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Tunkhannock wins first district duals title, besting Scranton

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Outdoors with Tom Venesky: Tracks tell the story

<p>YATESVILLE &#8212; When the weigh-in sheets were distributed to coaches and the media prior to Saturday&#8217;s District 2 Duals finals, a lot of people saw Lake-Lehman&#8217;s lineup and were puzzled.</p><p>The Black Knights looked like they were about to forfeit three matches, and that two of their wrestlers had not made weight.</p><p>And when the Black Knights went down by 12 points after three bouts, it didn&#8217;t look too good for Lehman.</p><p>Turns out though, that was the strategy for Lake-Lehman coach J.J. Konigus in the dual against Hanover Area for the Class 2A championship. The pre-match strategy worked to perfection as the Black Knights overcame a 14-point deficit at the midway mark of the dual to defeat the Hawkeyes, 40-29 and win their first duals title since 2004 snapping a streak of losses in seven straight team appearances in the finals.</p><p>&#8220;When we wrestled versus Western Wayne and Valley View I said I was going to wrestle straight up, but if we got to the finals I&#8217;m going to do some magic. Well, I guess I did some magic,&#8221; Konigus said about his pre-match strategy. &#8220;I think we beat them at the weigh-ins.</p><p>&#8220;There&#8217;s so much strategy going into this sport that it&#8217;ll blow your mind sometimes.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;I was shocked and I told him I was shocked,&#8221; Hanover Area coach Anthony Mercadante said. &#8220;I also felt confident with some of the matchups we were gonna get and I actually thought maybe that kinda played into my favor because you gotta wrestle. But they outwrestled us.&#8221;</p><p>With the win, Lake-Lehman advances to the PIAA Team Championships on Thursday at the Giant Center in Hershey and will face the District 7 (WPIAL) champion Burrell at 4 p.m. in the double-elimination tournament. Burrell defeated Freedom, 48-17 on Saturday afternoon.</p><p>Konigus&#8217; strategy had Garrett Kolb weighing in at 126 instead of 120 and Jake Tomolonis at 160 instead of his normal weight of 152. That meant Kolb bumped away from Hanover standout Jeff Bennett at 120 and had Tomolonis eligible to move up to 170 for a match with J.J. Hooper, and Tomolonis defeated Hooper, 4-3.</p><p>&#8220;I think they thought they&#8217;d count on a win there,&#8221; Konigus said. &#8220;I replayed that over in my head a bazillion times. I had seven different lineups.&#8221;</p><p>The Black Knights didn&#8217;t take their first lead of the afternoon until just three contested bouts reamained and that came when Kris Rosencrans pinned Isaiah Stebbins at 195 pounds putting the Black Knights in front, 25-24. With Hanover Area giving up 12 points at the end of the dual, that match just about cemented Lehman&#8217;s win.</p><p>The Hawkeyes got off to a good start when Jeff Bennett was awarded a forfeit at 120 then D.J. Erickson (126 pounds) won by decision and Zakee Nettles (132 pounds) defeated Dylan Meehan to give them a 12-0 lead.</p><p>Two big wins for Lehman came next when returning state qualifier R.J. Driscoll notched a fall at 138, and Bob Lipski turned a last-second reversal for two points and a major decision at 145. When Lipski and Saturday&#8217;s opponent Owen Davis met previously, Lipski won with a close decision.</p><p>The Black Knights gave up 12 more points in the next two bouts forfeiting 152 then allowing Noah Rakowski to get a fall at 160 as Hanover Area went ahead 24-10 with seven weights remaining.</p><p>Looking back, that was not a big obstacle to overcome because Lehman won the next four matches.</p><p>What was more of a roadblock to get past was that the scoreboard inaccuracies. At multiple points in the dual, there was a stoppage to get the score or time corrected.</p><p>&#8220;It probably did shake up my kids a little and I was trying to tell them, the fans and my coaches &#8216;hey stay calm,&#8217;&#8221; Mercadante said. &#8220;I&#8217;m keeping track of the score in my head and on paper. I&#8217;m sure it did effect us, but you know what it affected both teams. I make no excuses.&#8221;</p><p>Lehman was affected by that as well, especially in an intense atmosphere and given what was at stake. On several occurrences coaches and assistants on both teams were on their feet looking for explanations.</p><p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t think it was the scorer, I think just the buttons were sticking or something. I don&#8217;t know what was going on, but I was getting mad,&#8221; Konigus said. &#8220;We were coming out of our chairs a couple times and the referee kept wanted us to stay in our chairs, but it&#8217;s tough.&#8221;</p><p>A win by Lehman&#8217;s Mike Slivinski at 220 over Nick Hannon for the third time this season, increased the team&#8217;s lead to 28-23. The Hawkeyes&#8217; John Sheridan (285 pounds) won by fall putting them in front 29-28 before the two forfeits were officially added to the score.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Hanover Area&#8217;s 132-pounder Zakee Nettles grabs on to the chin of Lake-Lehman&#8217;s Dylan Meehan as he tries to pull him to the mat during Saturday&#8217;s District 2 Class 2A Duals final at Pittston Area High School. Nettles won the match 11-6, but the Black Knights won the meet, 40-29. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_aadual2_faa.jpg</photo0><caption0>Hanover Area&#8217;s 132-pounder Zakee Nettles grabs on to the chin of Lake-Lehman&#8217;s Dylan Meehan as he tries to pull him to the mat during Saturday&#8217;s District 2 Class 2A Duals final at Pittston Area High School. Nettles won the match 11-6, but the Black Knights won the meet, 40-29. </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_aaduals1_faa.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Hanover Area&#8217;s Danny Erickson tries to hook up a cradle on Lake-Lehman&#8217;s Garrett Kolb in the opening 126-pound bout of Saturday&#8217;s District 2 Class 2A Duals final. Erickson won by decision, 9-4. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_aaduals1_faa.jpg</photo1><caption1>Hanover Area&#8217;s Danny Erickson tries to hook up a cradle on Lake-Lehman&#8217;s Garrett Kolb in the opening 126-pound bout of Saturday&#8217;s District 2 Class 2A Duals final. Erickson won by decision, 9-4. </caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_aaduals3_faa.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Lake-Lehman&#8217;s R.J. Driscoll sets up a pin on Hanover Area&#8217;s Mike Gronkowski in the 138-pound match of Saturday afternoon&#8217;s District 2 Class 2A Duals finals. Driscoll got the pin in 2:28 and the Black Knights won the dual, 40-29. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_aaduals3_faa.jpg</photo2><caption2>Lake-Lehman&#8217;s R.J. Driscoll sets up a pin on Hanover Area&#8217;s Mike Gronkowski in the 138-pound match of Saturday afternoon&#8217;s District 2 Class 2A Duals finals. Driscoll got the pin in 2:28 and the Black Knights won the dual, 40-29. </caption2><photoCredit2></photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Black Knights win first district duals title since 2004</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Dave Rosengrant</p><p>drosengrant@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Dave Rosengrant at 570-991-6398 or on Twitter @tldrosengrant</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Lake-Lehman wins first District 2 Duals wrestling title since 2004