Photo courtesy of Tracy Valko: https://solsports.zenfolio.com/f933726263
READY FOR METAL!
PIAA AAA TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS OPEN UP THURSDAY
By Glenn Kaiser
Hershey, PA-Council Rock South and Pennridge are ready to bring home precious medals from Chocolate Town, USA, at the 2024 PIAA AAA Team Championships this weekend, which open up Thursday February 8, 2024. The Golden Hawks take the mat at 6:00pm on Mat One on the floor of the Giant Center against Franklin Regional, the third-place finisher in District Seven. Pennridge will be on the flip side of the bracket down below and will do battle with the far west region’s Erie Cathedral Prep, the winners of District Ten, on Mat 3 at 8:00pm.
The Golden Hawks come in as the #1 ranked team in Pennsylvania (AAA) by PA Power in a wide-open and unpredictable team championship that will be won by a team that has an armor of steel, that is battle tested and has the luck of the Irish on their side. The Rams are ranked #8 coming in and will look to reach the finals for a potential District One finals rematch with South.
Both teams are stacked with talent, both are battle tested, and both should be able to find that luck in matchups and chess matches. For Trey Balasco and the Golden Hawks, they will need to beat some household names in the PA wrestling scene in both Franklin Regional opening round, and potentially Central Mountain in the quarterfinals. This tournament is loaded with some of PA’s traditional perennial team powers, including a much-improved Easton team that has re-emerged as one of the best dual meet teams this season. Assuming CRS gets past FR, which they should, things get real with Central Mountain. The Wildcats come in as the #2 ranked team after winning the District Six title and have been at #2 as long as CRS has been at #1 in the rankings.
The winner of this one could very well go on to win the title, more reason for the PIAA to seed the team championships, but then again, that’s just the PIAA. Down below it is very interesting, Pennridge should roll over Cathedral Prep but will be tested by Connellsville (D7 Champs) but should advance to the semis where they most likely would see either Gettysburg (D3 Champs) or Easton with a medal on the line and a chance for gold. Looking back up top, guess who else is in the bracket with CR South Central Mountain? It’s both Central Dauphin, a D3 staple, and powerful Bethlehem Catholic, the District 11 Champions from the Lehigh Valley. Who seeded this tourney? Oh wait, no one, as every District place-winners are put into the old PIAA bracket formula. Which again is boring, creates an unbalanced bracket that leaves one or maybe two of the best teams missing out on a title shot and a medal. Nonetheless, it is what it is, and you just have to go out and wrestle.
South will need to get the coin tosses and create the favorable matchups if they are to advance all the way to the finals as they navigate through a historical top-half of the bracket. Can’t wait for the first whistle to blow! My gut feeling here is Pennridge makes it to the title tilt against BECAHI. CRS will wrestle-back and have a rematch against Central Mountain for the bronze. If the absence of Anthony Mutarelli is not enough of an embarrassment for the PIAA, and it reduces the value of the product, the PIAA Team Championships, shame on them. This is a South team that was destined to win a title. I hope I’m wrong, and hopefully, one of our SOL teams garner gold. Here is how I see it: #1 Bethlehem Catholic again, #2 Pennridge, #3 Council Rock South & #4 Central Mountain. But don’t count out Easton as a bracket buster…
See you on the mats.
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