Feb 8, 2024 By Jonathan Guth 4 min read

HERSHEY – It was worth the wait.

The last time Trinity competed in the PIAA Team Tournament, Hillers head coach Ron Tarquinio was wrestling in college for Pitt.

The year was 2002 and Trinity finished as the runner-up to Easton in Class 3A.

Twenty-two years later, the Hillers are back in the team tournament and will look forward to this afternoon’s quarterfinals after defeating Selinsgrove 54-14 in the first round of the PIAA Class 3A tournament Thursday evening at the Giant Center.

“I thought the way we’ve been wrestling down the stretch and working in the room, I felt confident in getting this win tonight, but those guys really stepped up, battled hard and surpassed my expectations,” Tarquinio said. “We had Trinity’s last state champion, Danny Burkholder, come up and give a talk to our guys, and I think it kind of calmed the nerves a little bit.”

The Hillers (12-1) wrestle Bethlehem Catholic (13-1) in this afternoon’s quarterfinals at 2 p.m. The Golden Eagles are seeking their third straight state dual meet title but Tarquinio is confident his team will come ready to wrestle.

“All you can do is toe the line, keep doing what we’ve been doing and wrestle with confidence,” Tarquinio said. “If we can do that, we can wrestle with anybody. Win or lose, we are going to keep fighting.”

The Hillers (12-1) had eight falls, which was more than enough to earn the victory.

“I felt like we had two matches that should not have gone their way,” Selinsgrove coach Seth Martin said. “We gave up some bonus points that should not have happened. We were winning three matches that we ended up losing, and you just can’t do that, especially winning those matches and giving up six.

“We are not used to wrestling here, but we don’t want to come here and take a beating, but that’s what it was. Coming into this, we really have no pressure. Nobody expects us to do anything, but that being said, I still want us to compete well, and that was not a good showing.”

Zane Garner got Trinity rolling with a fall in 3:08 at 127 pounds before Devin Junko’s 4-2 decision at 133 pushed the advantage to 9-0.

“Zane Garner has been a kid that has really bought into the team aspect, and he’s been a leader for us the past month,” Tarquinio said. “He was our first guy out, and came out with a little bit of nerves and just wrestled through some situations and came out locking up a cradle and getting a pin for us, and I think it kind or relaxed everybody.”

Blake Reihner (139) and TJ Allison (145) recorded back-to-back pins for a 21-0 advantage before Landyn Lukens got Selinsgrove (10-4) on the scoreboard with a 4-2 decision at 152.

The Hillers’ Cael Nicolella was down 10-3 with 32 seconds left in the first period but rallied back to edge Ethan Miller 14-13 at 160.

Miller was penalized one point after taking the seven-point advantage and Nicolella escaped to cut the deficit to 10-5 heading into the second period.

“I had a single leg and he hit me with a five-point move,” Nicolella said. “I just stuck to my attacks, kept my head in it and kept chipping away.”

Nicolella escaped and scored three takedowns in the second to tie the match at 12-12 as the bout went into the third period. Nicolella allowed Miller to escape in the third before scoring a takedown and riding Miller out the remaining 1:45.

“The atmosphere is great and we had a send-off at school yesterday, which was a special moment because our school hasn’t been here in such a long time, and we feel we have a good team and can go deep in this tournament,” Nicolella said. “It’s a business trip.”

Nicolella’s triumph extended Trinity’s lead to 24-3 with seven bouts remaining.

The two teams traded victories in the next four bouts, as the Hillers’ Bodie Morgan (127) and Robbie Allison (215) won by fall and the Seals’ Tucker Teats (189) recorded a pin before Jack Peters won by technical fall, 15-0, in 3:45.

Trinity’s Mickey Horne (107), Jacob Wright (114) and Dom Canali (121) closed the dual meet with three straight falls.