DUAL SEASON HEATS UP
By Glenn Kaiser
Although some SOL league titles will not be decided until the last dual meets are wrestled, as the individual league tournaments will take place this Saturday, most of the focus is on this Thursday’s District One Team Championships. It’s one and done if you lose, win and you advance to the Round of Eight on Friday (1/31/20), the Final Four will wrestle in the championship and consolation finals on Saturday (2/1/20).
Five SOL teams have a legitimate chance at advancing all the way to the 2020 PIAA Team Championships in Chocolate Town, USA. However, #1 seed Quakertown, #2 Council Rock South, #4 CR North, #7 Central Bucks East and #8 Neshaminy all must win their first match, if they are to even have a shot, in a preliminary bout of the state duals Monday (2/3/20). My prediction here in the first round is that all five advance.
After the first round, the tournament is wide open to win by all eight surviving teams. This is indicated by earlier dual results amongst these D1 teams. Trending is a theme that any team can beat any other team on any given day. Many duals have been decided by one match and a single point.
Thus, this parity creates an opportunity for several teams to post upsets in these upcoming duals. With a wide-open field, it is hard to predict the finalists prior to Thursday’s action. However, what the heck, here we go…
In the quarterfinals, Quakertown will down Neshaminy, CR North will win the rubber match over Owen J Roberts and CR South will edge CB East (upset alert here with the Patriots). Spring-Ford will advance over West Chester Henderson in the other quarterfinal dual. In the semifinals, CR North will get the better of Quakertown, although this match could go either way. Spring-Ford avenges their earlier loss to CR South in the other semi. Spring-Ford wins the D1 Team title over CR North, again just edging the Indians. North lost 36-28 at the Rock Yard Duals.
The wrestle-backs will be brutal for teams needing to rebound from quarterfinal losses. If my predictions hold, Neshaminy will be edged by OJR, and CB East takes out WCH. In the consolation finals to earn a coveted spot in the state duals, you’ll see Quakertown beat CBE. East and Q-Town battle this Wednesday night for the SOL Continental title. CR South will find a way to take out Owen J, setting up an all SOL consi-final. Q-town takes the bronze here and the SOL sends three representatives to the 2020 PIAA Team Championships.
Although, these are bold predictions, I could flip-flop just about any of these match results and come up with the same four teams advancing to Hershey.
SOL Wrap (1/21/20)
Last week Springfield Township downed Hatboro-Horsham for the first time in two-decades 44-25. Springfield is having one of their best seasons in a while. They are classified as an AA team but wrestle all AAA teams in the SOL American. They currently are 5-5 overall and 3-1 in the conference. The Spartans have opted out of the D1 Team Championships (AA) despite their success this season. Over this past weekend, Springfield captured the title in their own Spartan Clash. The event featured 10 teams in a round-robin format.
Also in the American, Abington has a stranglehold on the division, easily dispatching Plymouth-Whitmarsh 50-18. The Ghosts did not make the field of 16 for the D1 Team Championships despite their impressive record at 12-5 overall and a perfect 4-0 in conference action.
In the Continental, Quakertown is set for a showdown with Central Bucks East after drubbing North Penn 50-18. The Panthers are undefeated at 14-0 and CB East is 7-1. Both are undefeated in the conference. And the title will be decided Wednesday night.
The National Conference dual portion of the league title is decided, but the SOL Individual Championships this Saturday will decide the overall champ. Council Rock South (5-1) defeated Neshaminy (11-6) 38-33 last week and will look to hang on to the title with CR North (11-3) on their heels with the upcoming individual championships. Pennsbury has also put together a fine dual season record standing at 14-3 and could make some noise as well in the loaded National Conference.
The criteria for winning the league titles in the SOL is a combination of points earned with dual wins and placement in the league tourney.
Predictions for individual tourney team champs are as follows:
SOL American-Abington
SOL Continental-Quakertown
SOL National-Council Rock North
These predictions are based on all teams at full-strength with complete line-ups. The competition will be fierce in the team races, but some teams may opt to rest wrestlers in preparation for the upcoming team dual championships ahead, and individual post-season looming.
We shall see…
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