District Three Triple A Wrestling Brackets

Here's a look at the District Three Class AAA brackets for the tournament, which begins tomorrow at Hersheypark Arena. For the full brackets, please click here.

Before we get started, here is a schedule for the weekend. I'll give you the Double A and Triple A schedules. Remember though, E-town is Triple A, so don't show up during the Double A times and expect to see an E-town wrestler.

Friday, Feb. 20:
Class AA
Championship I: 10 to 11:30 a.m.
Championship II: 11:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m.
Consolation I: 12:15 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Class AAA
Championship I: 4 to 6:30 p.m.
Consolation I: 6:30 to 9:15 p.m.
Championship II: 6:30 to 9:15 p.m.
Consolation II: 9:15 to 10:30 p.m.

Saturday, Feb. 21
Class AA
Championship III: 9 to 11 a.m.
Consolation II: 9 to 11 a.m.
Consolation III/5th place: 11 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.

Class AAA
Championship III: 1 to 3 p.m.
Consolation III: 1 to 3 p.m.
Consolation IV: 3 to 3:45 p.m.

Class AA and AAA
Consolation Finals: 5 to 6:15 p.m.
Parade of Champions: 6:15 to 6:30 p.m.
Championship Finals: 6:30 to 9:15 p.m.

OK, now let's look at the brackets for each of E-town's six district qualifiers.

103 – Matt Hoover (32-4)

First round bout: vs. Nate Williams, freshman, Dover (23-5). Williams is the second seed from Section 5.
From there: If Hoover beats Williams, he'll likely get Section Two top seed Shyheim Brown (37-5), of Central Dauphin.

112 – Calvin Anderton (25-6)

First Round bout: Kevin Gooding, sophomore, Central Daupin (30-8). Gooding is the top seed from Section Two.
From there: Anderton faces a tall order against Gooding in the first round, but should he pull an upset, he'll get the winner between Ephrata's Austin Wealand (14-16) and Central York's Andrew Wesner (18-10).

125 – Jeremy Rivera (32-6)

First Round Bout: vs. Jonathan Childress, senior, Dallastown (26-3). Childress is the top seed from Section 5.
From There: First things first, Rivera needs to get by Childress, a section champ. But if he's able to do that, he'll get the winner of Bobby Manning, West Perry (28-8) and Taylor Stuart, Lower Dauphin (25-9).

160 – Adam Zellman (34-7)

First Round bout: vs. Luke Etter, senior, Big Spring (27-10). Etter is the second seed from Section 1.
From there: Should Zellman get past Etter, he'll likely get Section 2 top seed Kenny Courts (36-3), of Central Dauphin.

189 – Shane Rosenberry (33-5)

First Round bout: Matt Zdradzinski, junior, CD East (8-6). Zdradzinski is the fourth seed from Section Two. Rosenberry is the No. 2 overall seed in the bracket.
From there: With a first round win, Rosenberry would get the winner of South Western's Drew Sneeringer (26-9) and Wilson's Chris Spayd (6-3). Rosenberry is looking to return to the state tournament for the second straight year.

285 – Alex Kirchner (28-8)

First Round bout: Right off the bat, Kircher will have to deal with Section 5 top seed Keith Dahlheimer, a senior from Red Lion with a 31-4 record.
From there: Should Kirchner upset Dahlheimer, he'll get the winner between Elco's Nate Bicher (33-7) and Cedar Cliff's Ryan Collins (26-8).

LIVE BLOG: District Three Section Three sectional wrestling

Wrestling Sectional Brackets (PART TWO)

Before we get into the rest of the brackets for Saturday's sectional tourney at Hempfield, I just wanted to thank you all again for checking out my little slice of the Internet. We're now over 15,000 hits and that is really cool.

Also, don't forget, I'm going to be doing a LIVE BLOG from Hempfield for tomorrow's sectional tournament. I spoke to a few people and I think I'll be able to get a wireless connection without much trouble (thanks, CB), so tell your friends. And join me tomorrow from Hempfield.

Here are the remaining seven weight brackets. For part one of this preview, click here.

145 pounds:
(E-town's Jared Danneker is the No. 7 seed at 152.)
First Round:
No. 8 Josh Forren, Sol, vs. No. 9 Jeremy Gall, Don.
No. 5 Kevin Kann, PM, vs. No. 12 Hans Nelson, JPM.
No. 4 Ross Stockdale, War, vs. No. 13 Tyler Reichenbach, L-S.
No. 6 Lucas Bragg, CV, vs. No. 11 Nate Enck, MC.
No. 7 Jared Danneker, E-town, vs. No. 10 Ziegler Holden, Leb.
Wrestlers with byes: No. 1 Dan Bennett, Hemp; No. 2 Luke Sims, MT; No. 3 Noah Gerdes, CC.
Quarterfinals:
Bennett vs. Gall/Forren winner.
Kann/Nelson winner vs. Stockdale/Reichenbach winner.
Gerdes vs. Enck/Bragg winner.
Sims vs. Danneker/Holden winner.
Analysis: This is one of the fullest brackets in the tournament. Bennett and Sims should meet in the finals of this one, but third place could get interesting. Danneker showed in leagues that he can get hot and make a run, but Gerdes and Stockdale will make that awfully tough on him.

