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Fast start carries Abington Heights past Dallas in D2-5A boys hoops semifinal

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Outdoor expo continues through Sunday at Mohegan Sun Pocono

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Each one had a bad taste in his mouth.</p><p>For Jeff Bennett, admittedly, it wasn&#8217;t quite his best showing at the regional tournament last season after the Hanover Area wrestler won district gold one week prior.</p><p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t think I&#8217;ve wrestled good at regionals at any point in my career,&#8221; Bennett said. &#8220;That&#8217;s all I&#8217;ve been thinking about. I want that, top 4 to get to states.&#8221;</p><p>For Lehman&#8217;s R.J. Driscoll, his postseason path was barricaded by a concrete roadblock before it even started. Two weeks before districts, the Black Knight sustained a season-ending injury.</p><p>&#8220;This feels like home to me,&#8221; Driscoll said. &#8220;This is where I want to be. I feel confident in myself and in my teammates. I just have to wrestle to the best of my ability. I feel that if I can wrestle like I am capable of wrestling, I will be fine.&#8221;</p><p>The two seniors remain on a collision course in the District 2 Class 2A 132-pound weight class.</p><p>Bennett, the No. 1 seed, needed just 22 seconds to dispatch of Elk Lake&#8217;s Higinio Loboda, while Driscoll pinned his opponent, Wyoming Area&#8217;s Tyler Martin, in 1:47 Friday night at the Kingston Armory.</p><p>In the team race, three squads &#8211; Western Wayne, Hanover Area and Lake-Lehman &#8211; all have seven wrestlers alive in the semifinal round. As a league, the Wyoming Valley Conference has a total of 26 wrestlers in the semis.</p><p>After Day 1, Hanover Area and Western Wayne are tied in first with 74.5 points. Valley View (68.5), Lake-Lehman (66) and Honesdale (64) round out the top 5. Meyers is sixth, Wyoming Area is seventh and Berwick is 12th. Nanticoke still has four in the consolation round and is 14th with 10 points.</p><p>&#8220;We feel that we are set up as a tournament team this year,&#8221; Hanover head coach Rich Gavlick said. &#8220;We want to go out and do our best to get this one. We&#8217;ve been preaching all year that 1982 was the last time that Hanover got the job done in the district tournament. This could be a special thing for the rest of their lives. You could win a district championship, and no one can ever take that away from you.&#8221;</p><p>And if you are looking for upsets, turn away from the Class 2A bracket. Every top 3 seed in the 14 weight classes are still alive for district gold. Even in matchups between No. 4 and No. 5 seed, there was an even, 7-7 split.</p><p>Yes, you can say they may be some parity in 2A this season.</p><p>&#8220;We are peaking at the right time,&#8221; Lehman head coach J.J. Konigus said. &#8220;We seem to do well at the district tournament because we have some pretty good individuals. Everything just seems to be coming together at the right time. And here we are. We have a chance to win that district title. We just want them to have fun and wrestle hard.&#8221;</p><p>Yet, all eyes are focused on the 132-pound weight class &#8211; considered by most as the toughest in the classification. Nine district medals, including a gold and three second-place honors. Nearly 350 combined wins.</p><p>Bennett is a defending district champ. Driscoll was a state qualifier in 2015.</p><p>&#8220;I just go into the tournament thinking that I am the best wrestler in the bracket,&#8221; Bennett said. &#8220;I know that I put all the hard work in, and I have confidence that it&#8217;s going to pay off. I have confidence in myself.&#8221;</p><p>Each had that motivation. That burning fire in their eyes.</p><p>For Bennett, it was a disappointing performance at regionals where he was eliminated from state contention early on the second day. Saturday, he&#8217;ll enter two wins away from another district title and a chance for redemption in Williamsport.</p><p>Bennett will be joined in the semifinals by teammates Joe Rowley (106), D.J. Erickson (138), Zakee Nettles (152), Noah Rakowski (160), J.J. Hooper (182) and Nick Hannon (285)</p><p>And for Driscoll, it&#8217;s about what was lost with two weeks to go last season and a chance to end his season in Hershey. He&#8217;ll be joined in the semifinals by Bob Long (120), Matt Galasso (126), Garrett Kolb (138), Bob Lipski (145), Jake Tomolonis (152) and Kaleb Konigus (285).</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m very fortunate that I still had my senior year left,&#8221; Driscoll said. &#8220;To be able to come back strong for my senior year, and have that chance to qualify for states, it would mean everything.&#8221;</p><p>It&#8217;s also setting up to be a big day for Meyers&#8217; senior Colin Pasone, who will be going for his fourth straight district title. The No. 1 seed at 120, Pasone needed just 29 seconds to stick Western Wayne&#8217;s Dillon Dante in the quarters. He&#8217;ll meet up with Lehman&#8217;s Bob Long, a regional qualifier last season at 106.</p><p>Should he win gold, Pasone would be the 28th wrestler in D2 history to accomplish the feat.</p><p>Also in the semifinals for the Mohawks are Anthony Kasper (113), Jeremy Bergold (152), Colin Browne (170), Locus Borum (195) and Preston Perkins (220).</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Meyers&#8217; Jeremy Bergold, top, takes on Montrose&#8217;s Bryan Ryan in a District 2 Class 2A 152-pound bout at the 109th Field Artillery Armory on Friday night. Meyers is sixth in team standings. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/web1_D2Wrestling_2.jpg</photo0><caption0>Meyers&#8217; Jeremy Bergold, top, takes on Montrose&#8217;s Bryan Ryan in a District 2 Class 2A 152-pound bout at the 109th Field Artillery Armory on Friday night. Meyers is sixth in team standings. </caption0><photoCredit0>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Tom Fox</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>

Jeff Bennett, R.J. Driscoll hoping for District 2 Class 2A gold