The Emmaus wrestling team is working toward joining the elite programs in the Lehigh Valley. Based on the Hornets’ performance at last weekend’s District 11 Championships, the team is making progress toward that goal.

At first glance, it’s obvious that Emmaus improved upon its performance at districts from last year to this year. The Hornets are sending four grapplers to regionals after sending just two last season.

A closer look reveals an even brighter future for the program. Not only did Emmaus double it’s number of regional qualifiers over the past year, it also did it with a younger team, which indicates the potential for greater success in the future.

“I don’t think we overachieved, but we certainly didn’t underachieve,” said second-year Emmaus head coach Jim Best. “The promising piece for us as coaches is that all four of our guys moving on are underclassmen.

“We reflect back to where we were at this time last year. We qualified two for the regional tournament last year and they were both seniors. This year we qualified four and they’re all underclassmen. So that’s promising. That doesn’t mean our work is done. We still have to build in the offseason. But it’s promising.”

Leading the way for Emmaus was freshman Emilio Albanese, who finished as runner-up in the 107-pound weight class. Joining Albanese at this weekend’s PIAA Northeast Regional at Liberty High School will be freshman Teagan Caciolo (121), who finished third at districts, as well as a pair of fifth-place finishers in sophomore Xayden Sallit (152) and junior Jesse Scott (160).

Albanese, who is now 31-3 in his varsity career, entered districts as the No. 2 seed in his bracket and pinned his first two opponents. He put Cole Morawiec (East Stroudsburg South) on his back in 1:36, then pinned Louden Hower (Bethlehem Catholic) in 2:41.

In semifinals, Albanese fell behind 3-0 in the second period against No. 3 seed Kai Wilmont (Whitehall), but the Hornet tied the match in the third period before winning 7-5 with a takedown 43 seconds into overtime.

“Emilio is just a competitor,” said Best. “He’s wrestled since he was four or five-years old. He wrestles probably 100 times a year. He wrestles all over the country. He finds the best of the best to train with and learn from.

“For being a 14 or 15-year old in these big-stage competitions and being able to keep his composure against kids that are a little older than him, being able to come back down points like he did in the semifinal, that says a lot about the experience he’s had and level he’s at.”

In the final, Albanese took an early 2-0 lead on top seed Nicholas Salamone (Easton) before the Red Rover took a 3-1 lead late in the first period. An Albanese escape in the second period tied the score at 3-3.

Salamone chose bottom in the third period and Albanese gave him the escape to start neutral. He was unable to score in the period as Salamone, a sophomore, took the title.

“I wrestled good, came up short of my goal but I still have regionals,” said Albanese. “I’m going to work hard.”

He will move on to regionals hoping to finish in the top four places and advance to the state championships.

“It would be great freshman year going to states.,” he said. “That’s a different level than districts. I’m just excited. Hopefully I can get there.”

Caciolo entered districts as the fifth seed at 121. He opened the tournament by pinning Bangor’s Jace Labar in 2:00. He lost a 3-1 decision to Northampton’s Colin Marano, the No. 4 seed, in the quarterfinal round, but would face the Konkrete Kid again in the third-place match after getting through the consolation bracket.

Caciolo won his first wrestle back by fall in 2:52 against Stroudsburg’s Chase Fetherman. He then put Southern Lehigh’s Griffin King on his back in 4:40 to reach the consolation semifinals.

A 5-2 win over No. 3 seed Cooper Wenrich (Nazareth) in the consolation semifinal to secure his place at regionals, while also earning the Hornet a rematch against Marano.

“It was one of the best feelings ever,” Caciolo said of securing his place at regionals. “But as soon as I got off the mat I knew the work wasn’t done. I still had another match after that.”

Caciolo was able to flip the script on Marano in the third-place bout, beating him 3-1 this time to earn his first district medal.

“I was very happy about the way I wrestled,” Caciolo said. “I was a little upset when I lost [Friday] night, but that just made me more motivated to come back [Saturday].”

Sallit and Scott both won their opening bouts but fell in the quarterfinal round. They both won their next two matches but lost in the consolation semifinals to fall in the fifth-place match where they would need to win to advance to regionals.

Sallit won his fifth-place match by a 5-2 decision over Southern Lehigh’s Sean Steckert, while Scott earned a 5-1 decision over Pocono Mountain East’s Xander Gonzalez.

Emmaus finished eighth in the team standings at districts, two places better than the team’s 10th-place finish in 2023.

“Are we feeling good about the weekend? Yes, we are feeling good,” said Best. “But on the flip side of that we also know we have a lot of work ahead of us.

“We want the next level. We want to win a district team title. We want to have multiple district champions. We want to have multiple guys on the podium at state championships, soon.”

