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HERSHEY &#8212; For two years, going two-and-out in the PIAA Team Championships ate away at Hazleton Area coach Keith Maurer.&#8220;I left here (in 2017) saying that we gotta get back here and win matches,&#8221; he said on Friday at Giant Center. &#8220;This can&#8217;t be a goal just to get here. I try to tell my kids that this isn&#8217;t a fun trip, we&#8217;re coming down here to win.&#8221;Getting a win is what his team finally did in its District 2-record seventh appearance.The Cougars won a match at the state dual tournament for the first time in school history and became just the fourth Wyoming Valley Conference team to ever win in the 21-year history of the tournament when they defeated Father Judge 38-33 on Friday morning in the Class 3A consolations. They join Berwick (2008), Wyoming Valley West (2014) and Tunkhannock (2016) as the only teams from the WVC to win a dual in Hershey.Later on Friday, the Cougars&#8217; run in the state tournament concluded after a 44-24 loss to Cedar Cliff. Lake-Lehman joined Hazleton Area in the consolation round but fell short in its lone match of the day against Conneaut Valley, 48-27.In the dual against Father Judge, the Cougars were down by as many as 13 points after six matches. Slowly, they started to come back but still trailed by six points with four weights left &#8212; one of them being a Hazleton Area forfeit that would give Father Judge six more points.At that point &#8212; during the 182-pound bout when Jake Marnell defeated Brendan Spicer, 5-4 &#8212; Maurer talked to his three remaining wrestlers. He told Jayson Brielmeier, Seth Hunsinger and Shane Noonan to keep it simple.Brielmeier said there was a little more pressure on him, but he was ready.&#8220;I know my ability, so when I get out there I just want to do my best and leave it all on the mat,&#8221; he said.The senior, who was part of the state-qualifying team two years ago, got the final three bouts off to a good start with a win by tech fall to pull the team within one point at 27-26. Hunsinger and Noonan followed with pins for a 38-27 lead meaning that even with the forfeit at 106, the Cougars were still going to make history.&#8220;It&#8217;s the first win historically, and it feels good to be a part of that,&#8221; Brielmeier said. &#8220;It&#8217;s definitely the sweetest place on earth.&#8221;In the evening match against Cedar Cliff, the Cougars went on a similar run, getting pins from Marnell, Hunsinger and Noonan, and a win by decision by Brielmeier to cut a 23-3 deficit down to 29-24. But Cedar Cliff proved to be too much in the end.In Clas 2A, Lake-Lehman never led Conneaut Valley in the consolation dual, but got within one point at 22-21 after eight bouts when Bob Long (132) won by fall.The next match was the heartbreaker. Lehman&#8217;s Josh Bonomo led 10-3 in the third period before getting caught and pinned to take the wind out of the Black Knights&#8217; sails.&#8220;As a coach, when you&#8217;re up big and you lose like that, it tears my heart out. I know it tears Rock&#8217;s (Rocky Bonomo) heart out. It tears (Mike) Tereska&#8217;s heart out and Shane&#8217;s (Shane Stark) heart out,&#8221; Lehman coach Jay Konigus said, referring to his assistant coaches. &#8220;As wrestlers you tell kids you have to have short-term memory, let it go and forget about it.&#8220;But you can&#8217;t let it go. He&#8217;s gonna think about it until next week, two weeks from now. I feel for him, it sucks. That was definitely a turning point because we win there and it&#8217;s a nailbiter.