The Emmaus wrestling program’s foray into the District 11 Class 3A team tournament Feb. 4 at Freedom High School last Saturday proved brief.

The Green Hornets lost in the quarterfinals to Nazareth, 64-9. Coach Jim Best’s squad did break into a 6-0 lead when 152-pounder Jesse Scott pinned the Blue Eagles’ Alex Dimartino at the 1:50 mark. However, Emmaus lost the next 11 consecutive matches before Marco Albanese won a 5-4 decision over Cade Campbell at 145.

Emmaus then traveled north three nights later to Parkland for the regular season finale against their biggest rival. Best’s team offered some quality performances but came up on the short end of a 39-22 loss.

“During both the Nazareth and Parkland duals, the wrestlers displayed resiliency, grit, a superior conditioning level, and progress with their technical understanding of the sport,” Best said.

Once again Scott got the Hornets off right when he pinned the Trojans’ Xander DeSelm at 3:05 for a 6-0 Emmaus lead. The Hornets lost the next two matches before Reilly Bechtel pinned Julius Reyes at 1:38 to win the 189-pound tilt. Logan Armstrong took care of business at 127 when he won a tough 8-6 decision over Aaron Ciamppittiello, while Xayden Sallit beat Leo Kern at 139 and Albanese earned a 17-9 major decision over Juan Moya.

“Despite the outcome of both of those duals, our coaching staff is very pleased with the progress we continue to see from our wrestlers,” Best said. “We are really proud of the effort they put forth during the month of January to qualify for the District 11 3A dual meet championship by achieving an 8-1 dual meet record against some high-level competition.”

Emmaus will next battle at the District 11 3A individual championships, which are scheduled for Feb. 24-25 at Liberty High School.