Freedom senior wrestlers bring the noise on their night to topple Liberty – lehighvalleylive.com

What better way for Freedom High Schools wrestling team to celebrate senior night than with a victory over archrival Liberty.

The Patriots recognized their six seniors prior to Wednesday nights match at Joseph McIntyre Gymnasium, and the four who competed all contributed something to the 39-20 Eastern Pennsylvania Conference Division B triumph.

This was a good win because I grew up wrestling for the Little Canes, and now I beat them as a senior, said Freedoms Reinaldo Lebron, who avenged a loss in the Bethlehem Holiday Classic to Kamal Abboud with a wild 10-5 decision at 126 pounds in the matchs final bout.

Patriots senior Chris Jurado earned a 16-7 major decision over Ed Force at 145. Jurado gained the bonus team point with a takedown with 1 second remaining after he allowed Force to escape with less than 10 seconds to go and reduce the score to a regular decision.

One bout later, at 152, Freedom senior Connor Bevan built an 11-2 lead over Elijah Reid before slapping on a headlock for the fall 35 seconds into the second period.

Bevans pin was the Pates third straight win after Libertys Javien DeLeon, ranked fourth this week by lehighvalleylive.com, opened the match by converting five takedowns into a 12-3 major decision over Cameron Wickemeyer at 132.

We came in 15-2 as a team, and we wanted to push on the gas and get the momentum with our fans, said Bevan, who also weighed in at 145. We feed off the crowd. I think getting the pin sparked us.

Freedoms fourth senior competitor, Anthony Lyden, gave up 14 pounds to Sawyer Quayle in their 189-pound bout. Lyden saved a team point by avoiding Quayles late cradle to drop a 9-2 decision.

Limiting the oppositions bonus points has been key to the Patriots current nine-match win streak. Its something they didnt do in a 38-18 loss to Easton two weeks ago.

The team message in the locker room tonight was Do your job, Bevan said. Even if you lose, dont get pinned. Easton wasnt our best match because we gave up way too many bonus points. When we limit bonus points, like we did against Parkland (32-24 win on Jan. 20) we look like a team ready to take that next step.

Coach Dante Terenzio certainly got his message through to his Patriots.

Easton was a wake-up call; we had a long talk with the kids after the Easton match, Terenzio said. We told the kids whove been struggling that their contributions are just as important as the ones who are winning for us.

Freedom won eight of the 13 bouts, including pins from Joey Bodnar at 138 and Jared Karabinus at 172 and a 22-6 technical fall from fourth-ranked CJ Horvath at 120.

I think weve got more chemistry and were working harder, said Lebron of the Patriots win streak though they have Bethlehem Catholic on deck Thursday night. Were not individuals. Were learning how to win as a team.

There were bright spots for Liberty (9-8, 2-4), which was missing a 113-pounder and had wrestlers competing despite nursing injuries.

We fell short, but the effort was there, said second-year Liberty coach Brandon Hall, who had spent eight seasons as Freedoms head coach and was greeted by many of his former Patriots after the match. Ed Force was out there with some busted up ribs, but we needed him, and Chandler Drew was out of the lineup (at 138) because hes been sick. It certainly was an entertaining match for the fans.

Senior Christian Reids 29-second pin over Freedom freshman Noah MacIlroy in a battle between a pair of wrestlers ranked among the honorable mentions this week at 160 was a Hurricane highlight.

Liberty also gained a major decision at 215 from Rafi Harrington and a 7-4 decision from Jasiah Pagan over Jomar Medina in a test of talented freshmen at 106.

Freedoms Nick Farrel edged John Notchey Jr. by a 6-4 decision at 285 and was presented the Daniel P. McIntyre Award as the matchs outstanding wrestler. Farrel scored all his points by countering a trio of Notcheys offensive shots into takedowns, including the go-ahead takedown with 1:23 left in the third period.

Two years ago, Nick Farrel weighed 180 pounds and wrestled at 220; he didnt have any wins, Terenzio said. Hes put on 60 pounds and put the work in. Now hes around right around .500. Hes been doing a heck of a job for us.

While Notchey came up a few points shy of the victory, he, too, was a winner in the eyes of his coaches, teammates and anyone who knows his story.

John Notcheys been battling cancer for the last two years, said Hall who became emotional talking about his senior heavyweight. I told him if we can get him back in shape we were going to get him on the mat.

He wrestled for the first time for us this weekend, and I made the decision to let him wrestle tonight. It was probably tough for Levi (Levy, Libertys other 285-pounder) not to wrestle against Freedom, but we have a team thats pretty close. You only get to do this one time, and some things are bigger than winning the match.

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Corky Blake may be reached at sports@lehighvalleylive.com.

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Freedom senior wrestlers bring the noise on their night to topple Liberty - lehighvalleylive.com