152 pounds:
(E-town's Zach Myers is the No. 10 seed at 152.)
First Round:
No. 8 Dillian Enck, MC, vs. No. 9 Brad Cwienk, Sol.
No. 6 Justin Bollman, JPM, vs. No. 11 Sam Zegley, PM.
No. 7 Kirby Kinderwater, MT, vs. No. 10 Zach Myers, E-town.
Wrestlers with byes: No. 1 Brent Balmer, CC; No. 2 Jordan Miller, Hemp; No. 3 Nate Fowler, L-S; No. 4 Jamie Mellinger; No. 5 Pavlik Teleguz.
Quarterfinals:
Balmer vs. Enck/Cwienk winner.
Mellinger vs. Teleguz.
Fowler vs. Bollman/Zegley winner.
Miller vs. Kinderwater/Myers winner.
Analysis: Miller wrestled at 160 in leagues and did very well. I think he is going to win this bracket. He should be Balmer in the finals. The third spot will likely be either Fowler or Mellinger.

160 pounds:
(E-town's Adam Zellman is the No. 2 seed at 160.)
First Round:
No. 8 Ronnie Gant, JPM, vs. No. 9 Arias Pappas, Don.
No. 5 Kyle Kinderwater, MT, vs. No. 12 Josiah Borden, CV.
No. 4 Ben Kramer, Hemp, vs. No. 13 Antonio Molica, Leb.
No. 6 David Fair, MC, vs. No. 11 Russell Deaven, CC.
No. 7 Tyler Geiniec, PM, vs. No. 10 Josiah Deibler, Sol.
Wrestlers with byes: No. 1 Eric Resch, War; No. 2 Adam Zellman, E-town; No. 3 Zach Kinert, L-S.
Quarterfinals:
Resch vs. Gant/Pappas winner.
Kinderwater/Borden winner vs. Kramer/Molica winner.
Kinert vs. Fair/Deaven winner.
Zellman vs. Geinec/Deibler winner.
Analysis: This is Resch's bracket to lose. He was impressive at leagues and is the favorite to win this one as well. With Miller down at 152, Zellman should have a good path to the finals, where Resch should be waiting. Kinert, Kramer and Kinderwater will likely battle for that third spot.

171 pounds:
(E-town's David Kennedy is the No. 6 seed at 171.)
First Round:
No. 8 Seth Schmalholfer, PM, vs. No. 9 Cameron Burke, Leb.
No. 5 Tyler Arkatin, Sol, vs. No. 12 Scott Landis, War.
No. 6 David Kennedy, E-town, vs. No. 11 Alex Cintron, L-S.
No. 7 Ben Enck, MT, vs. No. 10 Troy Sauger, MC.
Wrestlers with byes: No. 1 Mike Dodds, CV; No. 2 Neal Sweigart, Don; No. 3 Will Morant, JPM; No. 4 Andrew Kulp, Hemp.
Quarterfinals:
Dodds vs. Schmalhofer/Burke winner.
Kulp vs. Arkatin/Landis winner.
Morant vs. Kennedy/Cintron winner.
Sweigart vs. Enck/Sauger winner.
Analysis: This is another tough one to predict. Dodds is the top seed and should get to the finals, unless Kulp can upend him in the semis, which is possible. The bottom half of the bracket should come down to Sweigart, Morant or Kennedy. I think anything could happen here. Don't be surprised if one of the lower seeds (5 or below) are one of the three to advance.

189 pounds:
(E-town's Shane Rosenberry is the No. 1 seed at 189.)
First Round:
No. 8 Chris Ahnert, Leb., vs. No. 9 Delis Kruup, CV.
No. 6 Jordan Elvey, Sol, vs. No. 11 Alex Egner, L-S.
No. 7 Nate Nelson, JPM, vs. No. 10 Brandon Harvey, PM.
Wrestlers with byes: No. 1 Shane Rosenberry, E-town; No. 2 Austin Schultz, MT; No. 3 Evan Marin, Hemp; No. 4 Sterling Goshea, Don; No. 5 Bryan McCall, War.
Quarterfinals:
Rosenberry vs. Ahnert/Kruup winner.
Goshea vs. McCall.
Marin vs. Elvey/Egner winner.
Shultz vs. Nelson/Harvey winner.
Analysis: Rosenberry was dominant in leagues, pinning his way to a gold medal. He should repeat that performance and take this bracket by storm once again. Schultz, Marin, Goshea and McCall could all compete for the other two spots.

