. I could not be more proud of Luis and all he has accomplished, and we will absolutely miss him when he graduates.”
Deleon battled to go 2-2 out in Hershey, losing by fall in his first bout 3:43 to Hempfield’s Ethan Berginc before grabbing two straight decisions to move him one win of placing. He knocked off Mason Leiphart of Dover 6-1 in the consolation round and then defeated Mason Prinkley of Connellsville 8-7.
Deleon subsequently lost to Nico Taddy of West Allegheny 8-4 to end his journey in Hershey.
Rezac was bounced out of the tournament after his first two bouts, losing by fall in 4:42 to Antonio Amelio of Seneca Valley in his opener and then dropping a 7-3 decision to Cade Balestrini of Shikellamy.