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SCRANTON &#8212; Sometimes, it takes that one close win to get the ball rolling.Unfortunately for Hazleton Area, once Scranton got it going, that momentum was just too much to overcome.The Knights won the first nine contested bouts and never looked back, en route to a 48-15 victory over Hazleton Area in the semifinals of the District 2 Class 3A Team Dual tournament Wednesday night in Lackawanna County.Scranton advances to the final Saturday at Pittston Area to square off with Wyoming Valley Conference champion Tunkhannock, while Hazleton still has a chance to earn a third-place finish.Earlier in the night, the Cougars sent Wallenpaupack to the elimination bracket with a 45-24 victory, while the Knights cruised past city rival West Scranton, 52-21.&#8220;We got nothing going, and we couldn&#8217;t stop the bleeding,&#8221; Hazleton Area head coach Keith Maurer said. &#8220;We were just too flat, and they took it to us. Scranton has a nice team. I don&#8217;t know. We were wrestling pretty well coming into this event. It&#8217;s hard to put your finger on it sometimes. We just got to get back to work. There are still matches to be won, and there is a third-place honor I would like to get.&#8221;It took just one to build that enormous snowball. That one was the 220-pound bout; the third weight in a match that started at 182.Scranton&#8217;s Jack Malia got his escape to start the second. Hazleton&#8217;s Colin Gunsser got his match-tying point in the third.After spending most of the period in a collar-and-head tie-up, Malia was able to work a shrug at the end of the circle, and was awarded the takedown with three seconds left in regulation.Yes, it was just the third bout &#8211; but it was a sign of things to come.&#8220;I kind of saw he was tired, and my conditioning is pretty good,&#8221; Malia said. &#8220;I just went for it as hard as I could, and I was able to keep my toes in. I love to wrestle early in the matches so I can be a spark plug for the team, and get some momentum going. When you see your teammates winning, you want to keep pushing. You don&#8217;t want to be the first guy to lose.&#8221;The Knights got all the close ones.A late reversal by Robert Zelinski secured a 4-0 win at 106.Joshua Rivera&#8217;s takedown with 25 seconds left clinched a 3-1 victory at 113.And a huge victory at 138 between two state-caliber wrestlers when a third-period reversal was the difference for Rui Evanitsky in a 2-1 decision over 30-match winner Jimmy Hoffman.By the time the Cougars got its first win in a contested bout, Scranton was out to a 36-6 lead.&#8220;One just kind of kept building into another,&#8221; Scranton head coach Jim Morgan said. &#8220;When I was thinking about this match, there were so many weights that could have went either way coming in. You just kind of split it up, figuring you will take half and they will take half. I never seen it where you win every single one. There were six going in where I thought they were a toss-up. We were fortunate to win all of them.&#8221;While Maurer wasn&#8217;t sure how it would play out, he knew one thing.Bonus points were going to be hard to come by.&#8220;And they were able to pile up some in spots,&#8221; Maurer said. &#8220;I knew from 106 to 152, there probably weren&#8217;t going to be any bonus points and matches were going to be nip-and-tuck. They took it to us tonight.&#8221;Hazleton got a pin from Keith Lowery (145), and an 8-2 decision by Shane Noonan (152), while Carson Kinney received a forfeit at 195.