Emelio Albanese ran off four straight victories before falling in the championship match at 107 pounds to receive the silver medal in leading a quartet from the Emmaus High School wrestling team as medalists last Thursday and Friday at the Bethlehem Holiday Wrestling Classic at Liberty High School.

Both Xayden Sallit and Jesse Scott had fifth-place finishes at 152 and 160 pounds, respectively, and Teagan Caciolo placed seventh at 121 pounds.

The Green Hornets finished 15th out of 34 teams with 79.5 points, just two points short of Spring-Ford for 14th and 2.5 shy of Boyertown for 13th.

Albanese pinned three of his first four opponents, with two of those falls coming in the first period, on his way to the championship match. He dropped a 9-2 decision to Easton’s Noah Fenner in the title bout to take second place in the event.

Scott earned a pin in his first match and a 4-0 decision in his second match before dropping his third match to Easton’s James Geiger. He bounced back to win two straight decisions and after falling to Matteo Garcia of Wilson West Lawn, won the fifth-place match via pin in 2:56 in a rematch with Geiger.

It didn’t come as easily for Sallit as he opened the tournament getting pinned by Kyle Deisley of Hempfield. Sallit responded by winning five consecutive matches, including two straight pins, to qualify for the fifth-place match. He would eventually drop that match to Easton’s Quintin Hammerstone, but still medaled.

Caciolo had a 6-4 decision in his opening match and won by technical fall in the second. After losing in his third match of the tournament, he bounced back for a 7-4 decision over Griffin King of Southern Lehigh. Parkland’s Blake Dergham earned an 8-3 decision over Caciolo next, but Caciolo bounced back to win the seventh-place match via a 6-3 decision over Giovanni Dibiagio of Wilson.

Sam Rainford also recorded multiple victories at 172 pounds. After falling to 2023 District 11 Class 2A champ Luke Fugazzotto (Northwestern Lehigh) in his opening bout, Rainford bounced back with two wins to go 2-2 at the event.

Emmaus (0-3 overall; 0-2 East Penn Conference) returns to action in the EPC this week and hits the road to take on Pocono Mountain West Wednesday night. The Green Hornets return home for a conference match next Wednesday night against East Stroudsburg North.

Bethlehem Ho.iday Wrestling Classic Team Standings

1. Council Rock South 188.5, 2. Nazareth 168.5, 3. Easton 166.5, 4. Northampton 148.5, 4. Phillipsburg (NJ) 148.5, 6. Wilson (West Lawn) 143.0, 7. Quakertown 122.5, 8. Greater Latrobe 110.0, 9. Saucon Valley 102.0, 10. North Allegheny 98.0, 10. West Scranton 98.0, 12. Kennett 91.5, 13. Boyertown 82.0, 14. Spring-Ford 81.5, 15. Emmaus 79.5, 16. Bethlehem Freedom 78.0, 17. Northern Lebanon 75.0, 18. Whitehall 74.0, 19. Blue Mountain 68.5, 20. Hempfield 67.0, 21. Bethlehem Liberty 61.5, 22. Northwestern Lehigh 61.0, 23. Parkland 57.0, 24. Garnet Valley 49.0, 25. Stroudsburg 48.0, 26. Delaware Valley 46.0, 27. North Penn 42.5, 28. Southern Lehigh 37.5, 29. Warwick 34.5, 30. Honesdale 32.0, 31. Hazleton Area 24.0, 32. Wilson Area 23.5, 33. Fauquier (Va.) 10.0, 34. Wyoming Valley West 6.5

Emmaus Results

Emelio Albanese (107)

Albanese pinned Gunnar Jozefowski (Quakertown) in 2:45

Albanese pinned Derek Fulmer (Nazareth) in 1:17

Albanese major dec. Matthew Velez (Parkland), 8-0

Albanese pinned Julian Zaragoza (Northern Lebanon) in 2:00

Championship match: Noah Fenner (Easton) dec. Albanese, 9-2

Logan Maher (114)

