LANSFORD — North Schuylkill has had some great heavyweights over the years.
State champion Rick Bolinsky, Glenn Geist, Howie Smith, Sean Foley and Mike Pahira are just a few.
At Saturday’s Anthracite Duals, senior Nate Gadinski accomplished something no other Spartan heavyweight had done: He won his 100th career match.
“It’s an honor,’’ he said.
Gadinski was one of five Spartans to go 5-0 at the day-long event hosted by Panther Valley.
That helped North Schuylkill go 5-0 in the 14-team duals. Midd-West and Tri-Valley also had 5-0 days as some teams did not wrestle each other. The Spartans prevailed in the margin-of-victory, point-differential tiebreaker, winning by a total of 166 points. Midd-West (128) finished second, and Tri-Valley (119) placed third.
North Schuylkill has won the Anthracite Duals two years in a row.
Gadinski started the day with a 3-2 decision over Anthony Greggo of Pius X, then registered four falls to raise his career win total to 102.
“It was a good day for Nate,’’ North Schuylkill coach Chris Edwards said.
Gadinski (18-0), Alek Hummel (18-0), Dane Tarantelli (16-1), Mason Madden-Edwards (15-2) and Brady Mickatavage (15-3) went 5-0 for the Spartans (13-0), while Owen Boyer, Jess Wetzel and Joe Alexander posted 4-1 records.
North Schuylkill defeated Pius X 63-16, Penns Valley 36-31, Wilson Area 57-15, Williams Valley 63-12 and Milton 43-22.
“We need to bring it together,’’ Gadinski said. “All the young guys need to work hard in the room and try to better themselves every day.
“We’re not looking for mediocrity,’’ he added. “We
want to try to do the best that we can, be as good as we can and work hard to achieve our goals.’’
That’s why North Schuylkill’s coaches weren’t entirely happy. The Spartans started slowly against Penns Valley, a bad habit they’ve done three or four times already this season. They also dropped too many close bouts and got pinned too often. That won’t be good enough when District Duals arrive at the end of January.
“It was a good day overall, but we’ve got to get better,’’ Edwards said.
“Right now, I see us as having a chance to qualify for states in District 11 AA — if we improve,’’ he added. “Right now, we’re just not quite ready. We’ve got to get a little bit better.’’
Tri-Valley
The Dawgs (8-0) stayed undefeated by topping Palmerton 48-24, Milton 42-24, Williamson 56-18, Wilson Area 51-29 and Penns Valley 44-27.
Kyle Stephen (14-5), Caleb Bordner (14-3), Sammy Hepler (13-4), Chase Schaeffer (14-3) and Hunter Harner (16-3) had 5-0 days.
Anthony Snyder (14-3), Danny Scheib (12-4) and Alan Renninger went 4-1.
“They wrestled with a lot of heart because half the team is in some stage of sickness right now,’’ Tri-Valley co-head coach Ty Rothermel said. “We weren’t quite sure what was going to happen, but we had a lot of heart today.’’
With eight wins, Tri-Valley has already doubled its win total from last season. The Dawgs still give up some forfeits, but they had 13 wrestlers in action Saturday.
“It allows us to compete in a setting like this,’’ Rothermel said. “It makes the season really long if you have to wrestle in dual meets and know what you’re up against (allowing numerous forfeits).
“It wears on the kids, too,’’ he added. “It’s tough. But this year we’re winning matches, and it helps everybody.’’
Lehighton
The Indians had a 4-1 day, losing only to Midd-West 50-28. Lehighton (6-3) defeated Montgomery 45-28, Williams Valley 53-30, Milton 42-32 and Wilson 45-23.
Connor Frey (14-2) and Dylan Schock went 5-0, while Zach Kemmerer (11-4) and Tegan Durishin (14-4) were 4-1.
Panther Valley
The host Panthers (6-5) had a 3-2 day, defeating Williamson 43-36, Halifax 54-24 and Williams Valley 60-15. Midd-West (42-24) and Penns Valley (50-15) topped Panther Valley.
Ali Capobianco (15-6) went 5-0 and Xander Kern was 3-0 for the Panthers. Gary Goodhile, Tanner Kennedy (16-6), Grant Lorkowski and Dylan Moyer (12-6) posted 4-1 marks.
Halifax
The Wildcats (6-7) went 2-3 with wins over Montgomery (42-39) and Palmerton (48-35).
They lost to Milton 46-27, Panther Valley 54-24 and Williamson 40-39. The Williamson dual was decided by Criterion H, most first points scored.
Landon Bruner (13-2) and Jake Paul (15-0) had 5-0 days.
Williams Valley
Missing four starters and giving up forfeits, the Vikings (1-6) lost to Midd-West 48-27, Lehighton 53-30, Penns Valley 60-24, North Schuylkill 63-12 and Panther Valley 60-15.
Willy Girard (19-2) went 5-0 and J.J. Cox was 4-1.