215 pounds:
(E-town's Sean Heming is the No. 6 seed at 215.)
First Round:
No. 8 Tim Latham, Sol, vs. No. 9 Dan Tyson, MT.
No. 7 Peter Schooling, PM, vs. No. 10 Greg Halter, L-S.
Wrestlers with byes: No. 1 Antonio Giorgio, War; No. 2 John Fair, MC; No. 3 Nate Kulp, Hemp; No. 4 Jay Morant, JPM; No. 5 Dan Tonzola, CV; No. 6 Sean Heming, E-town.
Quarterfinals:
Giorgio vs. Latham/Tyson winner.
Morant vs. Tonzola.
Kulp vs. Heming.
Fair vs. Schooling/Halter winner.
Analysis: OK, we all know that Giorgio is going to win this bracket, barring injury or huge upset. Kulp could meet Giorgio in the finals, but the final two spots will likely come down to Kulp, Fair and Morant.

285 pounds:
(E-town's Alex Kirchner is the No. 1 seed at 285.)
First Round:
No. 8 John Martin, Sol, vs. No. 9 Evan Singleton, PM.
No. 5 Matt Ruhl, Hemp, vs. No. 12 Jordan Ashby, MC.
No. 6 Teddy Force, L-S, vs. No. 11 Nick Gerdes, CC.
No. 7 Dominique Smith, JPM, vs. No. 10 John Devenney, War.
Wrestlers with byes: No. 1 Alex Kirchner, E-town; No. 2 Cole Dillman, CV; No. 3 Cutter Recher, MT; No. 4 Charles Lee, Leb.
Quarterfinals:
Kirchner vs. Martin/Singleton winner.
Lee vs. Ruhl/Ashby winner.
Recher vs. Gerdes/Force winner.
Dillman vs. Smith/Devenney winner.
Analysis: After a great overtime match in the L-L finals, Kirchner and Dillman are the top two seeds. Kirchner has earned the title of wrestler to beat in this bracket and he should be moving on to districts. Dillman could meet him again in the finals, but don't count out Township's Recher. I think he could make some noise here.

OK, there you have it. Enjoy the tournament tomorrow (start time of 8:30 a.m.) and, don't forget, if you can't make it, check here for a live blog (as long as I can get wireless access).

Wrestling Sectional Brackets (PART ONE)

On Saturday, the EAHS wrestling team will travel to Hempfield for its sectional tournament to determine who will be advancing to Hersheypark Arena next weekend for the District Three tournament.

Let's take a look at the brackets by weight. Today we'll do 103-140 pounds and we'll finish tomorrow with 145-285 pounds.

103 pounds:
(Matt Hoover is the No. 2 seed at 103.)
First Round:
No. 9 Nathan Noyes, CV, vs. No. 8 Andres Gutierrez, JPM
No. 7 Hans Herr, Sol, vs. No. 10 Corey Swartzentruyer, PM
Wrestlers with byes: No. 1 Austin Miller, Hemp; No. 2. Matt Hoover, E-town; No. 3. Dylan Pallas, MC; No. 4 Corey Aspril, L-S; No. 5 Caleb Osisek, Don; No. 6 Sean Hughes, CC.
Quarterfinals:
Miller, Hemp, vs. Noyes/Gutierrez winner.
Osisek, Don, vs. Aspril, L-S.
Pallas, MC, vs. Hughes, CC.
Hoover, E-town vs. Herr/Swartzentruyer winner.
Analysis: This bracket could shape up to be a rematch of the L-L Tournament finals of Miller and Hoover, where Miller won 7-2.

112 pounds:
(E-town's Calvin Anderton is the No. 5 seed at 112).
Quarterfinals:
No. 1 Lexis Ortiz, JPM, vs. No. 8 Mike Good, L-S
No. 5 Calvin Anderton, E-town, vs. No. 4 Brooks Kenderdine, MT
No. 3 Wink Charles, Sol, vs. No. 6 Brett Pallas, CC
No. 7 Terry Tirko, Don, vs. No. 2 Dakota Minnich, Hemp
Analysis: This is Ortiz' bracket to lose. I don't think anyone will be able to beat him on Saturday. That said, Anderton stands a very good chance at making districts. If he wins in the quarterfinals, he'll get Ortiz in the semis.

119 pounds:

(E-town's Owen Bradley is the No. 5 seed at 119.)
First Round:
No. 9 Will Farr, Don, vs. No. 8 Tyler Martin, CV.
No. 5 Owen Bradley, E-town, vs. No. 12 Spencer Haldeman, L-S.
No. 6 Jose Castro, MT, vs. No. 11 Chevy Houser, CC.
No. 7 Joe Buckwalter, MC, vs. No. 10 Ian Houck, Leb.
Wrestlers with byes: No. 1 Bobby Rehm, PM; No. 2 Alex Fisher, Sol; No. 3 Josh Rosario, JPM; No. 4 Cody Shoenberger, War.
Quarterfinals:
No. 1 Rehm, PM, vs. Farr/Martin winner.
No. 4 Shoenberger, War, vs. Bradley/Haldeman winner.
No. 3 Rosario, JPM, vs. Castro/Houser winner.
No. 2 Fisher, Sol, vs. Houck/Buckwalter winner.
Analysis: Rehm earned OW at the L-L Tournament last month, but I think Fisher will win this bracket. Bradley wrestled at 112 at leagues, but has bumped up to 119. He's got a pretty good bracket through the semis, and stands an excellent chance at advancing. He seems more comfortable and natural wrestling at 119, so watch for him to do well.

