First Posted: 1/13/2013

Pittston Area fell behind early yesterday afternoon in Plymouth as Wyoming Valley West won the first four bouts to take a 22-0 lead. The Patriots recovered with pins by Angelo Lussi and Sam Falcone at 160 and 170, but Valley West hung on to win 39-33. The teams went in unbeaten in the WVC D-1, PA at 3-0 and Valley West, 2-0.

Also winning for PA were Dave Deleo (120); Tyler Lutecki (126) (PA); Jonathan Armitage (182) and Jake Vaxmonsky (220.) The match started at 132.

PA 38 Coughlin 30

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On Wednesday sophomore Dave Deleo pinned Coughlin freshman Mike Brown, helping Pittston Area knock off the defending Wyoming Valley Conference Division I co-champions 38-30.

The win put the Patriots at 3-0 and set up Saturday’s match with other defending co-champion Wyoming Valley.

We didn’t know who was going to win that match and (Deleo) was losing and getting rode out the whole match and came back and got the pin, Pittston Area coach James Woodall said. That Brown kid’s a pretty good wrestler, but Dave came through.

Also winning for the Patriots were Kevin Wesolowski at 152; (pin), Justin Wilk at 160 (tech fall) and Angelo Lussi 170 (pin) John 195 (pin) Jake Vaxmonsky at 220 (double OT decision.)

Wyoming Valley Conference Tournament

Pittston Area sophomore Jake Vaxmonsky entered the Wyoming Valley Conference Tournament as No. 6 and came out number 1. The 220-pounder knocked off the No 3, 2, and 1 seeds in that order to win his weight class championship and put the Patriots on top of the team point standings on Saturday January 5 at Lake Lehman.

Vaxmonsky’s championship bout was a 9-8 win over GAR’s Zac Faust in one of the most exciting matches of the night.

Vaxmonsky got the winning the point with 12 seconds left.

It was an exhilarating experience. Coming into the tournament as an underdog I didn’t know what would happen, Vaxmonsky said in the Times Leader. The last match I would’ve been happy either way whether I won first or second, but I came out on top.

The Patriots won the second title in three years with 178.50 to 170.50 for tourney favorite Wyoming Valley West.

Dallas also had three gold medalists and finished fourth in points with 150.50. Coughlin was third with 155 points.

This is a huge accomplishment. This is one of the main things we wanted to do this year is win the conference again, said Pittston Area coach James Woodall. Tyler Lutecki (120) and Angelo Lussi (160) also won gold medals for PA. The Patriots also got a second place, two thirds and two fourths.

For Lussi it was his second tournament title this season. He won his weight class in the high-caliber Buckskin Classic at Conestoga High School on December 27. In the semis Lussi decisioned Adam Moser from Owen J. Roberts high school, 3-1. OJR from Chester County won the team title.

In the championship Lussi defeated Max Wilt of Ceasar Rodney High School in Delaware. In earlier rounds he defeated wrestlers from host Conestoga Valley, 8th in the team standings and Westfield Virginia, third in the team standings.

Back to the WVC tourney Wyoming Area’s Nick Heck defeated Wyoming Valley West’s Nathan Cheek, 6-2 in the 138-pound title bout for his first WVC tourney championship.

WA’s Andy Schutz reached the title bout at 126 against Kyle Krasavage of Valley West. Krasavage won 7-4 to go to 20-0. Wyoming Area was ninth in the team standings.

Team Standings

1. Pittston Area (PA) 178.50; 2. Wyoming Valley West (WVW) 170.50; 3. Coughlin (Cou) 155; 4. Dallas (Dal) 150.50; 5. Lake-Lehman (LL), Berwick (Ber) 115; 7. Hazleton Area (Haz) 106.50; 8. Tunkhannock (Tun) 96; 9. Wyoming Area (WA) 92.50; 10. Crestwood (Cre) 79.50; 11. Meyers (Mey) 64; 12. GAR (GAR) 61.50; 13. Hanover Area (Han) 24; 14. Nanticoke (Nan) 10

Finals

120 – Tyler Lutecki (PA) pinned Jon Lagoski (WVW) 3:26

126 – Kyle Krasavage (WVW) dec. Andy Schutz (WA) 7-4

138 – Nick Heck (WA) dec. Nathan Cheek (WVW) 6-2

160 – Angelo Lussi (PA) maj dec Logan Brace (Dal) 12-1

195 – Andrew Muckin (Tun) dec. John Minich (PA) 9-8

220 – Jake Vaxmonsky (PA) dec. Zac Faust (GAR) 9-8

Third place

106 – Pat Heck (WA) dec. Nick Yankoski (Cou) 3-2

132 – Dan Ritz (Cre) dec. Carm Mauriello (WA) 9-3

152 – Justin Wilk (PA) dec. Dan Bove (Haz) 9-4

170 – Sam Falcone (PA) dec Derek Dragon (LL) 8-6

182 – Steve Longazel (Haz) pinned Jude Polit-Moran (WA) 1:17

Fifth place

145 – Kevin Wesolowski (PA) forfeit Dalton Ray (Tun)

285 – Brian Moldzienski (PA) pinned Kyle Krepich (Mey) 1:35

Wyoming Area 35, GAR 24

On Tuesday in Wilkes-Barre, Andy Schutz went up to 132 and pinned Devin Reese in 43 seconds to lead Wyoming Area in a WVC Division II dual meet. Jamaar Taylor (170), Zac Faust (220) and Elijah Gresham (285) each scored pins for the Grenadiers.

Pat Heck won by tech fall 19-3 over Joey O’Day at 138. Those were the only two wins on the mat for the Warriors. GAR forfeited four weight classes and four more bouts were no contests.

This week

Meyers at Wyoming Area

Abington Heights at PA

(Non-league)