Salisbury’s John Samy didn’t lose many wrestling matches this season. But there was one loss he couldn’t forget about.

Saucon Valley’s Travis Riefenstahl pinned Samy in 1:15 during a dual meet on January 13. But the Falcon sophomore flipped the script at districts, taking out Riefenstahl by major decision, 11-2 in the 132-pound district semifinal.

Samy went on to the title match where he lost to Brandon Chletsos of Notre Dame (Green Pond) to come away with the silver medal at the District 11 Class 2A Championships, which were held Saturday and Sunday at the Chrin Center in Palmer Township.

It was the win over Riefenstahl that Samy was still smiling about after the tournament, while the loss to Chlestos became his new focus.

“He got me in the beginning of the season,” Samy said of Riefenstahl. “I worked hard in the room, got my win, got my redemption. I feel pretty good. I’m excited for regionals.”

Samy moves on to next week’s PIAA Southeast Regional Saturday, Feb. 27 at Central Dauphin High School in Harrisburg.

Samy, the No. 3 seed in his weight class, opened the tournament by pinning Northwestern’s Katie Brensinger in the first round in 11 seconds. He then put Schuylkill Haven’s Andrew Zimmerman on his back in 3:13 in the quarterfinals on Saturday.

He returned to beat Riefenstahl in Sunday’s semifinals. After falling behind 2-0 early, a couple escapes and a second-period takedown with some back points put the Falcon head 6-2 after two periods. He stayed aggressive and pushed it to 11-2 for the major decision.

“He’s been talking all week and all season long about getting another shot at the Saucon Valley kid,” Salisbury head coach Eric Snyder said of Samy. “That’s all he talked about ‘I can’t wait to get him.’

“We knew what the kid did and what he likes to do. We knew if we were able to stop that stuff, we’d have a really good chance to beat him. Did I think he’d come out and major him 11-2? Not necessarily, but I knew we had a chance to win if we could stop a couple of the moves he likes.”

Samy, who had high hopes for his freshman district tournament before an injury ended his season, got pinned in 2:22 by Chletsos in the title bout. He’s hoping to meet him again down the road with a different result.

“I want my rematch with him,” Samy said. “I want to see him in the state final.”

“The kid from Notre Dame is probably the best kid in the state at that weight,” said Snyder. “For John to have the mindset like that, you can’t complain. He’s willing to work hard every day and wrestle anybody. You can’t ask for a better kid.”

Samy has been wrestling since third grade. He placed high at junior high tournaments and was a MAWA champ during his youth wrestling days. He awaited his first District 11 tournament an extra year because of an injury. Then had a season that was delayed by over a month because of the coronavirus.

When he finally arrived on the mats at districts, he accomplished what he went there to do.

“I was expecting myself to do this,” he said. “It’s no longer versus someone else, it’s versus me. I’m pretty excited I got my name out there. I have high expectations for myself. I just want to be the best at whatever I do.”

Samy said his parents, Adell and Alies have supporting influences on his career and older brothers Andrew and Peter are his biggest fans.

His shot at Chletsos could come as soon as next week’s regional tournament. Because of COVID-19 precautions, the postseason tournaments all have fewer wrestlers this year and an extra round has been added between states and regionals in order to reduce the number of athletes at states.

Samy will need to finish in the top six at the regional tournament to advance to the East Super Regional on March 6 at Martz Hall in Pottsville. The top four of the eight wrestlers in each weight class will advance through the super regional and into the state tournament.

State championships will be held March 21 in Hershey with just eight wrestlers in each weight class.