The Dallas Post Dallas, PA Thursday, February 28, 2002 THE DALLAS POST Section 2 BY TIMOTHY J. RAUB Post Staff SCRANTON — Lake-Lehman head coach Phil Lipski told his team throughout the week that if it wrestled well as individuals, a team title would almost be assured. He could not have been more right. John Houssock (112 pounds), a de- fending District 2 champion; Matt Dragon (119); and Willie Weber (152) captured district titles, and Kelby Mor- gan (103) and Matt Carey (HWT) each placed second. Aaron Kubasik (125), * Cavaliers’ speed too much for Mounts BY TIMOTHY J. RAUB Post Staff SCRANTON — Dallas has been able to show many differ- ent combinations throughout the season. The only problem with Tues- day night's combinations was none of them seemed effective down the stretch. The Mountaineers (17-10) could not seem to match up with a visibly faster and perime- ter-point-happy Scranton Prep back court or overcome an 18-7 run in the third quarter as the @ Cavaliers defeated Dallas 62-57 in- a PIAA District 2 Class 3A J] boys basketball semifinal. "With Blake Saba in foul trou- ble, I really had no one to match up with (Prep guards Pat Doher- ty and Matt Snyder)," said A “ ed Mountaineer head coach Pat McCue."We knew the rotation we wanted in the first half, but couldn't figure it out in the sec- ond." With the win, the Cavaliers ] advance to the District 2 Class 3A final and will play at a time and place to be announced. Dal- las' season is over. Dallas took an 18-16 lead in the first quarter, behind 10 points from center John Simoni- tis. The Mountaineers increased their lead to 37-30 going into halftime, keyed by a 6-0 run in the half's closing minutes. But the Cavaliers came out strong in the third quarter, and took the lead with a 19-4 run to start a third quarter in which Dallas was two for six from the free throw line, and well under See DALLAS , pg 10 ® (ood friends claim 3A crowns BY JOE PETRUCCI Special to the Dallas Post HAZLETON - There was a buddy system of sorts working in the middle of the District 2 Class 3A. Wrestling Champi- onships last weekend at Hazle- @ ton Area High School. Dallas’ Todd Jones (145 pounds) and Perry Coolbaugh (152) won back-to back titles for the Mountaineers in convincing fashion, earning first-round byes for this weekends' North- east Regional Tournament at Bethlehem Liberty High School. “It was a great day for Dallas,” said Jones. “Me and one of my best= friends, Perry, going to re- © gionals as number one seeds with a bye. I know Perry can make it to states. I'm going to try real hard. I'm going to work . hard next week and see if I can pull it out, too.” Jones (27-5), the fourth seed, recorded a technical fall of top- seeded Abington Heights' Matt Wince in the semifinals to set up a rematch with Wyoming @ Area's No. 2 Brandon Slavinski, who beat Jones earlier in the season on an overtime rideout. This time, Jones was in con- iu Ryan Post (130), Matt Stuart (160), Bob Morris (171) and Ed Becker (189) finished third as the Black Knights easily defended ‘their District 2 Class 2A title Feb. 23 at Scranton Prep High School. "We were really more focused on the individual efforts this weekend," said Lipski. "We ran into somewhat of a wall in the semifinals, but everyone pulled it together when we needed them to. It is really a credit to the team. and my assistant coaches for this ef- fort." trol the whole way. He took a 5- 2 lead after two periods and cruised to an 8-2 victory. “I've been working hard. I've studied his style a little bit,” said Jones, a senior. tough wrestler but I knew I could come in here and take it. I was a little nervous in the be- ginning but after the second pe- riod I knew I could pull it out.” Coolbaugh was one of three runners-up from last year in the competitive 152-pound bracket. The top seed, he was able to get by Pittston Area's Al Orlando in the semifinals 4-1 to set up a meeting with Crestwood's No. 2 seed Jason Reilly. After an active first period ended 0-0, the 6-foot-3 Reilly chose bottom and nearly scored a late reversal but the buzzer sounded. Coolbaugh picked bot- tom to start the third and es- caped with 58 seconds left in “He's a ports Black Knights defend district title; send 10 to regional tournament All 10 Lehman place-winners will ad- vance to the PIAA Northeast Regional Tournament Friday at Williamsport High School. The top three finishers at the district meet advance to regionals. The Black Knights, who sent 12 out of a possible 13 wrestlers to the semifi- nals Saturday, scored 227 points, easi- ly outdistancing second-place Lack- awanna Trail, which scored 160. Dragon captured his first district ti- tle on any scholastic level with a 10-5 decision of top-seeded Justin Teixeira of GAR. : the bout. Twenty-five seconds later, scored a gold medal sealing takedown near the edge of the mat for a 3-0 win. “He's tall and he knows how to use his height very well,” the Mountaineer junior teh ii Shh Tanner hits 500 points Dallas resident Erin Tanner scored her 500th point for Gate of Heaven basketball on Sunday February, 17. Erin is the daughter of Jay and Frances Tanner. She is an eighth grade student at Gate of Heaven in Dallas. Erin was honored in a post-game