&#8220;I was looking forward to wrestling Scranton because I knew we were going to see tight matches, and those are the ones you want to be in right now,&#8221; Maurer said. &#8220;You have to learn to win those matches. Come district and regionals, those 15-0 matches don&#8217;t do you any good. You have to win the close ones if you want to be successful.&#8221;The Cougars were in a dogfight in the quarterfinal match against Wallenpaupack, dropping four of the first five weight classes before turning it on.Bonus point wins by Carlos Cruz (106), Jacob Maurer (113), Jayson Brielmeier (120), Hoffman (138) Lowery (145), and Noonan (152) &#8211; in addition to a decision by Anthony Martoccio (132) and forfeit to Chris Lasecki (126) gave the Cougars breathing room over the Buckhorns.&#8220;I don&#8217;t think we wrestled well against Wallenpaupack,&#8221; Maurer said. &#8220;We missed too many opportunities. Yes, we won some big matches, and we got some bonus points, but we were too sloppy at times.&#8221;Hazleton Area 45, Wallenpaupack 24106: Carlos Cruz (Haz) tech fall over Brennen Hannon, 26-8, 6:00; 113: Jacob Maurer (Haz) pinned Hunter Nakielny, 1:50; 120: Jayson Brielmeier (Haz) maj dec. Wyatt Krial, 10-0; 126: Chris Lasecki (Haz) won by forfeit; 132: Anthony Martoccio (Haz) dec. Ray Ortiz, 8-2; 138: Jimmy Hoffman (Haz) tech fall over Michael Ortiz, 16-0, 2:43; 145: Keith Lowery (Haz) tech fall over Ryan Hartman, 15-0, 6:00; 152: Shane Noonan (Haz) tech fall over Anthony Krug, 16-0, 4:25; 160: John Hannon (Wal) pinned Joseph Larock, 1:50; 170: Tyler Neglia (Wal) dec. James Brielmeier, 12-9; 182: Todd Frick (Wal) dec. Steven Longazel, 8-3; 195: Carson Kinney (Haz) pinned Thomas Hiller, 1:12; 220: Kyle Hartman (Wal) pinned Colin Gunsser, 1:16; 285: Zach Rode (Wal) pinned Zach Fuchick, 1:43Note: Match started at 170Scranton 52, West Scranton 21106: Bob Zelinski (Scr) won by forfeit; 113: Jarad Slack (WS) dec. Mark Leggin, 1-0; 120: Willie Evanitski (Scr) pinned Nathan Trotta, 0:52; 126: Jeremiah Oakes (Scr) pinned Noah Molina, 1:06; 132: Yahnzy Ortiz (WS) pinned Matt Rink, 1:06; 138: Jacob Burgette (Scr) pinned Tyler Connor, 3:32; 145: Rui Evanitsky (Scr) pinned Jacob Rodgers, 0:36; 152: Bubba Novak (WS) pinned Jeremiah Alexander, 4:31; 160: Aidan McNally (Scr) tech fall over Bobby Walls, 2:03; 170: Andrew Burgette (Scr) pinned Jeremy Seymour, 2:25; 182: Reggie Dickey (Scr) tech fall over Tyreek Lozano, 5:20; 195: Jack Harrity (WS) won by forfeit; 220: Jack Malia (Scr) pinned Noah Worsnick, 1:08; 285: Simon Ubera (Scr) pinned Anthony Giordano, 3:23Note: Match Started at 170Scranton 48, Hazleton Area 15106: Robert Zelinski (Scr) dec. Carlos Cruz, 4-0; 113: Joshua Rivera (Scr) dec. Jacob Maurer, 3-1; 120: William Evanitsky (Scr) pinned Jayson Brielmeier, 5:59; 126: Jeremiah Oakes (Scr) dec. Chris Lasecki, 4-1; 132: Jacob Burgette (Scr) dec. Anthony Martoccio, 7-3; 138: Rui Evanitsky (Scr) dec. Jimmy Hoffman, 2-1; 145: Keith Lowery (Haz) pinned Jehouany Gbedan, 1:58; 152: Shane Noonan (Haz) dec. Bertiin Stuckart, 8-3; 160: Aidan McNally (Scr) pinned Jeremey Aquino, 1:40; 170: Andrew Burgette (Scr) pinned James Brielmeier, 0:52; 182: Reggie Dickey (Scr) won by injury default over Steven Longazel, 2:38; 195: Carson Kinney (Haz) won by forfeit; 220: Jack Malia (Scr) dec. Colin Gunsser, 3-1; 285: Simon Ubera (Scr) pinned Zach Fuchick, 3:03Note: Match started at 182<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Tom FoxFor Times Leader</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach Times Leader sports at 570-829-7143 or on Twitter @tlsports.</shirttailMeta></div>

District 2 Class 3A Team Dual wrestling tournament: Hazleton Area falls to Scranton in semis