Abington Heights wrestlers finished second, fifth and seventh in the state individually, allowing the Comets to finish 10 th in the final Class 3A team standings when the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Championships concluded Saturday at the Giant Center in Hershey.
Three of the four Comets to reach the state tournament made it to the last of the three days of competition and on to the medal stand.
Caleb Marzolino was the last man standing, making it all the way to the state championship match at 215 pounds before falling to unbeaten Dillon Bechtold, a Bucknell commit from Owen J. Roberts and a repeat finalist.
Bechtold pinned Marzolino in 3:57.
Marzolino, an Indiana commit, was in a close, low-scoring bout before Bechtold finished it with three seconds left in the second period.
Bechtold scored a takedown 44 seconds in and remained on top for the rest of the period for a 2-0 lead. He added a point for an escape in the opening seconds in the second period and the score remained 3-0 until he put Marzolino on his back for the winning pin.
Brian Heard, a junior, finished fifth at 152 and Mason Whitney, a freshman, was seventh at 121.
Heard began the day in the consolation semifinals where he lost 3-1 to Sam Gautreau, Bechtold’s Owen J. Roberts teammate. He then shut out Greater Latrobe’s Hunter Snyder for a 9-0 major decision in the fifth-place bout.
Whitney won his only bout of the day, beating Seneca Valley’s Connor Smith 7-1.
The top eight in every weight class earned medals and all three Comets already had their medals clinched when Saturday began.
Gautreau scored all three of his points in the last 26 seconds of the second period with an escape and a takedown. The bout was scoreless until then.
Heard scored his only point on an escape with 1:25 left. Gautreau was warned for stalling with 27 seconds left, but was able to hold off Heard for the win.
In the fifth-place match, Heard’s takedown with 32 seconds left in the first period gave him a 2-0 lead that stayed that way until late in the second period. Heard turned Snyder for three points, then added a reversal and two more back points in the third.
Whitney took down Smith with 12 seconds left in the first period and added an escape with 35 seconds left in the second to make it 3-0. He sandwiched a near fall and a takedown in the third period around an escape that accounted for Smith’s only point.
Bethlehem Catholic won the title with 95½ points, 17 in front of second-place Nazareth.
A total of 117 teams qualified at least one wrestler for the state tournament in Class 3A.
Abington Heights finished 10 th with 46 points, leading all District 2 teams.
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