ceremony after the game. Attending the ceremony from left are: Dave Neiman, as- The Lake-Lehman freshman fell be- hind early when Teixeira took him down, but quickly recovered with six consecutive points. The Grenadier se- nior picked up a penalty point in the second period, when Dragon was called for locking his hands, but it was not enough as Dragon scored a take- down and a reversal in the third for the win. "I am really happy for this win," said Dragon. "I have only ever finished sec- ond or third at districts, so this one was really important for me." Carey lost to Meyers’ senior Joe Os- trowski 4-1 in their seveth meeting of their career. With the match tied at 1- 1 going into the final seconds of the third period, Ostrowski was awarded a penalty point when Carey was called for fleeing the mat. Ostrowski then scored a late takedown to seal the vic- tory, and avange his loss to Carey in last year’s district final. "Now the real battle comes," said Lipski. "It will be really hard to score points at regionals, even with 10 guys there." POST PHOTOS/JIM PHILLIPS § “8 Sd i $ 4 1 sistant coach; Rick Guntli, head coach; Erin Tanner; James Reino, See WRESTLING , pg 10 assistant coach. Dallas, L-L girls advance From Staff Reports PLYMOUTH — The Lake- Lehman girls basketball team rebounded from a dismal start Friday night, outscoring Wyoming Area in each of the fi- nal three periods to force over- time. In the extra session, the Black Knights turned up the defensive pressure, shutting out the Warriors on their way to a 51-40 victory in a District 2 Class 3A quarterfinal game at Wyoming Valley West High School. Lake-Lehman (16-7) advances to the semifinals against Dallas (23-3), a 64-53 winner over Meredith Lacey looked for an outlet. Western Wayne, on Wednesday at a time and site to be deter- mined. “We have a lot of trouble get- ting started, it has happened all season,” Wilson said. “But we made a run right before the half, and responded well in the second half.” With 3:30 left in the third pe- riod, Kari Maskalis knocked down a three-pointer to give Lake-Lehman its first lead, 21- 20. From there, the game saw seven lead changes during the next 10 minutes, the final one when guard Lisa Wasser hit a long jumper to give the Black Knights a 37-36 edge. Then, with 17 seconds re- maining in regulation and the score knotted at 38-38, Wasser knocked down another huge shot, a jumper from a step in- side the arc, to give Lake- Lehman a 40-38 lead. But the Warriors wouldn't quit. With four seconds left, senior Jen Skursky picked up a loose ball and converted a layup to tie the score at 40 and force overtime. Four Black Knights scored in overtime while Wyoming Area couldn't buy a bucket and Lake-Lehman coasted to the 11-point victory. Maskalis led Lake-Lehman with 15 points, including three three-point field goals. Casey Horvath added 13. “The last ‘two years we got knocked out in the first round of the playoffs, so [I really thought we needed to get over the hump and win a playoff game,” Wilson added. “And now hopefully we could get one more.” Dallas 64, Western Wayne 53 The Mountaineers never trailed in the second game of See GIRLS , pg 10 Byron, Hoban set records By STEVE SEMBRAT Special to The Dallas Post SCRANTON — Liz Byron fin- ished the District 2 Class 2A swimming championships on Saturday the same way she start- ed them. The Bishop Hoban senior from Dallas helped the Argents not only win gold in a relay, but also shatter a record. In between, Byron broke two records in individual events in what rates as one of the top per- formances ever in a district meet. The four gold medals she won gave her 16 for her four years at Hoban. She not only broke dis- trict records in the 100-yard freestyle and 100 butterfly, but also set University of Scranton pool records for those events. She anchored the Argents teams that broke records in the 200 medley relay and the 400 freestyle relay. On top of all this, Hoban won the girls team title, outpointing Scranton Prep, 401- 301. “It was the whole team,” Byron said of her team’s overall victory. “Every single girl had a great drop in time. “I knew we could do these times,” she added of the perfor- mances from start to finish. “I didn’t know if we'd do them at this meet.” Liz Byron, her freshman sister Caroline, Julie McLaughlin and Julie Grilz won the 200 medley relay in 1:49.91. That broke Hoban’s mark of 1:50.42 from 2000. “I knew we were going to win the medley relay,” Liz Byron said. “I was shocked when we did a 1:49. That's near the state record. That got the whole team into it.” Caroline Byron won the 50, then Liz Byron broke records in consecutive events. She bettered her own record of 58.52 seconds from 2000 in the 100 butterfly with her time of 56.92. Then she won the 100 freestyle in 52.41, toppling the record of 52.65 that Kristin Stretanski of Wyoming Valley West set in 1992. The two Byrons, McLaughlin and Grilz finished the meet win- ning the 400 freestyle relay in 3:37.13, topping Hoban's previ- ous record of 3:39.23 from 2000. “It was a great way to finish up,” Liz Byron said. This article appeared in original form in the Times Leader.
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