SOL Wrestling Notebook (1-31-21)

Glenn Kaiser highlights the SOL regular season and details what the the upcoming postseason will look like for the district and state.

SOL Wrestling Wrap 1/31/21

Wild Start for SOL Wrestling Teams

By Glenn Kaiser

Wrestling in the SOL got off to a wild start in the first month of 2021, with some surprises and some familiarity.  Both Council Rock South and Quakertown are off to fast starts, as both teams are undefeated with 10 wins apiece.  No surprise there, as they are two of the top teams in all of District One.  In the surprise category, Pennsbury edged Neshaminy 34-33 on Jan. 23, spoiling the ‘Skins senior day.  The Falcons are 4-1, with their only loss to the mighty Golden Hawks.

North Penn surprisingly nipped Central Bucks East 28-27, hanging on to an early lead and surviving a mounting comeback by the Patriots.  The Knight’s Dylan Verway’s major decision at 172-pounds was the difference, earning that 1-bonus point after downing Maximus Gordon 12-2.  Late falls turned in by Quinn (215 lbs.) and Joe Collins (285) came up short for the Patriots.  The Knights are 4-0 in the Colonial and appear to have secured the title early there.  Their overall record of 4-3 is deceiving, as their three-losses came at the hands of CRS, Q-town and Pennsbury.

The availability for SOL teams to schedule tri and quad-dual meet events within the league but out of division has allowed wrestlers to get extra needed bouts as the postseason is fast approaching.  With several SOL teams not wrestling at the moment or at all (Abington has been shut down for two weeks due to a COVID concerns), the disparity of match totals is glaring.  CRS and Quakertown have 10 matches under their belts, while some teams have rarely seen the mat.  This concern will be taking front-stage as seeding for the postseason comes into play.  It will be extremely difficult to seed, let alone determine who deserves a slot in the District One brackets.

Another surprise is the mask wearing, or should I say not wearing a mask on the mat.  There has been varying interpretations of the mask rule.  Bottom line, for the most part the SOL has been consistent with the mask wearing rule, but as you head out to the western part of Pennsylvania, you are not seeing the masks being worn consistently.  If you want to get local SOL interpretations, District One or PIAA guidelines, you’ll have to do your own research…as I am exhausted trying to figure out all the exceptions.  www.Piaa.org  is your best site for updated information I suppose…

Here is the latest from the PIAA on the Mask Rule:

News from PIAA

Post Season Mask Orders – will be as follows (to date):

PIAA will follow the PA Dept of Health Order.  If a wrestler is permitted to participate without a mask due to the school accepting or authorizing the exemption, they will be permitted to wrestle.  If a wrestler refuses to participate against a wrestler not wearing a mask, the refusing wrestler will forfeit the bout and not be eligible for further participation (ART. 5 ... A forfeit shall eliminate a contestant from further competition in a Tournament, except when the forfeit is because of an injury or illness which occurred during the tournament).  We need to have advancement; the bout cannot be scored as a no contest for postseason.

Speaking about the postseason, we will have a new, yet an old school look to the District tournaments.  There will be no league tournaments this year, as District One has split up into the old North and South.  Thus, only 12 wrestlers will compete in both the North and South District tournaments, and the top four wrestlers will advance to the Southeast Regional tourney from each District tourney.  After Regionals, wrestlers will advance to a Sub-Regional prior to the PIAA Individual Championships in Hershey at the Giant Center.  Logistics are still somewhat up in the air, as only the District One South tourney has a confirmed site at Sun Valley.  Both the D1 North and SE Regional tournaments have not yet been assigned to a host school due to many COVID concerns.

The PIAA State tourney will feature only eight wrestlers per weight class, down from 20-man brackets over the past couple of years, with all wrestlers garnering medals.  Here is the  schedule for the post-season:

2021 Tournament Dates /Sites:

A note here in regards to the D1 Team Championships: it will be competed with just four teams in a one-day event.  The 2021 PIAA Team Championships format and dates are TBD.  The most difficult part of the postseason will be not only seeding, but which wrestlers actually get to compete at Districts, the first PIAA event.  A selection committee will hash it out the old-fashioned way, with a modified seeding points system as a foundation, by handpicking deserving wrestlers based on this year’s results, caliber of competition and last year’s highest finishes.  Thus, some teams and wrestlers will not even have an opportunity to make it into the postseason, which will be troubling for all.

2021 SOL Dual Team Rankings (1/31/21)

Entire SOL:

1-Council Rock South (10-0)

2-Quakertown (10-0)

3-Pennsbury (4-1)

4-North Penn (4-3)

5-Neshaminy (3-2)

Colonial:

1-North Penn (Overall 4-3/SOL 4-0)

2-Central Bucks East (6-5/3-1)

3-Central Bucks South (3-6/2-2)

Freedom:

1-Upper Moreland (2-1/1-0)

2-Lower Moreland (0-3/0-1)

Liberty:

1-Quakertown (10-0/3-0)

2-Abington (0-1/0-1)

3-Plymouth-Whitmarsh (7-2/2-1)

Patriot:

1-Council Rock South (10-0/4-0)

2-Pennsbury (4-1/3-1)

3-Neshaminy (3-2/2-2)