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District 2 Class 3A Wrestling Tournament: Hazleton Area’s Dante Matarella pulls off major upset

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<p>HAZLETON &#8212; Dave Evans spent most of the last two months riding a stationary bike trying to stay conditioned since he knew he wouldn&#8217;t be on the mat for a while after suffering a broken arm.</p><p>The Tunkhannock junior returned to the squared circle on Friday night in the District 2 Class 2A Tournament at Hazleton Area High School and looked like he didn&#8217;t miss a beat.</p><p>The 120-pounder wrestled just once, and despite being nervous, he was in top shape in a pin of Lake-Lehman&#8217;s Chandler Longstrength in 1:12. Evans, a district champion and state qualifier in Class 3A last year, will meet Wyoming Area&#8217;s Kyle Emsley in Saturday&#8217;s semifinals, which are set to begin at 10 a.m.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m feeling happy to be back,&#8221; the state qualifier in Class 3A from a year ago said. &#8220;I had nerves coming back because I wasn&#8217;t sure how I was going to wrestle, whether the nerves were going to get to me or not. So it&#8217;s good to come back and get a pin.&#8221;</p><p>Evans wasn&#8217;t the only returning state qualifier to win a quarterfinal bout. Lake-Lehman&#8217;s Bob Long and Hanover Area&#8217;s D.J. Erickson both started their tournaments with decisive victories.</p><p>Long, a state qualifier as a sophomore in 2017, also wrestled just one bout on the first day of the tournament and defeated Blue Ridge&#8217;s Cole Soden by fall in 29 seconds in the 132-pound quarters. Long, who has been on top of his game of late with a record of 34-5, is ready to get back to states after missing out last year.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m not settling for just one win here. I really want to be in the state tournament and I&#8217;m not gonna stop wrestling until I get there,&#8221; Long said. &#8220;Districts is obviously a big deal, but I&#8217;m just looking forward to the state tournament and getting there.&#8221;</p><p>Erickson, a two-time state qualifier, also needed little time to reach today&#8217;s semifinals.</p><p>In the 152-pound quarters, he took care of Montrose&#8217;s Jacob Craig by fall in 34 seconds. Erickson, who became the school&#8217;s all-time wins leader earlier this month, is ready for a long postseason run as well.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m taking it one match at a time, but the ultimate goal is a state medal and I want that more than anything right now,&#8221; Erickson said. &#8220;If I wrestle like that every match, I will get a state medal. There&#8217;s no doubt in my mind.&#8221;</p><p>Long&#8217;s teammate Mason Konigus pulled off the upset of the tournament on Friday night.</p><p>The 106-pounder, who was seeded seventh, defeated Meyers Kris Fronseca, who was the No. 2 seed in the event, 7-5. The win by Konigus avenged a loss to Fronseca earlier in the season when the Mohawk won by fall.</p><p>&#8220;That&#8217;s big. You gotta come into this tournament thinking anybody can be beaten at any given time,&#8221; Long said about his teammate&#8217;s upset. &#8220;Mason went out there, gave it his all. That&#8217;s what we need.&#8221;</p><p>Not only was that win an upset, but it helped the Black Knights in the race for the team title. They currently are in first place with nine semifinalists.</p><p>&#8220;A lot of pins,&#8221; Long said when asked how the team can win its first district title since 2014. &#8220;A lot of bonus wherever we can get it. We&#8217;re gonna try to stick as much people as we can. I wanna see at least eight or nine of our guys in the finals. That would be my goal.&#8221;</p><p>Tunkhannock, which has eight semifinalists, is in contention for the team title as well. Montrose also has eight in the semis, and Scranton Prep has seven.</p><p>Evans said that the Tigers are confident heading into the final day as they look for their first team title at districts since 1985.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;re all looking really good. We&#8217;re all trying to win some matches and trying to wrestle our matches,&#8221; Evans said. &#8220;We&#8217;re pumped up because we know we can definitely stay in the team race this time. So we&#8217;re really focused.&#8221;</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>

District 2 Class 2A Wrestling Tournament: Tunkhannock’s Dave Evans doesn’t miss a beat