District 11 brought the hammer down on the Palisades wrestling program Sunday morning during a special hearing to discuss the sanctions and punishment against head coach Omar Porrata following the team's decision to forfeit the entire match against Bethlehem Catholic on January 30 in the District 11 2A team tournament.

During Sunday's meeting, the district committee cited Porrata's actions as "unsportsmanlike" and agreed with Palisades School District's decision to suspend Porrata for the remainder of the individual postseason, which kicks off this Friday and Saturday with the individual District 11 wrestling tournament.Should Palisades or any school district choose to hire Porrata before next year, a postseason ban on all PIAA tournaments would incur, which likely spells the end of Porrata's six-year tenure as head coach of the Pirates, as well as an extended sabbatical from the sidelines.Porrata, who was suspended by Palisades last Thursday for the remainder of postseason, came out last week and spoke about his reasons to forfeit against Bethlehem Catholic in the quarterfinal round of district duals.Porrata reasoned that his team forfeited because of medical concerns, citing that his lineup was dealing with flu-like symptoms and injuries. The committee had a hard time believing that, especially since Palisades wrestled and defeated Jim Thorpe 48-24 in their 6 pm preliminary round on January 30 at Catasauqua.The Pirates then came out and appeared ready to wrestle Bethlehem Catholic in the nightcap, with wrestlers dressed in uniform , ready to emerge from their huddle, except all the prematch hype never materialized, as Palisades forfeited all 14 weight classes, surrendering an 84-0 verdict to the eventual district and state champion Golden Hawks.Porrata declined to comment following the match on his reasons for the move and public perception spread like wildfire. Many thought Porrata pulled the move for political reasons against Becahi's perceived recruiting practices. Others with direct knowledge of the situation following weigh-ins, cited Porrata's anger of Bethlehem Catholic head coach Jeff Karam's decision to weigh-in a handful of junior varsity wrestlers in his lineup, specifically at 113-pounds, where Porrata's top wrestler, Jacob Wasser, would have gotten a chance to wrestle Luke Karam in a coveted match-up.No matter what the reasons were for Porrata, the committee deemed them as "unsportsmanlike" and proceeded with upholding the school imposed suspension, as well as the long-term sanctions, should Porrata get hired before next year.Porrata's lawyer, Darrell Martoccio, reaffirmed that the majority of Palisades lineup were battling medical issues, but couldn't confirm if any of those wrestlers missed school that week."They had exams that week, so I don't know," he said. "I do know that some of the guys missed a couple days of practice."Martoccio said that he wished his client would have explained his actions sooner than later to help diffuse the situation."Omar really had a chance after that match to explain himself to reporters and put an end to any speculation about his reasons to forfeit," said Martoccio. "He said he didn't want to say anything afterwards because of the emotions he was going through, especially since [Becahi head coach] Jeff Karam didn't shake hands with of any of the [Palisades] wrestlers. He just sat their on the bench and turned his back, which upset Omar."When Karam was asked about that scenario of not shaking hands, he disagreed with how it transpired."I remember after the match, I huddled the team together and told them that we're going out there and we're going to act sportsmanlike and shake their hands," Karam said. "I went through the line and shook every one of those kids hands."Martoccio felt the committee "already had their mind made up" before Sunday's hearing about the actions they were going to levy and admitted that he didn't feel the committee believed Porrata for his reasons to forfeit. He also acknowledged that Porrata should have found a better way to communicate his desire to forfeit through the proper channels."This is Omar's sixth year coaching, so he's still a young guy and he made a mistake by not finding a tournament official to talk to," Martoccio said. "He really didn't know what to do in that situation and it ended up looking bad."The Pirates must now venture into the postseason without a proven coach on their bench during districts, regionals and possibly states. Porrata's only assistant coach is Ricci Bass and he works third-shift, which makes him unavailable to coach at nights during the postseason tournaments.