Three Salisbury wrestlers competes in the PIAA Class 2A Southeast Regional Championships last weekend at Freedom High School.

Senior Ben Krauss picked up one win in the first regional appearance of his career, while classmate Carver Moyer and junior John Samy went 0-2 at regionals.

Krauss dropped his opening bout, 2-1 to West Perry’s Mason Iswalt to fall into the consolation bracket. He bounced back with a 10-2 major decision win over Imani Bell of Archbishop Ryan.

“First match could have went a couple ways, but it didn’t,” said Krauss after his win last Friday night. “I take my losses and move forward and that lit a fire under me.”

The win set up a Saturday morning match against Saucon Valley’s Tyler Pfizenmayer, who beat Krauss 5-3 in last week’s 285-pound district title match. The Panther pulled out another close one, winning 2-0 to end the season for the Falcon, who will wrestle at Muhlenberg College next year.

Krauss took fourth place in districts last season before earning the silver medal this season. Regionals was the end to a long career as a standout Salisbury athlete. He was also one of the Falcon football team’s top tacklers the past two seasons.

“It’s been awesome,” he said. “I’ve been with Salisbury my whole life. Ever since kindergarten I’ve been wrestling and playing sports and this has been a year to look back on all the great memories and finish strong.”

Moyer also began wrestling as a youngster with Krauss in the Salisbury Youth Association. He won 20 matches and competed in districts as a freshman, but decided to join the swim team for two years before returning to the mat this season.

“I could have swam this year, but I came back to wrestling because it all came down to what I think is going to prepare me the most for the military,” said Moyer (120), who plans to wrestle at Norwich University in Vermont where he’ll join the ROTC program. “That’s what I want to go into.”

Moyer’s regional tournament ended Friday night with a 7-2 loss to West Perry’s Jackson Rush in the first round and a 5-2 setback against Northern Lebanon’s Owen Breidegan in a consolation match.

“It didn’t end the way I wanted, obviously, but I am so stoked I made it [to regionals],” he said. “All these kids have so much more experience than I do. I made it here and the competition is insane.”

Samy, a second-place finisher at regionals last year and a two-time district runner up, also dropped both his matches last Friday night. He fell to West Perry’s Blain Puchalsky, 5-3 in the first round and 7-4 to Lancaster Catholic’s Gavin Badger in his first consolation bout.

While this was Samy’s second consecutive successful postseason, there was added excitement as family and friends were able to be in the gym this year.

He wrestled this year’s district championship match in front of a packed house at Liberty High School just 10 days ago. A year earlier he made the final when the tournament was held in a small community center gym that didn’t even have bleachers and fans were not permitted.

“The parade of champions, it’s amazing,” Samy said. “That finals match, I’ve never felt anything like that. The whole Liberty gym was just going crazy. That’s got to be the greatest moment of my life.”

Samy will have another season to create more great moments, while Krauss and Moyer will go on to another phase of their lives and wrestling careers.

All three wrestlers expressed pride in all their team accomplished this season by winning three matches with a small and inexperienced squad then having three regional qualifiers.

“We’re a small team,” said Moyer. “A big motivator for us is to set up this program for years to come. It’s our job to be role models.”

All three also talked about how close they’ve become with their coaches and teammates during the past few seasons.

“It’s like a brotherhood, more important than the wins and loses,” said Samy.

The following are Salisbury wrestlers’ results from the PIAA Class 2A Southeast Regional Championships.

Carver Moyer (120)

Jackson Rush (West Perry) dec. Moyer, 7-2

Owen Breidegan (Northern Lebanon) dec. Moyer, 5-2

John Samy (132)

Blain Puchalsky (West Perry) dec. Samy, 5-3

Gavin Badger (Lancaster Catholic) dec. Samy, 7-4

Ben Krauss (285)

Mason Iswalt (Berks Catholic) dec. Krauss, 2-1

Krauss major dec. Imani Bell (Archbishop Ryan), 10-2

Tyler Pfizenmayer (Saucon Valley) dec. Krauss, 2-0