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Four WVC qualifiers each lose tight 3A matches at state wrestling meet

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Dallas defeats Lower Dauphin in 5A opener

<p>HERSHEY &#8212; It&#8217;s been well-known throughout the Wyoming Valley Conference that the wrestling competition has been down this season, especially in Class 2A.</p><p>As proof, the WVC&#8217;s two state qualifiers were tied for the lowest in eight years, and the conference&#8217;s 17 qualifiers for last weekend&#8217;s regional tournament were the fewest in 13 years as the conference goes through a rebuild.</p><p>Those numbers were still glaring on Friday morning at the PIAA Class 2A Championships when two conference&#8217;s two participants, Hanover Area&#8217;s D.J. Erickson and Lake-Lehman&#8217;s Kaleb Konigus, both lost and fell short of earning a state medal.</p><p>It marks the first time since 2009 that the WVC will be held without a placewinner in the top eight in the state in Class 2A.</p><p>&#8220;You gotta be willing to go outside the area, the comfort zone of our conference and wrestle, and go and attack that better competition,&#8221; Lake-Lehman coach Jay Konigus said. &#8220;All these matches are so close, they can go either way &#8212; one-point matches. &#8230; They&#8217;re all right there. You just gotta get that offseason stuff going and be willing to travel and wrestle outside your comfort zone.&#8221;</p><p>All wasn&#8217;t lost for Luzerne County though.</p><p>Avoca resident Ivan Balavage dropped his 195-pound quarterfinal bout before bouncing back to win his match in the third round of consolations and secure a medal for the second straight season. He recovered from the loss in a big way by pinning his way to a medal.</p><p>The Scranton Prep senior then won his fourth round consolation bout and will finish no worse than fifth place this afternoon when the medal rounds start at 2 p.m.</p><p>&#8220;It feels great. I worked so hard since freshman year to get here, and to go home with a medal, it&#8217;s nice,&#8221; Balavage said.</p><p>Balavage, who finished seventh on the podium last year, was the first wrestler in school history to claim a state medal in 2017. Earlier this season, he passed his brother, Thor, as the school&#8217;s all-time winningest wrestler for the Cavaliers.</p><p>Lackawanna Trail&#8217;s Owen Hivner and Western Wayne&#8217;s Cole Fuller join Balavage as medalists from District 2. They will wrestle for seventh this afternoon.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve been working out with Owen since first grade, but these last couple of meets we got closer,&#8221; Balavage said about Hivner. &#8220;It&#8217;s awesome (to medal with him). We both have mullets and it&#8217;ll be pretty awesome to have a mullet picture together with him.&#8221;</p><p>The WVC didn&#8217;t have as much luck, but it started out promising.</p><p>Erickson, a 145-pounder, won his first match on Friday beating Thomas Spirk from Saucon Valley 10-4 in the second round of consolations. In the next round, looking to secure a state medal, Erickson fell to returning third-place medalist Gabe Miller from Pequea Valley via fall in 2:57.</p><p>He ends his junior season with a record 33-7, his first district title and two wins at states to improve on last year&#8217;s PIAA showing when he went 1-2. He will start his senior season with 83 career wins.</p><p>Konigus only wrestled once on Friday. He got caught and pinned early in his consolation match against Union City&#8217;s Matt Long, who then lost his next match and was eliminated.</p><p>In his first state appearance as a senior, Konigus was in two close matches before the fall and concluded the season with a mark of 33-10.</p><p>Only wrestling varsity for three seasons, Konigus ended his career with 78 victories.</p><p>&#8220;He wrestled with a lot of grit and fought through a little injury, but he did great. I&#8217;m really proud of him as a coach and a dad,&#8221; Jay Konigus said. &#8220;That was his goal was to make it here. He was a district champ. He made it here and won a match, and I couldn&#8217;t ask for anything more. He&#8217;s a football player turned wrestler. That&#8217;s the next step now to get ready for that.&#8221;</p><p>Graduating in a few months, Konigus will miss out on what could be a special Black Knights team coming up in the near future. He is one of just three seniors on the team that won the WVC Division 2 crown this year before coming up short at the district duals tournament. But the Knights rebounded to take second in the team standings at the individual district tournament.</p><p>&#8220;We got a lot of good kids coming back,&#8221; Jay Konigus said. &#8220;Six freshmen I brought up this year, and we&#8217;ll bring two more up. We&#8217;re gonna be tough. Tunkhannock&#8217;s coming down (to Class 2A). We&#8217;ll give them a run for the money for sure, hopefully.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Hanover Area&#8217;s D.J. Erickson of Hanover works against Gabe Miller, of Pequea Valley, during their 145-pound consolation match at the PIAA Class 2A Wrestling Championships Friday. Miller pinned Erickson to advance. