web1_podcast-icon.jpg

Times Leader Sports Report: Where it’s so white as snow

web1_ski1_faa.jpg

Fresh snow makes for happy skiers at Montage Mountain

<p>Hazleton Area gave one-loss Cedar Cliff its best shot on Thursday night in the opening round of the PIAA Class 3A Team Championships at the Giant Center in Hershey, but it just wasn&#8217;t enough.</p><p>District 3 runner-up Cedar Cliff won five of the six bouts that were decided by decision in the dual while adding two pins and two technical falls to defeat the Cougars 43-16.</p><p>The District 2 champion Cougars will wrestle Friday at 10 a.m. against Owen J. Roberts in the consolation round trying to equal Tunkhannock (2016) and Wyoming Valley West (2014) as the only two teams from the Wyoming Valley Conference to ever win a dual at the state tournament. Owen J. Roberts fell to nationally-ranked Nazareth 53-13 in Thursday&#8217;s opening round.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;ll spend some time (Thursday night) looking at it,&#8221; Cougars coach Keith Maurer said about Friday&#8217;s consolation match. &#8220;We have a pretty good idea about what Nazareth is because we&#8217;ve seen them at a few tournaments. We don&#8217;t have a whole lot of room moving around, but we&#8217;ll put our 13 guys out there and try our best.&#8221;</p><p>The big losses for Hazleton Area were all the decisions. One was decided by three points, two had a difference of four points and two other results were just five points apart. Just one key move by a Hazleton Area wrestler in those bouts and the dual could have had much different result.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s disappointing that we lost those matches, but a lot of those matches we were close,&#8221; Maurer said. &#8220;I believe as a team we were flat too so it&#8217;s a little disappointing there. But being in a new venue for all these guys except Jimmy (Hoffman) was probably a factor. Hopefully tomorrow we start off better than we did today.&#8221;</p><p>The Cougars got in an early 20-3 hole, dropping five of the first six weights. The only win coming from 106-pounder Jake Maurer by 12-7 decision. They got a jolt in the middle weights getting back-to-back wins from Jimmy Hoffman (technical fall at 138) and Jake Marnell (decision at 145) to pull within 20-11.</p><p>But the Colts were too much. The only other win the Cougars could muster was a tech fall by Shane Noonan at 170. That got Hazleton Area within 29-16 with three weights remaining, but Cedar Cliff was victorious in the them all via tech fall, decision and forfeit.</p><p>&#8220;Starting at 285 and knowing we&#8217;re giving up six right at the end is a little disappointing there,&#8221; Maurer said. &#8220;Jimmy and Jake and Shane got the wins there in the middle but we just never got anything going.&#8221;</p><p><strong>PIAA Team Championships</strong></p><p><strong>Cedar Cliff 43, Hazleton Area 16</strong></p><p><strong>106 </strong> &#8212; Jake Maurer (Haz) dec Cole Baer 12-7; <strong>113 </strong> &#8212; JJ Wilson (CC) tech fall Charles Everdale 16-1, 4:16; <strong>120 </strong> &#8212; Aubrey Dawson (CC) dec Stephen Martisofski 8-3; <strong>126</strong> &#8212; Josh McLaughlin (CC) dec Anthony Martoccio 5-2; <strong>132</strong> &#8212; Luis Tirado (CC) dec Jayson Brielmeier 8-3; <strong>138</strong> &#8212; Jimmy Hoffman (Haz) tech fall Christian Prestil 16-0, 3:05; <strong>145</strong> &#8212; Jake Marnell (Haz) dec Daniel Sigue 3-0; <strong>152</strong> &#8212; Jared Meise (CC) pinned Dallas Solomon 1:25; <strong>160</strong> &#8212; Hunter Nelson (CC) dec Jeremy Aquino 7-3; <strong>170 </strong>&#8212; Shane Noonan (Haz) tech fall Bobby Whalen 15-0, 4:15; <strong>182</strong> &#8212; Donovan Ball (CC) tech fall Bryce Reed 19-4; <strong>195</strong> &#8212; Emerson Wentz (CC) dec Carson Kinney 7-3; <strong>220</strong> &#8212; Erik Musselman (CC) won by forfeit; <strong>285</strong> &#8212; Francis Duggan (CC) pinned Travis Kostyal</p><p><strong>Note:</strong> Match started at 285 pounds</p><style>
.neFileBlock {
	margin-bottom: 20px;
}
.neFileBlock p {
	margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}
.neFileBlock .neFile {
	border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa;
	padding-bottom: 5px;
	padding-top: 10px;
}
.neFileBlock .neCaption {
	font-size: 85%;
}
</style>
<div class='neFileBlock'>
<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/web1_JIMMY-HOFFMAN-1-.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Hoffman </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/web1_JIMMY-HOFFMAN-1-.jpg</photo0><caption0>Hoffman </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Dave Rosengrant</p><p>For Times Leader</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Times Leader sports at 570-829-7143 or on Twitter @tlsports.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Hazleton Area falls in opening round of PIAA team championships