125 pounds:

(E-town's Jeremy Rivera is the No. 2 seed at 125.)
First round:
No. 8 Justin Emrich, CC, vs. No. 9 Gary Pabon, Hemp.
No. 5 Tyler Funk, PM, vs. No. 12 Eajal Alvarez, L-S.
No. 6 Bryan Knouse, Don, vs. No. 11 Erik Banh, CV.
No. 7 Ian Stoeckl, War, vs. No. 10 Evan Thomas, MT.
Wrestlers with byes: No. 1 Dan Neff, Sol; No. 2 Jeremy Rivera, E-town; No. 3 Devin Anderson, JPM; No. 4 Tyler Griffith, MC.
Quarterfinals:
No. 1 Neff, Sol vs. Pabon/Emrich winner.
No. 4 Griffith, MC, vs. Funk/Alvarez winner.
No. 3 Anderson, JPM, vs. Knouse/Banh winner.
No. 2 Rivera, E-town, vs. Stoeckl/Thomas winner.
Analysis:
Rivera and Neff met in the finals of the L-L tournament, and could be primed for a rematch. Neff gets the nod in this bracket, but Rivera should get through to Hersheypark.

130 pounds:
First Round:
No. 8 Austin Theis, Don, vs. No. 8 Travis Quinn, War.
No. 7 Cody Lloyd, CC, vs. No. 10 Donovan McDonald, MT.
Wrestlers with byes: No. 1 Jordan Stephanchick, Hemp; No. 2 Ian Rineer, PM; No. 3 Joe Welk, Sol; No. 4 Austin Ballantine, JPM; No. 5 Antonio Rodriguez, E-town; No. 6 Adam Mummau, MC.
Quarterfinals:
No. 1 Stephanchick, Hemp. vs. Quinn/Theis winner.
No. 4 Austin Ballantine, JPM, vs. No. 5 Antonio Rodriguez, E-town.
No. 3 Joe Welk, Sol, vs. No. 6 Adam Mummau, MC.
No. 2 Ian Rineer, PM, vs. Lloyd/McDonald winner.
Analysis: I would say the champ of this bracket will be Stephanchick, Rineer or Welk. Don't be surprised if those are the three to advance to districts as well.

135 pounds

(E-town's Troy Ernest is the No. 4 seed at 135.)
First Round:
No. 8 Jared Manley, Hemp, vs. No. 9 Richard Sonnon, CC.
No. 5 Bobby Haldeman, L-S, vs. No. 12 Tai Nguyen, Leb.
No. 6 Brock Snider, Sol, vs. No. 11 Matthew Morgante, MT.
No. 7 Matt Martin, MC, vs. No. 10 Benjy McQuate, CV.
Wrestlers with byes: No. 1 Matt Myers, War; No. 2 Sean Kincade, PM; No. 3 Vince Grove, Don; No. 4 Troy Ernest, E-town.
Quarterfinals:
No. 1 Myers, War, vs. Sonnon/Manley winner.
No. 4 Ernest, E-town, vs. Haldeman/Nguyen winner.
No. 3 Grove, Don, vs. Snider/Morgante winner.
No. 2 Kincade, PM, vs. Martin/McQuate winner.
Analysis: Myers won this weight in leagues and will be the favorite to repeat. Kincade should meet him in the finals, but keep an eye on Solanco's Brock Snider, who could be a dark horse. Should Ernest advance to the semis, he'll likely get Myers.

140 pounds:

(E-town's Justin Lewis is the No. 6 seed at 140.)
First Round:
Just one match, No. 8 Brandon Johnson, Don, vs. No. 9 Hunter Busansky, L-S.
Quarterfinals:
No. 1 Andy Eshleman, PM, vs. Johnson/Busansky winner.
No. 4 Adam Chapis, War, vs. No. 5 Connor Moran, Sol.
No. 3 Shane Wagner, MT, vs. No. 6 Justin Lewis, E-town.
No. 2 Woodie Hermann, Hemp, vs. No. 7 Evan Eshleman, MC.
Analysis: This is a tricky one to predict. If Lewis gets his cradle locked in, he can beat just about anyone, but he'll have a tough go against Wagner in the first round. I like Hermann to win this bracket, but it could realistically be Hermann, Wagner or Eshleman and maybe even Adam Chapis.

Don't forget to check back tomorrow for a look at the remaining seven weights.

