By this time next week, the official Road to Hershey for individual wrestlers will be open.
District 11 doesn’t hold its tournaments until Feb. 20-21, but Saturday, Feb. 14, is sectional — district qualifying — day for six local squads. Districts like 3 and 4 have too many teams to bring everyone to a two-day district tournament until sectional tournaments cut the field to a more manageable number.
These sectionals begin the four-week run to the PIAA Championships on March 5-7 at the Giant Center in Hershey.
Here are some sectional details:
• District 4 Class AA Southern Sectional — Mount Carmel, Shamokin and Col-Mon Vo-Tech are part of an 11-team group that will gather at Southern Columbia High School. The other teams include Danville, Lewisburg, Line Mountain, Midd-West, Mifflinburg, Southern Columbia, Sugar Valley Charter and Milton.
Wrestling begins at 10 a.m., with the top four wrestlers in each weight class advancing to the District 4 Tournament on Feb. 20-21 at Williamsport.
• District 3 Class AA Section I Tournament — Halifax and Upper Dauphin will head to Susquenita for their usual sectional. Bermudian Springs, Biglerville, Delone Catholic, Eastern York, Fairfield, Hanover, Littlestown, Boiling Springs, Camp Hill, Susquenita and Newport round out the 13-team field.
UDA senior Coy Campbell was a district champion and state qualifier last season.
In this section and the one to follow, wrestling will begin at 9:30 a.m. The top six placewinners will advance to the District 3 Tournament, Feb. 20-21, at the Hersheypark Arena.
• District 3 Class AA Section II Tournament — Hamburg will host a 13-team sectional that includes Brandywine Heights, Kutztown, Schuylkill Valley, Tulpehocken, Wyomissing, Annville-Cleona, Columbia, Lancaster Catholic, Northern Lebanon, Pequea Valley, Bishop McDevitt and Trinity.
The Hawks got hit hard by graduation after a record-setting 2013-14 campaign, but still had a solid regular season this winter.
Senior Sean Stanish is their top returnee. Stanish was a sectional champ and a state qualifier last season. It’s important for some other young Hamburg wrestlers to push through to districts to gain experience for the future.
Divisions settled
A flurry of activity over the past nine days has produced Schuylkill League division champions.
During that stretch, Blue Mountain (17-2, 6-0 D-I) defeated Pottsville (twice), Lehighton and Tamaqua to clinch the Division I championship.
Meanwhile, Williams Valley (5-7, 5-0 D-II) topped Mahanoy Area and Upper Dauphin to wrap up the Division II title.
The Eagles and Vikings each have one league meet left, but both hold the head-to-head tiebreaker over their closest competitors.
Big meets ahead
Before the district tournaments arrive, this week holds some interesting duals that fans should get out and see.
Here’s a sampling:
• Today — Panther Valley hosts the Coal Cracker Wrestling Tournament, which was snowed out Jan. 24. Col-Mon Vo-Tech, Jim Thorpe and Mahanoy Area are scheduled to be part of the field. Action begins at 9 a.m. In addition, Pottsville hosts Pine Grove at 5 p.m. in a Division I dual at Martz Hall.
• Monday — Tri-Valley at Lehighton, Panther Valley at North Schuylkill in Division I and Williams Valley at Schuylkill Haven in a non-league matchup.
• Wednesday — The final regularly scheduled league date features Pottsville at Tri-Valley, North Schuylkill at Blue Mountain and Lehighton at Panther Valley.
Tamaqua senior
makes college choice
Dylan Rynkiewicz has signed to attend and wrestle at Roger Williams University, a Division III program in Bristol, Rhode Island.
Rynkiewicz, a 138-pound senior at Tamaqua, won a Schuylkill League Tournament championship last month.
Coaches and athletic directors are asked to forward other college signings to blipsky@republicanherald.com.
Freshman shines
at Seminary
Blue Mountain product Jake Hendricks is making a major contribution to the Wyoming Seminary wrestling team this season.
A freshman 145-pounder, Hendricks is 23-10, according to trackwrestling. He wrestled in a showdown with Blair Academy last Saturday, bumping up to 152 and dropping a 10-1 major decision to Jurdan Kutler.
In a rematch of last year’s National Prep Championship, No. 4 Wyoming Seminary defeated the nation’s top-ranked team, Blair Academy (New Jersey), 39-20.
