By: Tyler Myers
Fresh off a team district title, the district placer buckhorn wrestlers recouped their motivation over a week of practice and steadied themselves for a push to a renowned regional placement. In another Friday into Saturday tournament taking place at Bethlehem Liberty High School, they were pitted against the rest of northeast Pennsylvania’s high caliber competitors. Their high placements in Districts trail-blazed the way to the new brackets with good enough seeding to act as a suitable starting point to what could be another title.
In the first round, Aidan Blaut, Giovanni Lomonaco, Tristan Braxton, Conan Kier, and Xaiden Schock all found their way to a win to move on. Nicholas Skokos, Thomas Toth, and Gabriel Caufield all took close losses to place them in the consolation bracket. The team still lead with 5 victors over a minuscule 3 losses, still leaving them in a position to end high in the rankings.
Going into day two, and so the semifinals and finals for each bracket, only Kier and Caufield were left in the running. Kier was the only wrestler left in the champion bracket, still going strong for a 1st place finish. Caufield was the only other wrestler left in the consolations, vying for 5th place as the rest of the team had been beaten out of the running.
As the tournament came to an end, Kier had taken three devastating losses in a row after a two-win streak and Caufield had hit a roadblock after taking three straight wins in the consolations. Although both had already taken their two defeats for the day, losing in the consolations ment both were given a chance to compete for the 5th place on the podium. Despite being the 5th place spot, their opponents could not be undervalued as the caliber of the competition was still high throughout all the brackets. This proved to be true, as both the Buckhorns were handed decisive losses, giving both Kier and Caufield 6th place- still a quite impressive placement. No wrestlers had placed top four in the regional level, ending the Buckhorns’ season on a high, being having so many wrestlers place at the district level. Considering the magnitude of the competition- composed of their toughest old opponents and the best of the best from other districts- the wrestling team knows what to prepare for going into the 2025-2026 season and will use their shortcomings this season as a steppingstone into higher goals the