LIVE BLOG ALERT: I will be attempting to do a live blog of the sectional tournament on Saturday. You'll be able to follow the live blog right here on this site, so if you can't make the tournament, check it out. Disclaimer: this is all hinging on getting wireless Internet access at Hempfield. I was able to get it at CV for the league tourney, but I'm not 100 percent sure yet if I can get it at Hempfield. But if I can, I will have a live blog.

More stats than you can shake a stick at

Not that you'd ever want to shake a stick at stats. Well, you could if you really wanted to I suppose. Let's just move on.

Here are the final points per game average for the E-town boys and girls basketball teams and the current records of the E-town wrestlers as they head into sectionals next Saturday. Note, doing the boys and girls points per game was tough because there was no way for me to tell how many games some of the reserve players appeared in. So, in the interest of accuracy, I'm just going to give you the players I know played every game. Forgive me, please.

Boys Basketball:
Kyle McNeil, 12.3 ppg.
Chad Styer, 11.8.
Quinn Cozzens, 11.5.
Jeremi Jones, 11.2.
Andrew Placeres, 8.5.
Bradley Garber, 5.4.

Girls Basketball:
Sarah Fairbanks, 13.5 ppg.
Becca Bigler, 9.5.
Brianna Kuhn, 7.9.
Jamie Ahern, 4.2.
Emily Carter, 1.6.
Jenna Rosenberry, 1.5.

Wrestling:
Adam Zellman, 31-6, 16 pins.
Matt Hoover, 30-3, 19 pins.
Shane Rosenberry, 29-5, 22 pins.
Jeremy Rivera, 28-5, 10 pins.
Alex Kirchner, 24-7, 11 pins.
Owen Bradley, 22-13, 3 pins.
Calvin Anderton, 21-10, 5 pins.
Jared Danneker, 21-14, 4 pins.
Justin Lewis, 17-12, 14 pins.
Antonio Rodriguez, 14-17, 3 pins.
David Kennedy, 13-13, 6 pins.
Troy Ernest, 11-5, 2 pins.
Tyler Lakota, 10-12, 5 pins.
Sean Heming, 6-20, 3 pins.
Zach Myers, 4-9, 2 pins.
Tyler Geyer, 2-0, 1 pin.
Andrew Smith, 1-0.
Kyle Morrow, 1-11.
Joey Alleman, 0-4.
James Sliker, 0-1.
Zach Brandt, 0-1.

Wrestling: District 3 Team Tournament

Tonight (barring any sort of postponement due to snow), the Bears will travel to Warwick to face the Warriors in the first round of the District Three Class AAA tournament.

E-town is 11-2 and will be the No. 9 seed. Warwick is 12-2 and the No. 8 seed. The winner of the match will get No. 1 Central Dauphin (10-0) on Thursday at 7 p.m. CD takes on Garden Spot in the first round tonight and, with all due respect to the Spartans, should cruise there. For the full brackets, click here.

Tough draw in this tournament for the Bears, but it is what it is. Remember last season they faced Warwick in the first round of team districts, with Warwick coming out on top. E-town's looking for a bit of revenge from that this year, and they've got a chance. Warwick's a little bit banged up. Adam Chapis, Ross Stockdale, Cody Schoenberger, Jamie Mellinger and Zach Brubaker have missed some mat time recently. I don't know how hurt they are if it will affect the match tonight, but I guess we'll find out. I see this as a very even match that could come down to bonus points. I hear that it is a cool atmosphere in Warwick and I'm going to try and get there tonight, although I have another game I'm supposed to cover.

EAHS wrestling's first district match

The brackets for the upcoming District Three team wrestling tournament haven't been posted quite yet, but I do know who E-town is facing in the first round of the tournament this Tuesday night. The Bears (the No. 9 seed) will be traveling to Warwick to take on an L-L rival, the Warriors, who are the No. 8 seed. More on this once the full brackets are posted. But for now, the Bears will face Warwick in the first round of the District Three team tournament on Tuesday.

LIVE BLOG: L-L Wrestling Tournament Jan. 17!

L-L League Tournament first day results

(Photo by Chris Bradley: 10 seed Jared Danneker is heading to the semifinals in the 152 pound bracket).

I just got home from Conestoga Valley where I watched the first night of the annual Lancaster-Lebanon League Wrestling Tournament. By the way, it's ridiculously cold out. Seriously, it's awful. Anyway, here's a breakdown by weight of how E-town fared tonight, what they're looking at tomorrow and a few thoughts on each weight, where applicable.

103
E-town's Matt Hoover was the top seed here, and he was impressive. There were last-minute changes to a lot of brackets when I arrived at CV, and Hoover got a first round bye as a result (more on the rest of the changes later). So he had an automatic bid to the quarterfinals.

In the quarters, he was matched up against Elco's Zach Layser, and Hoover made quick work of the No. 9 seed, pinning him in just 27 seconds. And that was Hoover's night. 27 seconds and a trip to the semis, where he'll face No. 5 seed Tony Yohe, of Annville-Cleona, who won his quarterfinal match over Donegal's Caleb Osisek by a 9-6 decision.

