AAA State Team Tournament Preview and Prediction
So far there have been no real surprises in the PA team post-season action. Canon-McMillan still looks solid top to bottom, Easton is quietly downing all of their District 11 competitors, and the Central Dauphin Rams are still 4x defending PIAA State Dual Champions. Below is my predicted bracket for the AAA State Dual Team Tournament (Click to enlarge the bracket).
Click below for the actual PIAA State Dual Team Brackets
District 1 saw a unique finals with Owen J. Roberts defeating Norristown (35-29) for their first ever District 1 Dual Tournament Championship. The Wildcats of OJR have a well-balanced, and young, line-up that can challenge PA’s best teams. Norristown is equally as dangerous with a bunch of wrestlers who can put 6 points on the score board in a split-second. In fact Norristown senior Shane Springer just broke the PA State Record for most career pins with his 128th in the finals. In the consolation bracket Spring-Ford inched by West Chest Rustin (33-31) in the semi-finals and faced Council Rock North for 3rd place. Spring-Ford prevailed (35-21) over the Indians. Both teams qualify for the PIAA State Dual Team Tournament.
Owen J. Roberts is the only District 1 team who is guaranteed to wrestle in Hershey on Thursday February 9th and will face Greensburg Salem in the preliminary round (unless Pittsburgh City League representative Allderdice pulls an incredible upset). District 1 runner-up Norristown will host District 3 4th place finisher Manheim Township in the regional round of the State Dual Team Tournament. I expect Norristown to come out on top and make it to the preliminary round match with District 3 Champions Central Dauphin. District 1 3rd place finisher Spring-Ford will host District 11 runner-up Parkland in the regional round. I expect Parkland to win this match-up and move on to the preliminary round to face District 7 Champion Canon-McMillan. District 1 4th place finisher Council Rock North will visit Newville, PA to face the Bull Dogs of Big Spring, District 3 third place finishers, in the regional round. It may be a long bus ride back to Newtown, PA for Council Rock North as I expect Big Spring to win this one and move on to face District 11 Champion Easton in the preliminary round.
District 2 will be sending 1 team to the State Dual Team Tournament, represented by District 2 Champion Delaware Valley, and will face District 9 Champion DuBois in the preliminary round at the GIANT Center. This match could end up being rather close but I will give the advantage to Delaware Valley.
District 3 will have 4 representatives: Central Dauphin (1st), Mechanicsburg (2nd), Big Spring (3rd) and Manheim Township (4th). Central Dauphin will face the Norristown vs. Manheim Township winner, which again I expect to be Norristown, in the preliminary round. I expect the 4x State Dual Champions to defeat Norristown (or Manheim Twp again) and advance to the quarter-final round. Mechanicsburg will face District 6 Champion Central Mountain in the preliminary round on Thursday at the GIANT Center. This match in my opinion will be the most entertaining of the preliminary round. Both teams are very strong between 152 and 182. These match-ups should get the attention of most fans. I am going to go against my own State Rankings and predict Central Mountain to come out on top of this ever-so-close battle. I witnessed Mechanicsburg lay it all out on the mat against Central Dauphin in the District 3 finals but they will need a repeat performance from their studs to get past Central Mountain.
District 4 will be represented by their District Champion Jersey Shore. Jersey Shore will face District 12 Champion LaSalle College in the preliminary round on Thursday at the GIANT Center. I expect LaSalle College to win this match-up and move on to the quarter-final round.
District 7 will have 3 representatives at the State Dual Team Tournament, led by District Champion Canon-McMillan and joined by runner-up North Allegheny and third place finishers Greensburg-Salem. I expect Greensburg-Salem to get past District 8’s lone representative, Champions Allderdice, and advance to the preliminary round against Owen J. Roberts. North Allegheny automatically makes it to the preliminary round and will face a dominate team in District 10 Champion Erie McDowell. The two temas already faced each other this year on January 21st with McDowell prevailing by a score of (28-23). I expect a repeat of that result with Erie McDowell moving on to the quarter-final round.