Gus Smith (Spring-Ford) pinned Maher in 3:26

Maher pinned Dominic May (Garnet Valley) in 1:00

Connor Lagier (West Scranton) major dec. Maher, 11-0

Teagan Caciolo (121)

Caciolo dec. Owen Garriques (Phillipsburg), 6-4

Caciolo tech. fall Sergio Laracuente (Liberty), 17-2 in 6:00

Aaron Seidel (Northern Lebanon) tech. fall Caciolo, 21-6 in 3:28

Caciolo dec. Griffin King (Southern Lehigh), 7-4

Blake Dergham (Parkland) dec. Caciolo (Emmaus), 8-3

Seventh-place match: Caciolo dec. Giovanni Dibiagio (Wilson), 6-3

Aiden Bayard (127)

Zack Jaffe (Kennett) pinned Bayard in 2:44

Bayard dec. Jason Mele (Delaware Valley), 3-2

Davian Carasquillo (Liberty) dec. Bayard, 7-2

Tommy Fallstich (133)

David M’Balla (Wilson) tech. fall Fallstich, 22-6 in 5:16

Austin Laidacker (Greater Latrobe) dec. Fallstich, 8-2

Logan Armstrong (139)

Kaden Brish (Blue Mountain) dec. Armstrong, 6-4

Armstrong pinned Aaron Jenkins (Garnet Valley) in 4:19

Ajay Bhatt (Council Rock South) pinned Armstrong in 4:33

Chancellor Henry (145)

Kane Lengel (Kennett) tech. fall Henry, 16-1 in 4:00

Henry pinned Sal Sorrentino (Faquier, Va.) in 3:56

Jamie Silva (Spring-Ford) dec. Henry, 4-1

Xayden Sallit (152)

Kyle Deisley (Hempfield) pinned Sallit in 1:31

Sallit pinned Brooke Long (Wyoming Valley West) in :48

Sallit pinned Max Nepochatov (Council Rock South) in 2:43

Sallit dec. Sean Steckert (Southern Lehigh), 9-3

Sallit dec. Joey Bodnar (Freedom), 5-4

Sallit dec. Michael Cliver (North Penn), 6-2

Cole Hubert (Saucon Valley) pinned Sallit in :47

Fifth-place match: Quintin Hammerstone (Easton) major dec. Sallit, 9-1

Jesse Scott (160)

Scott pinned Nate Schepian (North Penn) 1:43

Scott dec. Ivan Bonilla (Freedom), 4-0

James Geiger (Easton) dec. Scott, 13-6

Scott dec. Bradon Bronson (Greater Latrobe), 7-0

Scott dec. Johnathon Roth (Phillipsburg), 6-2

Matteo Garcia (Wilson West Lawn) dec. Scott, TB-1 5-4

Fifth-place math: Scott pinned Geiger (Easton) in 2:56

Sam Rainford (172)

Luke Fugazzotto (Northwestern Lehigh) pinned Sam Rainford (Emmaus) in 1:19

Rainford major dec. Sam Ludwig (Fauquier, Va.), 12-3

Rainford dec. Eli Ostermayer (Northern Lebanon), 4-3

Justin Cosover (Easton) pinned Sam Rainford in :54

Massimo Tranguch (189)

Tranguch pinned Nicholas Fuchylo (West Scranton) in 1:26

James Hopkins (Whitehall) dec. Tranguch, 6-4

Aidan Murray (Council Rock South) major dec. Tranguch, 10-2

Logan Roth (215)

Nathan Smith (Phillipsburg) pinned Roth in 2:37

Daniel Borzillo (Spring-Ford) pinned Roth in 2:42

Ashir Choudhry (285)

Calvin Lachman (Quakertown) pinned Choudhry in 1:01

Justin Heckert (Whitehall) pinned Choudhry in 4:56