The other semifinal will be 3-seed Corey Aspril, of L-S, against 2-seed Austin Miller, of Hempfield

112
E-town freshman Owen Bradley was the No. 11 seed in this bracket. In the first round, Bradley beat No. 6 seed Anthony Sowa of Northern Lebanon 6-2. In the quarterfinals, he lost to No. 3 seed Mark Lobeck of Lancaster Catholic 6-5 in a very good match. Bradley wrestled well tonight.

But he's now in the consolation bracket, where he'll get L-S' Mike Good, the 16-seed, to start his day tomorrow. He needs to win four matches tomorrow to get third place. Honestly, I don't see anyone beating McCaskey's Lexis Ortiz, but an Ortiz/Richie Reinoehl final would be a good match.

119
Calvin Anderton was originally E-town's 119 wrestler, but was a late scratch. E-town did not put another wrestler in the bracket.

125
Jeremy Rivera, the 3 seed, beat Catholic's Andrew Geraghty in the first round by pinning him in 1:53. In the Quarters, Rivera beat Warwick's Ian Stoeckl, a 6 seed, 11-6 to move to the semifinals. Rivera will match up against No. 2 Jordan Helton, of Cocalico, who beat McCaskey's Josh Rosario 6-5 in the quarters.

The other semi here is top seeded Dan Neff of Solanco against 4-seed Tyler Griffith of Manheim Central.

130
No. 9 Antonio Rodriguez lost his first round match to No. 8 Anatoliy Akulov of Garden Spot 9-1. Those two went into overtime in a dual match last week, but not this time.

Rodriguez had a bye in the first round of consolations, and then beat Donegal's Austin Theis 6-5 in the second round. He'll match up with No. 3 Sean Kincade to start his day tomorrow. Kincade was upset by No. 6 Joe Welk in the quarters. Columbia's Joe Ronca is looking awfully tough here, as is Dylan Killian, of AC, who didn't allow a point tonight.

135
No. 6 Troy Ernest started with a 4-2 first round win over No. 11 Benjy McQuate. But in the second round, Ernest ran into No. 3 Ian Rineer, of Penn Manor, and Rineer beat him 4-2 in the quarters, Ernest's first loss of the year.

Ernest will get No. 9 Bobby Haldeman, of L-S, in the consolation bracket to start tomorrow. Top seed Matt Myers is looking tough here, pinning his first two opponents in :53 and 1:25.

140
Tyler Lakota was in the original brackets for E-town, but did not wrestle tonight. Joe Alleman took his place in this bracket. Alleman lost 8-1 in the preliminaries and then 6-2 in the first round of consolations.

145
No. 6 Justin Lewis looked good in the first round, pinning No. 11 Nate Enck in 1:25. But in the quarters, he lost to No. 3 Luke Sims, of Manheim Township, 14-1.

In consolations, Lewis will start tomorrow with No. 17 Josh Forren of Solanco.

152
Jared Danneker is probably E-town's biggest surprise of the night. In the first round, Danneker, the 10 seed, beat No. 7 Nate Warner 5-0. And in the quarters, Danneker took down No. 2 seed Derek Kreiser-Shifflett, of AC, 12-6 to move to the semifinals.

Danneker will match up with No. 3 Brent Balmer, of Cedar Crest, who had two pins tonight. The other semifinal is No. 1 Josh Zamrin, of Cocalico, against No. 4 Nate Fowler, of L-S.

160
Adam Zellman, the No. 2 seed here, was on his game tonight. He started with a pin of Adam Stoner in :37 in the first round, and followed that with a pin of NO. 10 Josiah Diebler, of Solanco, in 1:31 in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, Zellman will take on No. 3 Jordan Miller, of Hempfield in what should be a great match.

The other semifinal is No. 1 Eric Resch, of Warwick, vs. No. 13 David Fair, of Manheim Central, who beat the No. 4 and 5 seeds to get to the semis. Tough bracket here with Resch and Miller, but Zellman's good enough to hang with them.

171
David Kennedy was originally scheduled here for E-town, but was another late scratch, leaving the Bears with no wrestler at 171.

189
Shane Rosenberry is the top seed in the bracket, and he looked like it. He pinned No. 16 Jordan Stoltzfus in the first round in :51, and followed that with a pin of No. 8 Delis Kruup in :29 in the quarters. In the semifinals, he'll get No. 12 Nate Nelson, who beat No. 4 Bob Dwonchyk in the quarters.

The other semi here is No. 2 Austin Schultz vs. No. 3 Evan Marin. I think Rosenberry should win this bracket.

215
Sean Heming, the No. 9 seed, was pinned in the first round by No. 8 Nate Kulp. But he rebounded to win his first consolation match, pinning No. 16 Tim Latham in :58. Tomorrow, he'll start off against No. 6 Zach Hickernell of Elco in the consolations.

