Salisbury Press

With only five wrestlers, sometimes less, taking the mat on a nightly basis, the Salisbury wrestling team was all but counted out on the team scoreboard this season. It resulted in a winless Colonial League record.

But head coach Eric Snyder always insisted that those Falcon grapplers are talented and capable on an individual basis. Now it’s the time for those individuals to showcase their talent.

The District 11 Class 2A tournament starts at Freedom High School on Friday and finishes with championship finals Saturday evening at Liberty High School.

Salisbury head coach Jason Weaver was pretty confident for the past two weeks that he knew who the Falcons’ district opponent would be. And recently it became official when the District 11 Class 4A field was set.

The No. 5 seeded Falcons will travel to Northern Lehigh on Friday night to take on No. 4 seed Wilson, a team Salisbury is certainly familiar with. Game time is set for 7:45 p.m. as the second game of a doubleheader.

The Colonial League boys’ basketball championship is set for Friday night at Freedom High School, culminating the six-team tournament that began last Saturday.

Unfortunately for Salisbury (9-8), the Falcons were the top team left out of the league playoffs. A win against Southern Lehigh in its regular season finale would have given Salisbury the sixth and final seed, but a tough four-point loss left the Falcons on the outside looking in.

From the basketball court to the sidelines and then to the swimming pool, Olivia Hoeing’s last three winter seasons have been anything but ordinary.

As a sophomore back in the winter of 2018, Hoeing was one of the Salisbury’s better basketball players for former head coach Joe Mladosich. The following winter, however, threw a curveball at the then-junior Falcon after a successful soccer season in the fall.

A low heart rate caused Hoeing to miss her entire junior basketball season and resort to a spot on the bench, a position she was never accustomed to.

The opportunity was there, but too many mistakes kept the Salisbury boys’ basketball team from capturing that signature win of its season.

Despite erasing a 13-point third-quarter deficit against one of the Colonial League’s top teams, and even leading in the final seconds, Salisbury couldn’t hammer the final nail down.

Palmerton’s Tyler Stuck hit two free throws late, and a last-second jumper from Salisbury’s Patrick Foley was off target in a 49-48 loss on Monday night on the Falcons’ home court.

Salisbury suited up just five wrestlers for Monday night’s match against Palmerton. Three of them came away with wins via fall. So, despite coming up short in the final score, 60-18, head coach Eric Snyder once again saw plenty of optimism against the Blue Bombers.

That is how much of the season has gone for the Falcons, who were without one of their six wrestlers against Palmerton. Ben Krauss missed his second consecutive match with an injury, but is expected to return this week.

Following a tough loss to Southern Lehigh on January 11, the Salisbury boys’ basketball team responded with back-to-back victories over Catasauqua (52-48) and East Stroudsburg North (65-61).

And while each of those wins was only by four points, it showed a lot about head coach Jason Weaver’s team. It’s evident that the Falcons are able to come from behind and pull out a close game when necessary. The latest proof of that was last week’s win over East Stroudsburg North on Thursday.

Saturday’s game against rival Southern Lehigh ended the season’s toughest stretch to date for the Salisbury boys’ basketball team. Four of its last five games were against teams currently in the league playoffs or fighting for one of those spots.

The Falcons, while winning just one of those games, proved they could compete with the top teams in the Colonial League. That was shown during a close 56-49 loss to the unbeaten Spartans (11-1 overall; 9-0 in Colonial League) over the weekend.

The District 11 Class 2A Swimming Championships are set for the last two days of February at Parkland High School.

What swimmers around the area have been aiming for, including Salisbury’s athletes, is earning a district-qualifying time in their respective events for that meet in nearly two months. Despite coming up short in some recent meets in the team score, a number of individuals have captured that goal.

As it has at other times this season, the Salisbury girls’ basketball team didn’t let an early-game deficit deter the Lady Falcons from trying to compete. Despite Lehighton scoring the first nine points and leading 15-3 after the first quarter, Salisbury was able to cut the Indians’ lead to single digits early in the second.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough gas left in the tank. Lehighton staved off Salisbury’s run to lead by 13 at halftime, grow its lead to 20 in the third quarter and secure the 58-26 win last Thursday night at Salisbury High School.