Notre Dame wrestling rides emotional rollercoaster to finish 3rd at PIAA 2A tournament

Notre Dame’s Gino Guerrisi and Chestnut Ridge’s Haydan Webb wrestle at 285 pounds during the PIAA 3A team wrestling consolation semifinals on Feb. 10, 2024, at Giant Center.

The Notre Dame-Green Pond wrestling team did not enter its third-place match at the PIAA Class 2A team tournament in the best frame of mind.

In the penultimate bout of Notre Dame’s 31-26 win over Chestnut Ridge in the fourth round of consolations, senior Joey Lapenna was disqualified for shoving senior Alex Crist in the final seconds of a heated bout at 189 pounds.

The Crusaders not only had to regroup after seeing one of their teammates almost certainly have their career end in extremely disappointing fashion, they also had to shuffle their lineup in several spots in the third place match against District 10 champ Reynolds.

Notre Dame’s Cooper Feltman and Chestnut Ridge’s Easton Mull wrestle at 121 pounds during the PIAA 3A team wrestling consolation semifinals on Feb. 10, 2024, at Giant Center.

Notre Dame successfully shuffled their lineup at the middleweights before its upperweights went on a pinning spree to close out a 41-18 win over the Raiders Saturday afternoon at the Giant Center in Hershey.

“You come out to team states every year. It’s three days, sometimes it’s three matches, sometimes it’s five, sometimes it’s six, but it’s a rollercoaster from Thursday to Friday to Saturday. Everyone has to be ready to wrestle,” Notre Dame coach Matt Veres said. “I’m just really proud of these kids. In the situation with what happened in that round earlier, it’s unfortunate, I don’t agree with how it ended up at all, I saw how the whole thing unfolded, but hopefully something can be done about that.”

Notre Dame’s Nathan Thomas and Chestnut Ridge’s Jayden Imler wrestle at 152 pounds during the PIAA 3A team wrestling consolation semifinals on Feb. 10, 2024, at Giant Center.

More on the disqualification later.

First, it must be said that the Crusaders’ second straight third place finish at the PIAA 2A team tournament was more impressive than their last.

With Faith Christian, which won its second straight state title on Saturday with a 46-18 win, and runner-up Bishop McDevitt operating at an entire different level than the rest of the field at 2A, third place was a real achievement.

And given that Notre Dame (16-2) won the consolation final in resounding fashion while adjusting its lineup on the fly, it really deserved to leave Hershey with that trophy.

Notre Dame coach Matt Veres discusses matters with Nathan Thomas as he faces Chestnut Ridge’s Jayden Imler at 152 pounds during the PIAA 3A team wrestling consolation semifinals on Feb. 10, 2024, at Giant Center.

“A full team effort. We preach a lot about heart and desire and will,” Veres said. “All weekend, you have your ups and your downs but we said Saturday is 15 minutes of wrestling to lay it on the line, to be with your teammates for some of the last time that you’ll ever wrestle with the team, for the seniors, just go out and let it fly and they did. I’m so proud of them, I just can’t explain how proud I am of them.”

With the match starting at 107, the lightweights went relatively as expected. Notre Dame sophomore Gavyn Kelton’s 4-0 win at 133 pounds cut Reynold’s lead to 12-8 through five bouts.

Senior reserve Tanner McQueen filled in for the Crusaders at 139 and did his job by not giving up bonus in a 7-2 loss to senior and returning state medalist Chase Bell.

Junior Nino Morici (145) won by fall in 2:48 before senior Josh Ludlow (152) earned a 7-4 decision to give Notre Dame a 17-15 lead with five bouts to go.

“We have some weights where we shuffle some guys around and we knew coming into Reynolds we had to shift the lineup. Those guys came up huge,” Veres said. “Nino had a great last match. We needed bonus points, he knew it, he went out and performed. Ludlow, in and out of the lineup, another very tough kid, came out and wrestled really well. Got the job done for us.”

Notre Dame’s Dominic Sumpolec and Chestnut Ridge’s Maddux Sipe wrestle at 160 pounds during the PIAA 3A team wrestling consolation semifinals on Feb. 10, 2024, at Giant Center.

Senior Nathan Thomas held junior Vito Gentile, a two-time state qualifier, to a 7-1 decision at 160. Standout sophomore Dominic Sumpolec took a forfeit for the Crusaders at 172 and then their upperweights put a stamp on the win with a trio of pins.

Notre Dame’s Dominic Sumpolec and Chestnut Ridge’s Maddux Sipe wrestle at 160 pounds during the PIAA 3A team wrestling consolation semifinals on Feb. 10, 2024, at Giant Center.

Junior Keegan Ramsay (189) and sophomore Connor Smalley (215) both posted first-minute falls and senior heavyweight Gino Guerrisi, who was tied 1-1 with sophomore Casey Resek, pinned Resek with four seconds left in the first tiebreaker.