Sorry to say it, but no one in this bracket is touching Warwick's Antonio Giorgio.

285
Alex Kirchner is the No. 2 seed in this bracket. In the first round, Kirchner pinned No. 15 Mason Dechert in 1:35. He then beat No. 10 John Martin 5-2 in the quarterfinals (in the last match of the night, by the way). In the semifinals, he'll take on No. 3 Nate Bicher, of Elco.

In the other semifinal, it will be N. 1 Ramsey Lopatic vs. No. 4 Cole Dillman.

I'll provide another update tomorrow, and will try again to get wireless access and give you live updates. But I'm not promising anything. I didn't get the team standings as of right now, but I'm guessing with no one at 119 or 171, the Bears have to get a lot of bonus points to beat out Warwick for the team crown.

OK, off to bed. Until tomorrow, stay classy Elizabethtown.

L-L League Tournament brackets and schedule

As promised, here are the brackets for the Lancaster-Lebanon League wrestling tournament, which begins this afternoon at 4 at Conestoga Valley.

Team Key:
Annville-Cleona – AC; Cedar Crest – CC; Cocalico – Coc; Columbia – Col; Conestoga Valley – CV; Donegal – Don; Elco – Elco; E-town – E-town; Ephrata – Eph; Garden Spot – GS; Hempfield – Hemp; Lampeter-Strasburg – L-S; Lancaster Catholic – LC; Lebanon – Leb; Manheim Central – MC; Manheim Township – MT; J.P. McCaskey – JPM; Northern Lebanon – NL; Penn Manor – PM; Pequea Valley – PV; Solanco – Sol; Warwick – War.

Note: E-town wrestlers in bold. Seed in parentheses. I tried to write the brackets from top to bottom so that you can get an idea of second and third round matchups.

103
First Round
(1) Matt Hoover, E-town, vs. (16) Nathan Noves, CV.
(9) Dustin Gonzalez, NL, vs. (8) Timothy Beegle, GS.
(5) Tony Yohe, AC, vs. (12) Andres Gutierrez, JPM.
(13) Cody Diem, War, vs. (4) Caleb Osisek, Don.
(3) Corey Aspril, L-S, vs. (14) Phil Whittaker, Coc.
(11) Adam Law, LC, vs. (6) Sean Hughes, CC.
(7) Dylan Pallas, MC, vs. (10) Zach Layser, Elco.
(15) Cory Swartzentruber, PM, vs. (2) Austin Miller, Hemp.

112
Preliminaries
(17) Dixie Eckert, Coc, vs. (16) Mike Good, L-S.
(15) Terry Tirko, Don, vs. (18) Kyle Kramer.
First Round
(1) Lexis Ortiz, JPM, vs. Eckert-Good winner.
(9) Derek Zercher, Col, vs. (8) Neal O'Malley, GS.
(5) Brooks Kenderdine, MT, vs. (12) TJ Renninger, AC.
(13) Austin Wealand, Eph, vs. (4) Dakota Minnich, Hemp.
(3) Mark Lobeck, LC, vs. (14) Brett Pallas, CC.
(11) Owen Bradley, E-town, vs. (6) Anthony Sowa, NL.
(7) Shaun Howard, Elco, vs. (10) Wink Charles, Sol.
(2) Richie Feinoehl, War, vs. Tirko-Kramer winner.

119
Preliminaries
(17) Chevy Houser, CC, vs. (16) Austin Ballantine, JPM.
(19) Kyle Porter, CV, vs. (14) Joe Buckwalter, MC.
(15) Spencer Haldeman, L-S, vs. (18) Will Farr, Don.
First Round
(1) Alex Fisher, Sol, vs. Houser-Ballantine winner.
(9) John Markley, Col, vs. (8) Bobby Rehm, PM.
(5) Jared Whitcomb, Coc, vs. (12) Jose Castro, MT.
(13) Drew Jackson, PV, vs. (4) Calvin Anderton, E-town.
(3) Jose Martinez, Leb, vs. Porter-Buckwalter winner.
(11) Ian Martin, Elco, vs. (6) Zach Schober, LC.
(7) Cody Shoenberger, War, vs. (10) Jake Eisenhauer, AC.
(2) Kyle Coblentz, GS, vs. Haldeman-Farr winner.

125
Preliminaries
(17 Ian Houck, Leb, vs. (16) Erik Bahn, CV.
(13) Jon Baker, PV, vs. (20) Nate Baker, Elco.
(19) James McElroy, PM, vs. (14) Andrew Geraghty, LC.
(15) Evan Thomas, MT, vs. (18) Eajai Alvarez, L-S.
First Round
(1) Dan Neff, Sol vs. Houck-Bahn winner.
(9) Seth Lehman, AC, vs. (8) Bryan Knouse, Don.
(5) Sean Irvine, Coc, vs. (12) Chad Sensenig, GS.
(4) Tyler Griffith, MC, vs. Baker-Baker winner.
(3) Jeremy Rivera, E-town vs. McElroy-Geraghty winner.
(11) Justin Emerich, CC, vs. (6) Ian Stoeckl, War.
(7) Josh Rosario, JPM, vs. (10) Gary Pabon, Hemp.
(2) Jordan Helton, Col, vs. Thomas-Alvarez winner.

