The Parkland wrestling program went .500 during last week’s District 11 Class 3A team wrestling tournament, which culminated in a loss in the consolation semifinal round.

Coach Jon Trenge’s grapplers dropped a 46-18 decision to Easton last Saturday in the consolation round at Freedom High School. A total of three Trojans - Alex Neely, Aaron Ciampittiello and Adrian Gacek - defeated their Rover challengers all with pins. With the win, Gacek, a junior, raised his season record to 29-5, while Neely improved to 24-9 and Ciampittiello jumped to 14-1.

To earn the berth in the consolation semis, Parkland took down rival Emmaus 38-29 in a spirited battle earlier that morning. The match was tight throughout, tied at 29-29 heading into the final two matches. Parkland took control at that point thanks to Juan Moya and Victor Carrasquilla, wresting at 145 and 152, respectively. Moya pinned Emmaus’ Caleb Baldwin in 3:26, while Carrasquilla won a 10-4 decision over Drew Schmidt to win the meet’s last nine points.

Trenge considered both Easton and Emmaus benchmarks for his program this season. The coach said also that all things being equal, his strongest lineup was better than the Green Hornets.

Two nights earlier, Parkland lost in the championship quarterfinals to Northampton 42-27 at Liberty High School. Blake Dergham had the Trojans off to a strong start, pinning Kody Zigenfus in his 106-pound match for a 6-0 lead. Dergham continued his fine sophomore season, earning a 27-9 mark at the end of the tournament. After two losses, 126-pounder Phoenix DelVecchio won a 6-4 decision over the Kids’ Giacomo Tropeano to pull Parkland within one point at 9-10.

“Phoenix’s technique on bottom is a major improvement of his,” Trenge said.

But from there only Gacek, Neely and Zayd Afif could win their matches.

“Zayd has been doing great on bottom and on top,” Trenge said. “His sense of awareness has really improved.”

Earlier in the evening the Trojans won a 31-30 thriller over Liberty. This one saw two Parkland comebacks and one tie. Neely’s 22-7 technical fall win over the Hurricanes’ Rafi Harrington proved to be the winner.

Bethlehem Catholic won this year’s District 11 team title by beating Nazareth 32-22 in the final, while Northampton topped Easton, 37-27, for third place.

Parkland will now have a couple weeks off before competing in the individual District 11 Championships Feb. 25-26. The top five finishers in each weight class at individual districts will advance to the PIAA Northeast Regional Championships a week later.