“Gino is a special kid, I think a lot of him and what makes me proud about Gino is he wasn’t varsity for three years, he waited his turn and he’s varsity now and he’s doing incredible,” Veres said as he started to tear up with emotion. “He came out this weekend and, aside from his wrestling, he was a real leader. He took a hold of some of the guys on the team and he became a leader. I’m just proud beyond words.”

Fallout from DQ

There’s simply no worse time for a wrestler, particularly a senior like Lapenna, to be disqualified than the team state tournament as the PIAA rules state that a disqualified wrestler is suspended from the next competition, which would be the District 11 2A individual tournament on Feb. 16 and 17.

Lapenna, who has been battling a shoulder injury throughout the season, led 4-0 before things got chippy while he was on bottom in the third period. Lapenna escaped with about a minute left, Crist got a takedown with 12 seconds left and the Notre Dame bench quickly called for the referee to step in as Crist began another physical ride.

“People look for that sometimes,” Veres said of the disqualification. “I saw the individual (Crist) on top put his fingers in Joey’s eyes, nose and in his mouth and he was ripping Joey’s face. I kinda jumped out and I said, ‘Stop it, stop.’ When it broke, I knew it was going to get ugly so I ran out to grab Joey but I was a second too late. Obviously we can never push somebody or, whatever happened, we can never lay hands on someone in that situation.”

Notre Dame’s Gavyn Kelton and Chestnut Ridge’s Mason Weyant wrestle at 133 pounds during the PIAA 3A team wrestling consolation semifinals on Feb. 10, 2024, at Giant Center.

After the referee stopped action with four seconds left and Lapenna shoved Crist, who made the most of the shove by falling backwards, the referees almost immediately disqualified Lapenna.

Notre Dame’s Nathan Thomas and Chestnut Ridge’s Jayden Imler wrestle at 152 pounds during the PIAA 3A team wrestling consolation semifinals on Feb. 10, 2024, at Giant Center.

“Joey pushed him and then the kid kinda flopped and was screaming. Then, when we shook hands, the kids was sticking his tongue out at Joey,” Veres said. “It was a little bit of theatrics I think, but it’s just unfortunate.”

Veres repeatedly stressed that he hoped that Lapenna could wrestle in the individual postseason, but that seems unlikely unless the Crusaders can somehow schedule a dual meet before Friday.

Notre Dame’s Gavyn Kelton and Chestnut Ridge’s Mason Weyant wrestle at 133 pounds during the PIAA 3A team wrestling consolation semifinals on Feb. 10, 2024, at Giant Center.

“I saw what happened, I saw how it happened… Hopefully there’s something that can be done because there’s video,” Veres said. “It was just a very unfortunate situation that I believe was not handled correctly, but I don’t know what’s going to happen from here.”

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Desmond Boyle may be reached at [email protected].

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Notre Dame wrestlers react mat side as they face Chestnut Ridge during the PIAA 3A team wrestling consolation semifinals on Feb. 10, 2024, at Giant Center.

Notre Dame’s Stephen Bialek and Chestnut Ridge’s Carter Wharton wrestle at 139 pounds during the PIAA 3A team wrestling consolation semifinals on Feb. 10, 2024, at Giant Center.

Notre Dame’s Nathan Thomas and Chestnut Ridge’s Jayden Imler wrestle at 152 pounds during the PIAA 3A team wrestling consolation semifinals on Feb. 10, 2024, at Giant Center.

Notre Dame’s Nathan Thomas and Chestnut Ridge’s Jayden Imler wrestle at 152 pounds during the PIAA 3A team wrestling consolation semifinals on Feb. 10, 2024, at Giant Center.

Notre Dame’s Gavyn Kelton and Chestnut Ridge’s Mason Weyant wrestle at 133 pounds during the PIAA 3A team wrestling consolation semifinals on Feb. 10, 2024, at Giant Center.

Notre Dame’s Tanner Berkenstock and Chestnut Ridge’s Trenden Willey wrestle at 127 pounds during the PIAA 3A team wrestling consolation semifinals on Feb. 10, 2024, at Giant Center.

Notre Dame’s Gavyn Kelton and Chestnut Ridge’s Mason Weyant wrestle at 133 pounds during the PIAA 3A team wrestling consolation semifinals on Feb. 10, 2024, at Giant Center.

Notre Dame’s Stephen Bialek and Chestnut Ridge’s Carter Wharton wrestle at 139 pounds during the PIAA 3A team wrestling consolation semifinals on Feb. 10, 2024, at Giant Center.

Notre Dame’s Gavyn Kelton and Chestnut Ridge’s Mason Weyant wrestle at 133 pounds during the PIAA 3A team wrestling consolation semifinals on Feb. 10, 2024, at Giant Center.

Notre Dame’s Nino Morici and Chestnut Ridge’s Aaron Ickes wrestle at 145 pounds during the PIAA 3A team wrestling consolation semifinals on Feb. 10, 2024, at Giant Center.

Notre Dame’s Tanner Berkenstock and Chestnut Ridge’s Trenden Willey wrestle at 127 pounds during the PIAA 3A team wrestling consolation semifinals on Feb. 10, 2024, at Giant Center.