Competitive field in District 2 wrestling duals set to open Wednesday
The top seeds from the Wyoming Valley Conference for this week’s District 2 Dual Tournament are Hazleton Area in Class 3A and Tunkhannock in Class 2A. Both teams are looking for history.
The Tigers are trying to win their first-ever duals title in Class 2A; the team won the 3A title in 2016. Meanwhile, the Cougars are looking to claim their unprecedented eighth district duals championship.
Both teams will be hosting three other schools at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday. Lackawanna League champions Delaware Valley (Division 1 Class 3A) and Lackawanna Trail (Division 2 Class 2A) are the other two sites for the evening. There will be two teams from each league at each site.
At Hazleton Area, the defending champion Cougars will first face fourth-seeded Honesdale. Also at the home of the Cougars, the No. 3 seed from the WVC, Wyoming Valley West, will take on the No. 2 seed from the LL, West Scranton.
At Tunkhannock, the Tigers will face Montrose in the quarterfinals. The winner of that match will meet the winner of the quarter between No. 2 Blue Ridge and No. 3 Wyoming Area.
In the other Class 2A pod, being held at Lackawanna Trail, the Lions will meet Lake-Lehman, which won a pigtail dual against Scranton Prep on Monday. Also at Trail will be the quarterfinal between the No. 2 seed from the WVC, Hanover Area, and Western Wayne.
The second seed from the WVC in Class 3A is Wilkes-Barre Area. The Wolfpack make their debut in the duals event with a quarterfinal match against Abington Heights. In the other dual at DelVal is the top-seeded Warriors taking on Pittston Area.
The top three teams from each pod will converge at Pittston Area on Saturday for the wrestlebacks, third-place and finals beginning at 9 a.m., with the finals slated for 1:30 p.m.
Work cut out
Even though the Tigers and Cougars are the top seed in each classification from the Wyoming Valley Conference, they will both have their work cut out. The Tigers might be entering the 2A event as the favorite, but they will certainly get challenged. A young but stud-packed Lackawanna Trail squad is the top seed from the Lackawanna League and blasted through its schedule scoring at least 50 in every conference meet.
Delaware Valley is no slouch in Class 3A either. The Warriors led throughout the duals final last year against Hazleton Area. It wasn’t until a win by Shane Noonan in the last bout gave the Cougars the championship.
In the District 2 rankings by PA-Wrestling.com, the Warriors are No. 1 and the Cougars are second. In the same rankings, Tunkhannock is fourth, while Lackawanna Trail is fifth. West Scranton, a Class 3A team, is ranked third and should give Hazleton Area a tough match in the semifinals.
Class 2A’s Western Wayne might be the most underrated team in the tournament. The Wildcats are the No. 3 seed from the Lackawanna League and will meet Hanover Area in the first round. They finished 4-2 in Division 2 with one loss coming to Blue Ridge in December.
Had that dual been held last week, it’s very possible that the Wildcats would have been victorious since Blue Ridge has been hit with injuries lately and forfeited five weights in a dual against Honesdale earlier this week.
A wild finish
The last few days of the regular season was “pandemonium,” as the Hanover Area Wrestling Twitter feed stated. The Hawkeyes entered their final WVC Division 2 dual as the team that was destined to participate in the pigtail match.
But they threw a wrench into the entire seeding process when they defeated Wyoming Area, which could have been the second seed. The win propelled Hanover Area to the No. 2 seed in the conference and pushed perennial District 2 power Lake-Lehman into the No. 4 seed with the Warriors falling to third based on tiebreakers.
Class 3A got interesting the following two days when Wyoming Valley West defeated Pittston Area one night before falling to Wilkes-Barre Area. That forced a three-way tie between the Spartans, Patriots and Crestwood. In the end, the Comets fell short via tiebreakers.
A return to the dance
Pittston Area and Lackawanna Trail have come a long way over the last few years. Both have had tough seasons in the past and are returning to the duals event for the first time in a while. Both teams are back in their respective dual tournaments for the first time since 2015 when they both went two-and-out.
The only other team that is new to the tournament is Wilkes-Barre Area, which is a new program.
The other 13 teams participating this week were in the event last year. Lackawanna Trail is in replacing Scranton Prep from a year ago, while Dallas and Coughlin were the other two representatives from the WVC in Class 3A last season.
Breaking the drought
Speaking of Pittston Area, the team has the longest championship drought of any of the Class 3A teams participating. The Patriots haven’t won the event since 2004, while West Scranton and Abington Heights were last titlists in 2006. Obviously, Wilkes-Barre Area has never won the event.
In Class 2A, Hanover Area has gone the longest without winning of any of participating teams having not won since 1998. However, Lackawanna Trail, Montrose, Blue Ridge and Wyoming Area have never won the tournament. The Lions have last been in the finals in 2001, but the Red Raiders and Warriors have never been to the finals.
