Bethlehem Catholic-Palisades reaction

   As many wrestling fans in the know might be aware of by now, Bethlehem Catholic defeated Palisades in last night's District 11-AA quarterfinals, 84-0.
   But it wasn't just any 84-0 shutout. Palisades forfeited the entire match in protest, allowing 14 consecutive Becahi wrestlers to get their hands raised without breaking a sweat on the mat.
   Obviously, the outcome of this match has brought a ton of attention to it in the hours since.
   I heard about what happened through several Twitter postings last night, and my first reaction was that while I didn't agree with abandoning an entire dual meet for any reason, I understood the point that Pirates' coach Omar Porrata was trying to make.
    I tweeted the following: Not sure I agree with Palisades making that move, but I get it. Who can compete with Bethlehem Catholic?
    The original assumption I was going on, through tweets by Ryan Holmes of The Express-Times and Michael Blouse, my former colleague at that same paper who now writes for Allentown's Morning Call, was that Bethlehem Catholic coach Jeff Karam had weighed in mostly a junior varsity squad if not an entire team of backups for the dual.
    Surmising that information, I could understand that Porrata would be upset with that in a "Becahi thinks their so good they can beat us with JV kids" sort of way.
    But after looking through several pieces on the event today, I'm going to say that Porrata was wrong in this instance, whether he decided to do what he did on his own or not, though it was also reported that some Palisades' supporters at the match stood and applauded the move.
    The Express-Times (www.lehighvalleylive.com) has a box score of the match that shows which 14 wrestlers took the forfeits for the Golden Hawks. Here it is:

195 - Jose Ortiz
220 - Andrew Dunn
285 - Paul Aaroe
106 - Sean Redington
113 - Luke Carty
120 - Joey Gould
126 - Andrew Haldaman
132 - Stephen Maloney
138 - Cole Karam
145 - Mason Angstadt
152 - Brandon Gallagher
160 - Adam Soldridge
170 - Nick Cortopassi
182 - Jody Crouse

   By my calculations, nine of those 14 have wrestled at least 20 bouts this season, and several are regular starters. A few are returning state qualifiers and Dunn is a sixth-place state medalist, having lost to Chestnut Ridge's Austin Buttry in the fifth-place bout at 285 last March.
   Certainly, there are some notables missing, including Karam's one son Luke (113) and teammate Zeke Moisey (126), both of whom were state finalists last winter.
   Jeff Karam told Holmes that Luke Karam had missed three days of school and wasn't going to wrestle anyway. He also cited needing to sit a few regulars due to the schedule of district duals, state duals, and end of the year conference meets in a short amount of time.
   Isn't the coach allowed that right to do what he feels best for his team? And if Palisades had wrestled and somehow pulled off the incredible upset, Karam would have had to live with his choice of who to and who not to wrestle.
   I'm sure the opinion that I have here after gathering information isn't popular, and I do understand that the negative perception of many towards Bethlehem Catholic is a weighing factor in their opinions. Honestly, as just a pure fan, I wouldn't mind seeing someone else hoist the Class AA State Duals trophy next Saturday, either.
   There's a lot of angst toward Karam and the Becahi program from inside and outside District 11, over so-called "recruiting practices", whether the school should compete in the PIAA or at least be Class AAA for wrestling, and other things. It's easy to get caught up in that and make assumptions.
   But that's not the argument here in my eyes. We can debate those items another day.
   Should Palisades have sent wrestlers to the circle last night? Yes.
   Because kids should be allowed to compete, coaches should be allowed to coach, and fans should be allowed to cheer positively. And Omar Porrata took that away last night from two schools, whether you like Bethlehem Catholic or not.
   Wrestling, and high school sports in general, doesn't need a black eye like the one that occurred last night.