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_Erickson2_day2.jpg</photo0><caption0>Hanover Area&#8217;s D.J. Erickson of Hanover works against Gabe Miller, of Pequea Valley, during their 145-pound consolation match at the PIAA Class 2A Wrestling Championships Friday. Miller pinned Erickson to advance. </caption0><photoCredit0>Ed Boardman | For Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_Kanigus_Day2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Lake-Lehman&#8217;s Kaleb Konigus had a short day on Friday as he was eliminated by Matt Long of Union City. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_Kanigus_Day2.jpg</photo1><caption1>Lake-Lehman&#8217;s Kaleb Konigus had a short day on Friday as he was eliminated by Matt Long of Union City. </caption1><photoCredit1>Ed Boardman | For Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_Erickson_day2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Hanover Area&#8217;s D.J. Erickson, left, posted a 10-4 decison over Thomas Spirk of Saucon Valley during 145-pound consolation action Friday in Hershey. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_Erickson_day2.jpg</photo2><caption2>Hanover Area&#8217;s D.J. Erickson, left, posted a 10-4 decison over Thomas Spirk of Saucon Valley during 145-pound consolation action Friday in Hershey. </caption2><photoCredit2>Ed Boardman | For Times Leader </photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta></subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Dave Rosengrant</p><p>For Times Leader</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>How They Fared</strong></p><p>Here&#8217;s how the District 2 wrestlers fared on Friday, the second day of the PIAA Championships</p><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>CLASS 2A</strong></p><p>&#8226; Brandon Judge, Valley View (126): Second round consolations, beat Kaeden Berger, Reynolds, 6-1. Third round consolations, pinned by Colin Leonard, Northern Lebanon, 3:17.</p><p>&#8226; D.J. Erickson, Hanover Area (145): Second round consolations, beat Thomas Spirk, Saucon Valley, 10-4. Third round consolations, pinned by Gabe Miller, Pequea Valley in 2:57.</p><p>&#8226; Owen Hivner, Lackawanna Trail (170): Second round consolations, beat Shane Watkins, Harbor Creek, 4-1. Third round consolations, defeated Colin Fegley, Mahanoy, 9-8. Fourth round consolations, lost to Christian Clutter, McGuffey, 4-3. He will wrestle for seventh.</p><p>&#8226; Ivan Balavage, Scranton Prep (195): Quarterfinals, lost to Brendan Calvin, Greenville, 7-4. Third round consolation, pinned Kolt Schaeffer, Tri-Valley 1:41. Fourth round consolations, pinned Lucas Folmar, Harbor Creek, 1:53. He will wrestle for fifth.</p><p>&#8226; Cole Fuller, Western Wayne (220): Quarterfinals, pinned by Anthony Walters, Bishop McCort, :37. Third round consolation, pinned Kolby Flank, Wilson, 3:53. Fourth round consolations, pinned by Khalil Messai, Jamestown, 1:18. He will wrestle for seventh.</p><p>&#8226; Kaleb Konigus, Lake-Lehman (285): Second round consolations, pinned by Matt Long, Union City, :18.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>CLASS 3A</strong></p><p>&#8226; David Evans, Tunkhannock (106): Quarterfinals, lost to Kyle Waterman, Council Rock South, 4-3. Third round consolation, lost to Matt Vulakh, Pope John Paul II, 4-0.</p><p>&#8226; David Krokowski, Wyoming Valley West (126): Second round consolations, beat Tyler McKinney, Cathedral Prep, 9-4. Third round consolations, lost to Caleb Morris, Waynesburg, 4-0.</p><p>&#8226; Mike McKinney, Delaware Valley (138): Second round consolations, lost to Nick Lilley, Downingtown West, 6-5.</p><p>&#8226; Jeremiah Oakes, Scranton (145): Second round consolations, lost to Nick Acuna, Moon, 5-0.</p><p>&#8226; William Evanitsky, Scranton (152): Quarterfinals, beat Daniel Mancini, Owen J. Roberts, 5-4.</p><p>&#8226; Jacob Burgette, Scranton (160): Quarterfinals, lost to Luke Stout, Mount Lebanon, 9-7. Third round consolations, pinned Anthony Hinson, Spring Grove, 1:32.</p><p>&#8226; Steven Newell, Dallas (170): Second round consolations, defeated Andrew DiBernardo, West Chester East, 8-0. Third round consolation, lost to Maximus Hale, Downingtown West, 2-1, OT.</p><p>&#8226; Andrew Kidd, Delaware Valley (182): Quarterfinals, lost to Max Shaw, Thomas Jefferson, 5-2. Third round consolation, lost to Mason McCready, Hollidaysburg, 3-1.</p><p>&#8226; Jeremy Seymour, West Scranton (182): Second round consolations, defeated Alex Litz, Harry S. Truman, 7-5, OT. Third round consolation, lost to Brendan Shaffer, Lower Dauphin, 11-6.</p><p>&#8226; Shane Noonan, Hazleton Area (195): Second round consolations, beat Shamil Zaynullaev, Chartiers Valley, 11-9. Third round consolation, lost to Mitchell Talbot, Central Dauphin, 9-3.</p><p>&#8226; John McCarthy, Delaware Valley (220): Second round consolations, defeated Dylan Byrd, Milton Hershey, 7-3. Third round consolation, pinned by Dennis Karas, Exeter Twp., 1:43.</p></factboxMeta></div>

PIAA wrestling: WVC falls short of medal stand in Class 2A