Sometimes little brother needs to take over and support big brother when he falters a bit.
After the Lehigh Valley Conference went 0-for-6 in championship matches in Thursday night’s final round of the Bethlehem Holiday Wrestling Classic, the Colonial League stepped in and showed how it’s done by batting a perfect 1.000 in its three finals.
And not only did Pen Argyl’s Mike Racciato (H.M. @ 145) join senior teammate Dylan Evans (182) and Saucon Valley junior Ray O’Donnell (195) atop the podium, the Green Knights junior walked off with the top prize of the night when he won the Frank Gutierrez Award as the tournament’s outstanding wrestler.
Racciato, a PIAA Class AA state champ last season, edged Camden Catholic’s 2011 New Jersey champion T.J. Miller 5-4 in the marquee matchup of the tournament in front of a two-thirds full Memorial Gym at Liberty High School.
“I’d never won this tournament and I’d come so close, third as freshman and second as a sophomore,” said Racciato, who snapped Miller’s 53-bout winning streak and handed the Camden Catholic junior just his fifth loss in 92 career bouts. “It feels great. He was very strong and got in deep on shots but I was able to scramble out of them. That’s just how I wrestle. The one time (in the first period) I was able to get out of bounds. I couldn’t really break him down.”
Miller rued his missed chances.
“I was in on a few deep shots but I couldn’t finish,” Miller said. “He is very, very good at scrambling and he hit me with a few new moves.”
Racciato scored two second-period takedowns — one off a scramble to counter Miller, one on a duck-under — after a scoreless first period to lead 4-3 after two. Racciato escaped to start the third period and spent most of that period fending off Miller.