The Hornets seem to be on the right path toward those goals. They went 7-6 overall this season with a young line up that saw up to five freshman in starting spots. There are also some talented wrestlers coming up from the junior high ranks next season.

“We’re moving in the right direction,” said Best.

DISTRICT 11

WRESTLING

CHAMPIONSHIPS

TEAM STANDINGS

1. Bethlehem Catholic (BC) 241.5, 2. Easton (Ea) 224.5, 3. Nazareth (Naz) 222.5, 4. Northampton (Nor) 159.5, 5. Parkland 119.5 (Park), 6. Freedom (Fr) 107, 7. Liberty (L) 102.5, 8. Emmaus (Em) 92, 9. Pottsville (Pot) 87, 10. Whitehall (Wh) 85.5, 11. Southern Lehigh (SL) 77, 12. Pocono Mountain East (PME) 64, 13. Pleasant Valley (PV) 55.5, 14. Bangor (B) 54.5, 15. Stroudsburg (Str) 47.5, 15. Pocono Mountain West (PMW) 47.5, 17. East Stroudsburg North (ESN) 30, 18. East Stroudsburg South (ESS) 21, 19. Dieruff (D) 13, 20. Allen (A) 8.

EMMAUS RESULTS

Emilio Albanese (107)

Albanese pinned Cole Morawiec (East Stroudsburg So.) in 1:35

Albanese pinned Louden Hower (Bethlehem Catholic) in 2:41

Albanese dec. Kai Wilmont (Whitehall), 7-5

Championship match: Nicholas Salamone (Easton) dec. Albanese 4-3

Jackson Max (114)

Max dec. Hunter Brown (Stroudsburg), 13-6

Reef Dillard (Bethlehem Catholic) pinned Max in 2:34

Keith Barker (So. Lehigh) pinned Max in 4:25

Teagan Caciolo (121)

Caciolo pinned Jace Labar (Bangor) in 2:00

Colin Marano (Northampton) dec. Caciolo, 3-1

Caciolo pinned Chase Fetherman (Stroudsburg) in 2:52

Caciolo pinned Griffin King (So. Lehigh) in 4:40

Caciolo pinned Cooper Wenrich (Nazareth) in 4:22

Third-place match: Caciolo dec. Marano (Northampton), 3-1

Aiden Bayard (127)

Carter Smith (Bangor) dec. Bayard, 5-2

Bayard major dec. Colton Alder (So. Lehigh), 14-4

Zachary Berwick (Stroudsburg) pinned Bayard in 4:32

Tommy Fallstich (133)

Fallstich pinned Luke Dalton (Bangor) in 4:39

Benjamin Fanelli (Easton) pinned Fallstich in 3:39

Micah Alicea (East Stroudsburg No.) dec. Fallstich, 5-1

Logan Armstrong (139)

Joseph Bodnar (Freedom) dec. Armstrong, 6-0

Brandon Roca (East Stroudsburg No.) major dec. Armstrong, 12-4

Chancellor Henry (145)

Henry major dec. Liam Spang (Parkland), 13-5

Shane McFillin (Bethlehem Catholic) tech. fall Henry, 17-0

Henry pinned Aamir Sohail (Stroudsburg) in 4:24

Keenan Ray (Freedom) major dec. Henry, 10-0

Xayden Sallit (152)

Sallit pinned Xander Deselm (Parkland) in 1:20

Parrish McFarland (Pottsville) dec. Sallit, 7-2

Sallit major dec. Eyman Soulev (Stroudsburg), 11-1

Sallit dec. Dominick Tunison (Nazareth), 5-0

Quetintin Hammerstone (Easton) dec. Sallit, 5-2

Fifth-place match: Sallit dec. Sean Steckert (So. Lehigh), 5-3

Jesse Scott (160)

Scott major dec. Riley Waldron (Bangor), 16-4

Elijah Simak (Nazareth) dec. Scott, 5-3

Scott dec. Kyle Clement (Stroudsburg), 3-0

Scott dec. Ivan Laubaach (East Stroudsburg So.), 6-5

James Geiger (Easton) dec. Scott, 7-2

Fifth-place match: Scott dec. Xander Gonzalez (Pocono Mountain East), 5-1

Scott Farniss (172)

Jonathan Adjin-Tettey (East Stroudsburg So) pinned Farniss in 1:10

Massimo Tranguch (189)

Tranguch pinned Keegan Munch (Stroudsburg) in 3:06

James Deluise (Bethlehem Catholic) pinned Tranguch in 1:17

Levi Levy (Liberty) pinned Tranguch in 1:33

Logan Roth (215)

Kurtis Crossman (Easton) pinned Roth in 2:32

Jason Schubert (Pleasant Valley) pinned Roth in 2:39

Ashir Choudhry (285)

Grant Mulhern (Bethlehem Catholic) dec. Choudhry, 4-2