Berks Catholic 4th in state in Class 2A

The Saints are beaten by Notre Dame-Green Pond in the PIAA third-place match

Berks Catholic may have finished the team portion of its wrestling season with some disappointment, but the Saints’ performance in Class 2A at the PIAA Team Wrestling Championships was far from disappointing.

The Saints finished fourth with a 40-16 loss to Notre Dame-Green Pond in the third-place match Saturday at Hershey’s Giant Center.

The finish is the highest for a Berks Wrestling League team since Schuylkill Valley finished third in 2009. The Saints and Panthers are the only two teams from the league to place in the top four, and two of just six to reach the semis.

“I’m really proud of the guys,” Berks Catholic coach Derek Sola said. “They did a great job. They wrestled really hard. We wrestled some great teams. We faced a lot of adversity and we were able to pick each other up. At times, some of our best guys lost and other kids stepped up. They just did a great job. They looked great.”

The Berks and District 3 champion Saints (25-2), who are in just their third season, advanced to face the District 11 champ Crusaders (16-2) with a 39-30 win over defending state champ Saucon Valley in a fourth-round consolation match earlier Saturday.

Berks Catholic fell into the consolation bracket due to a 4015 loss to Faith Christian Friday night in the semifinals. The Lions (13-1) defeated Fort LeBoeuf 54-12 in Saturday’s final.

The Saints ended up ranked third by Keystone Caliber Wrestling in its Class 2A state dual rankings, released at the completion of wrestling Saturday, behind Faith Christian and Notre Dame. Fort LeBoeuf was fourth.

“I think it was pretty cool to see that,” Sola said. “It proves that we’re among the best in the state.”

But Sola knows there is more work to do. The Saints are among the best, but not yet the best.

“That’s pretty much our conversation,” Sola said. “What do we need to do to close the gap on the schools that are ahead of us? We return all of our starters except two (seniors John Maurer and Noah Rosa). We definitely want to finish strong in the individual portion here, and we definitely have our eye on the offseason and what we need to do to close the gap. So that’s definitely our focus.”

Berks Catholic certainly had to run the gauntlet over its final three matches.

Against Notre Dame-Green Pond, the Saints took a 6-0 lead as Noah Rosa won a 2-0 decision at 127 and Marvin Armistead a 4-0 decision at 133.

But the Crusaders — who lost to Saucon Valley in last year’s state final — won the next five matches, four by pin and one by forfeit, to take a 27-6 lead.

Gabe Davis won a 13-2 major decision at 189 and Brody Kline a 3-1 decision at 215 to get Berks Catholic within 27-13 with four bouts left. Notre Dame won the next three, one by pin, to put it away.

Gunnar Maciejewski won an 8-3 decision at 121 for the Saints in the match’s final bout.

Sola began Saturday with his team coming off its first loss of the season, one to a Faith Christian team he termed “very, very impressive,” and wondering how the Saints would respond.

“It was really tough,” he said. “I was definitely concerned. Saucon Valley is the returning state champs, so that’s a heckuva team to run into after losing like that for the first loss all season, so we were definitely a little concerned. The kids responded well. They went right out there and went right after them.”

In the victory over the District 11 runner-up Panthers, Berks Catholic did get off to a quick start. Maciejewski won a 2-1 decision in sudden victory at 120, Armistead got a pin in 1:48 at 127, and Rosa won by forfeit to make it 15-0.