&#8221;The Black Knights still had a strong showing for the WVC in the two days. The team, which consists of just four senior starters, hung with two state powers and got big individual wins along the way. Long, a past state qualifier, won two matches, as did 220-pounder T.J. Meehan, while seven other freshmen or sophomores picked up wins leaving plenty of optimism for what&#8217;s to come with the young team.&#8220;It&#8217;s the experience. It&#8217;s nice getting down here. We&#8217;re all having fun now. The stress is over with. It was fun getting down here,&#8221; Konigus said. &#8220;It was good for everybody. I&#8217;m happy for everybody. The coaches are happy.&#8221;Lake-Lehman finishes its dual schedule with meets against Coughlin on Monday and rival Dallas on Wednesday.Hazleton Area will rest for two weeks and won&#8217;t wrestle again until the individual district tournament starts on Feb. 22.PIAA Team ChampionshipsClass 2AFirst Consolation RoundConneaut Valley 48, Lake-Lehman 27106: Mason Konigus (LL) pinned Zach Wheeler :13; 113: Brady Gould (CV) pinned Jake Patla 1:48; 120: Henry Piatt (CV) pinned Chandler Longstrength 2:51; 126: Zach Stuart (LL) pinned Patrick Powell 4:34; 132: Bob Long (LL) pinned Kyle Loutzenhiser 1:40; 138: Jesse Davenport (CV) pinned Josh Bonomo 3:50; 145: Wes Davenport (CV) maj dec Hunter Burke 9-0; 152: Brendan Laird (CV) pinned Connor Morgan 2:44; 160: Peyton Hearn (CV) maj dec Jake Trumbower 9-1; 170: Domenic Ellis (CV) pinned Tim Schechterly 1:26; 182: Nick Zaboski (LL) won by forfeit; 195: Trevor Tursky (CV) maj dec Tom Nalbone 10-2; 220: Austin Kelly (CV) pinned Cole Robbinslong 1:10; 285: TJ Meehan (LL) dec Evan Gerber 6-1Class 3AFirst Consolation RoundHazleton Area 38, Father Judge 33106: Sean Logue (FJ) won by forfeit; 113: Johnny Corra (Haz) dec Max Edwards 9-4, OT; 120: Sean Logue (FJ) pinned Beck Hutchison :57; 126: Liam Logue (FJ) pinned Jorven Rodriguez :46; 132: Robert Lawlor (FJ) maj dec Christian Kislan 10-0; 138: Stephen Martisofski (Haz) pinned Mike Palinkas 1:32; 145: Ceasar Fountain (FJ) pinned Luke Billig 2:11; 152: Charles Everdale (Haz) won by forfeit; 160: Bryce Molinaro (Haz) dec Dan Wildonger 6-2; 170: Matt Kidwell (FJ) tech fall Dante Matarella 2:33, 17-0; 182: Jake Marnell (Haz) dec Brendan Spicer 5-4; 195: Jayson Brielmeier (Haz) tech fall Zach Bayer 17-2, 3:11; 220: Seth Hunsinger (Haz) pinned Ben Kopertowski 2:02; 285: Shane Noonan (Haz) pinned Jose Lage 2:33Second Consolation RoundCedar Cliff 44, Hazleton Area 24106: Aiden Lewis (CC) pinned Johnny Corra 2:44; 113: Cole Baer (CC) pinned Michael Martinez :35; 120: Creed Bogardus (CC) dec Beck Hutchison 2-1, UTB; 126: J.J. Wilson (CC) tech fall Jorven Rodriguez 19-4, 3:50; 132: Christian Presil (CC) pinned Christian Kislan 2:40; 138: Michael Cassidy (CC) pinned Stephen Martisofski 2:54; 145: Charles Everdale (Haz) dec John Cunningham 8-2; 152: Danny Zigue (CC) dec Bryce Molinaro 3-2; 160: Bobby Whalen (CC) dec Dante Matarella 3-0; 170: Jake Marnell (Haz) pinned Isaiah Auman 2:04; 182: Jayson Brielmeier (Haz) dec Elijah Ikeda 4-3; 195: Donovan Ball (CC) won by forfeit; 220: Seth Hunsinger (Haz) pinned Jayvon Godineaux 2:48; 285: Shane Noonan (Haz) pinned Anthony Shires :35<style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Dave RosengrantFor Times Leader</bylineMeta></div>

PIAA wrestling: Hazleton Area earns program’s first win at states before falling