Pittston Area won four of its five matches, losing only to second-place Bellefonte, Dec. 7 at the 12-team Gary Woodruff Memorial Duals at Wyalusing Valley High School.
Bellefonte handed the Patriots a 37-36 loss on the way to wrestling Wallenpaupack for the championship and losing, 36-24.
Wallenpaupack went 5-0 on the day while Pittston Area and Wallenpaupack tied for the next-best records at 4-1.
Brody Spindler and Noah Gruber from Pittston Area each went 5-0 and were the only wrestlers at the event to produce the maximum 30 team points on the day.
Shawn Shimonis, who provided 29 points, and Mikel Roman also went 5-0.
Pittston Area finished the day with a 6-1 season record.
Wyoming Area opened its season at the event and went 1-4 on the day.
Connor Novakowski and Nate Obrzut both went 5-0 for the Warriors.
The Patriots defeated Elk Lake 66-11 and Montrose 69-6 in pool competition before losing to Bellefonte.
Teams were then matched according to their success in pool competition and Pittston Area added two more wins, defeating Wyalusing Valley 41-35 and Valley View 52-23.
Wyoming Area lost to Valley View 42-36, defeated Nanticoke 51-18 and was routed by Wallenpaupack 61-6. The Warriors then lost to Blue Ridge 47-30 and Elk Lake 30-29.
Brody Spindler pinned five straight opponents at 215 pounds, finishing four in the first period, including one in nine seconds.
Gruber had three pins – one in 20 seconds, one in 36 seconds and one in the second period – and received two forfeits at 285.
Shimonis, who was 15-39 in his first two seasons, improved to 7-0, wrestling at 133 pounds and bumping up to 139 once. He pinned four opponents and beat the other by technical fall.
Roman, a freshman, made his varsity debut with the perfect day. The 107-pounder had a pin, technical fall and major decision, along with picking up two forfeits.
Spindler, Gruber and Shimonis all had first-period pins in a stretch where the Patriots won six of seven bouts to open a 36-20 lead over Bellefonte, which answered with two quick pins and a clinching technical fall in the last three bouts.
The Patriots won seven out of eight bouts to start against Wyalusing Valley, opening a 41-6 lead to clinch the win early.
Wyoming Area had a 29-6 lead in its finale before Elk Lake posted four straight pins from 160 to 215 to end the match and pull out the win.
