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Wilkes men’s basketball season ends in ECAC semifinal loss to Widener

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Pittston celebrates its Irish heritage at annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade

<p>BETHLEHEM &#8212; Overtaken by emotions, Shane O&#8217;Rourke could barely handle getting his hand raised.</p><p>Once it sunk in for the Crestwood senior that he was headed to the PIAA Championships for the first time, he swelled up and got teary-eyed.</p><p>The 220-pounder had also realized that he handed Northeast&#8217;s Jameel Coles just his second loss this season in the consolation semifinals of the Class 3A Northeast Regional Tournament at Liberty High School. After an exciting and exhausting bout, O&#8217;Rourke had to celebrate by going right to his mother, Susie, and gave her a big hug.</p><p>&#8220;This is one of the best feelings in the world, I&#8217;ve never felt like this before,&#8221; O&#8217;Rourke said. &#8220;I knew every match could have been my last match.&#8221;</p><p>What helped O&#8217;Rourke the most was a text message from his mom right before the bout.</p><p>&#8220;I got a text right before the match from my mom saying, &#8216;No matter what, you&#8217;ve proved so much to so many people. You did an amazing job. You&#8217;re already a winner.&#8217; And I just knew,&#8221; he said. &#8220;There&#8217;s no worse feeling than losing in front of your mom. I&#8217;m so proud now, I can&#8217;t wait to go home. I couldn&#8217;t wait to go up to her.&#8221;</p><p>O&#8217;Rourke, who missed the postseason last year and took third at the District 2 Tournament last weekend, is one of five Wyoming Valley Conference wrestlers in Class 3A to reach the state tournament on Thursday, Friday and Saturday at Hershey&#8217;s Giant Center.</p><p>He will be joined by Tunkhannock 106-pounder David Evans, Wyoming Valley West&#8217;s David Krokowski (126), Dallas&#8217; Steven Newell (170) and Hazleton Area&#8217;s Shane Noonan (195). All five are first-time state qualifiers.</p><p>&#8220;After getting third at districts, so many people counted me out. And to make it here in a tough bracket like that, I&#8217;m just so happy,&#8221; O&#8217;Rourke said. &#8220;I can&#8217;t wait to go to Hershey and show them what I can do down there.&#8221;</p><p>O&#8217;Rourke will have to return to the gym Sunday to wrestle his third-place bout against Delaware Valley&#8217;s John McCarthy due to a PIAA rule that limits wrestlers to only five matches in one day. Weather issues wiped out Friday&#8217;s schedule, forcing nearly all of the tournament to be held on Saturday.</p><p>Evans was the only one from D2 to advance to the finals. He placed second, dropping a 14-12 decision to Bethlehem Catholic freshman Matt Mayer.</p><p>Evans was the first from the district to punch his ticket to Hershey when he won his semifinal bout vs. Emmaus&#8217; Peyton Brown 9-2 earlier on Saturday. Using a tilt, Evans turned Brown twice to pick up back points.</p><p>Once the match was over, he was overwhelmed with excitement.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m pumped. I&#8217;m really happy. I worked really hard in the offseason and I&#8217;m happy I got what I was looking for, and it&#8217;s a great feeling,&#8221; said Evans, who lost both of his matches last year at regionals. &#8220;When I came here last year, I got manhandled; kids were stronger than me. &#8230; I worked out a lot this offseason with my dad and took it more seriously this year.&#8221;</p><p>Like Evans, Noonan was also a semifinalist. He dropped his bout and battled back through the consolation round. Needing just one win in the loser&#8217;s bracket, Noonan defeated Bangor&#8217;s Joey Schrader 4-0 to reach Hershey for the first time as a junior.</p><p>Noonan will also return to the school today to wrestle the third-place match against Wallenpaupack&#8217;s Tyler Neglia at 10 a.m. Neglia lost his preliminary round bout on Saturday morning, then won four times to qualify for states.</p><p>&#8220;Coming out here and knowing that after I lost my semi match I only had one more to go, it was tough. But I fought through the nervousness,&#8221; Noonan said. &#8220;I just thought about everything that happened last year and losing, and I knew I had to come back strong.&#8221;</p><p>Newell and Krokowski were both seeded second in their respective brackets and were upset in the quarterfinals. They both had to win three matches in the consolations to advance to Hershey.</p><p>Krokowski defeated Blue Mountain&#8217;s Josh Mason in the state-qualifying bout prior to losing to Northampton&#8217;s Jagger Condomitti in the third-place bout, 4-2. Condomitti also defeated the Spartan junior in the quarterfinals. But getting to states after falling short two previous times at regionals made up for the losses.</p><p>&#8220;I finally get a chance to be with the top competition in the state,&#8221; Krokowski said. &#8220;Even though everybody down here is always ranked in the state, it&#8217;s gonna be fun to wrestle in the Hershey arena.&#8221;</p><p>In Krokowski&#8217;s second win of the day, he defeated Shawn Marchesano from Archbishop Ryan, lifting the 126-pounder to the 100-win milestone.</p><p>&#8220;This weekend, probably the 100 wins the most,&#8221; Krokowski said when asked what he&#8217;ll remember most from the event. &#8220;It&#8217;s a big achievement. I&#8217;m chasing Cody (Cordes) down for the record. Hoping to get a few wins down at states and maybe even a medal would be cool.&#8221;</p><p>Newell, also a junior, made up for his loss in the quarters to Easton&#8217;s Dominic Falcone by pinning his next three opponents before losing in the third-place bout to Cole Painter from Pottsville. Both of Newell&#8217;s losses were in overtime.</p><p>&#8220;The whole purpose of coming down here is to qualify. It&#8217;s always nice to get as high a place as possible. but I&#8217;m not disappointed in my performance at all,&#8221; Newell said. &#8220;What I came down here to do was qualify and I did.&#8221;</p><p>The Lackawanna League qualified eight wrestlers for states paced by Scranton and Delaware Valley, which each have three state qualifiers. For the Knights, Jeremiah Oakes (145), William Evanitsky (152) and Jacob Burgette (160) are headed to Hershey.</p><p>Joining McCarthy from the Warriors are Mike McKinney at 138 and Andrew Kidd at 182.</p><p>West Scranton&#8217;s Jeremy Seymour was the lone finalist from his conference, reaching the 182 final by pinning all three opponents before losing a one-point decision in the final to finish second.</p><style>
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<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>

Regional wrestling: Memorable day for Crestwood’s O’Rourke in Class 3A