Another Blue Mountain product at Seminary, junior 160-pounder Ryan Guers, is 1-1.
(Lipsky is the wrestling
beat writer
for The Republican-Herald)
Power Poll
Team W-L Pvs
1. Blue Mtn. 17-2 1
2. Tri-Valley 13-4 2
3. Pottsville 11-7 3
4. N. Schuylkill 17-4 4
5. Hamburg 13-6 —
As reported by coaches and/or recorded on trackwrestling website through matches of Feb. 5. Minimum 14 bouts, 8 wins above .500.
KEY:
Blue Mountain (BM), Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech (CMVT), Halifax (Hal), Hamburg (Ham), Jim Thorpe (JT), Lehighton (Leh), Mahanoy Area (MA), Mount Carmel (MC), North Schuylkill (NS), Panther Valley (PV), Pine Grove (PG), Pottsville (P), Schuylkill Haven (SH), Shamokin (Sham), Tamaqua (Tam), Tri-Valley (TV), Upper Dauphin (UDA), Williams Valley (WV)
106 pounds
Owen Boyer (NS) 26-8
Kevan Gentile (JT) 23-1
Josh Mason (BM) 23-5
Landon Bruner (Hal) 22-8
Nate Kemmerer (Leh) 21-10
113 pounds
Kyle Stephen (TV) 28-10
Mason Madden-Edwards (NS) 26-8
Willy Girard (WV) 25-3
Hunter Blankenhorn (BM) 25-9
Coy Campbell (UDA) 23-5
Connor Boyer (UDA) 19-8
120 pounds
Sean Stanish (Ham) 33-5
Luke Gardner (P) 31-1
Caleb Bordner (TV) 30-3
Zach Kemmerer (Leh) 22-7
Richie Bentz (P) 22-11
Austin Engle (SH) 21-7
Tanner Kennedy (PV) 21-12
Shane McGrath (NS) 19-5
126 pounds
Sammy Hepler (TV) 28-5
Tanner McHugh (Tam) 24-4
Darren Goida (PV) 18-8
132 pounds
Danny Diaz-Walton (PG) 25-6
Jess Wetzel (NS) 23-14
Preston Gehring (SH) 22-3
Reese Mason (Ham) 21-13
Kale Yacko (CMVT) 16-8
138 pounds
Dylan Rynkiewicz (Tam) 26-2
Tegan Durishin (Leh) 26-6
Nate Cromyak (P) 24-11
Ali Capobianco (PV) 21-11
Tommy McDonald (MC) 16-7
145 pounds
Christian Gosch (BM) 31-6
Chase Schaeffer (TV) 27-6
Cole Painter (P) 23-14
Dylan Miller (Ham) 19-9
152 pounds
Lucas Forbes (BM) 30-6
Tyler Deiter (P) 27-10
Anthony Snyder (TV) 26-8
Jackson Kennerly (UDA) 23-5
Matt James (Ham) 21-9
Trevyn Fessler (SH) 19-7
160 pounds
Hunter Harner (TV) 31-4
Ian Cagle (BM) 29-8
Blake Panko (MC) 25-2
Tyler Cann (Leh) 16-7
Josiah Miller (Sham) 14-5
170 pounds
Devon Krammes (BM) 26-11
Brady Mickatavage (NS) 24-10
Brandon Kessock (P) 22-9
Kolby Kleckner (P) 21-13
Nolan Fegley (MA) 18-6
182 pounds
Ignacio Reynoso (Ham) 30-10
Connor Frey (Leh) 26-3
C.J. Steinhilber (NS) 21-12
Travis Enders (Hal) 20-8
Gabe Bogutskie (MC) 19-5
Dylan Moyer (PV) 19-9
195 pounds
Alek Hummel (NS) 33-1
Allen Yancoskie (MC) 23-6
Daymian Shoop (WV) 17-9
220 pounds
Erech Noecker (BM) 30-3
Dane Tarantelli (NS) 27-8
Kirk Dougherty (BM) 27-9
Jake Paul (Hal) 25-2
Danny Scheib (TV) 24-10
Ian Minnich (WV) 19-6
Wes Shurock (MC) 19-6
Wyatt Clements (Leh) 17-9
Rian Shubeck (PV) 12-2
285 pounds
Nate Gadinski (NS) 32-1
Max Motko (SH) 19-8