130
Preliminaries
(17) Donovan McDonald, MT, vs. (16) Travis Quinn, War.
(19) Gary McGuire, NL, vs. (14) Gary Lloyd, CC.
(15) Brandon Howard, Elco, vs. (18) Austin Theis, Don.
First Round
(1) Joe Ronca, Col, vs. McDonald-Quinn winner.
(9) Antonio Rodriguez, E-town, vs. (8) Anatoliy Akulov, GS.
(5) Jordan Stepanchick, Hemp, vs. (12) Chris Zell, LC.
(13) Mike Evans, Eph, vs. (4) Devin Anderson, JPM.
(3) Sean Kincade, PM, vs. McGuire-Lloyd winner.
(11) Chris Schmid, PV, vs. (6) Joe Welk, Sol.
(7) Ger Lor, Coc, vs. (10) Matt Martin, MC.
(2) Dylan Killian, AC, vs. Howard-Theis winner.

135
Preliminaries
(17) Zac Kramer, Don, vs. (16) Adam Shober, Eph.
(21) Tai Nguyen, Leb, vs. (12) Jared Manley, Hemp.
(13) Benjy McQuate, CV, vs. (20) Matt Morgante, MT.
(19) Tyler Liddick, CC, vs. (14) Aran Heining, Coc.
(15) Brock Snider, Sol, (18) Justin Aquino, PV.
First Round
(1) Matt Myers, War, vs. Kramer-Shober winner.
(9) Tommy Price, Elco, vs. (8) Clark Nissley, MC.
(5) Micky Ortiz, JPM, vs. Nguyen-Manley winner.
(4) Adam Supplee, GS, vs. McQuiate-Morgante winner.
(3) Ian Rineer, PM, vs. Liddick-Heining winner.
(11) Bobby Haldeman, L-S, vs. (6) Chris Shifflett, AC.
(7) Troy Ernest, E-town, vs. (10) Ryan Daub, NL.
(2) Anthony Wallick, Col, vs. Snider-Aquino winner.

140
Preliminaries
(17) Coleby Martin, GS, vs. (16) Hunter Busansky, L-S.
(19) Dan Imler, NL, vs. (14) Vince Grove, Don.
(15) Mike Lausell, JPM, vs. (18) Mike Lausell, JPM.
First Round
(1) Andy Eshleman, PM, vs. Martin-Busansky winner.
(9) Jason Combs, Col, vs. (8) Connor Moran, Sol.
(5) Ray Ball, PV, vs. (12) Joseph Pacheco, Eph.
(13) Tyler Lakota, E-town, vs. (4) Adam Chapis, War.
(3) Woodie Hermann, Hemp, vs. Imler-Grove winner.
(11) Jeremy Mento, LC, vs. (6) Austin Spangler, Elco.
(7) Anthony Lentini, AC, vs. (10) Aiden Heining, Coc.
(2) Shane Wagner, MT, vs. Lausell-Eshleman winner.

145
Preliminaries
(17) Josh Forren, Sol, vs. (16) Tyler Reichenbach, L-S.
(15) Cody McAllister, Col, vs. (18) Dillon Nguyen, Eph.
First Round
(1) Mitchell Ball, PV, vs. Forren-Reichenbach winner.
(9) Matt Flick, PM, vs. (8) Aaron Hartman, AC.
(5) Noah Gerges, CC, vs. (12) Lucas George, Coc.
(13) Colin Butler, LC, vs. (4) Blake Ziegler, Elco.
(3) Luke Sims, MT, vs. (14) Alex Flattery, Don.
(11) Nate Enck, MC, vs. (6) Justin Lewis, E-town
(7) Lucas Bragg, CV, vs. (10) Dennis Kemmick, Hemp.
(2) Ross Stockdale, War, vs. McAllister-Nguyen winner.

152
Preliminaries
(17) Hans Nelson, JPM, vs. (16) Sam Zegley, PM.
(21) Kirby Kinderwater, MT, vs. (12) Travis Houser, Hemp.
(13) Christopher Nixdorf, Eph, vs. (20) Dillian Enck, MC.
(19) Brad Cweink, Sol, vs. (14) Alex Wood, LC.
(15) Cha Yang, GS, vs. (18) Michael Pelton, Don.
First Round
(1) Josh Zamrin, Coc, vs. Nelson-Zegley winner.
(9) Jordan Clemens, Elco, vs. (8) Nate Yavoich, NL.
(5) James Mellinger, War, vs. Kinderwater-Houser winner.
(4) Nate Fowler, L-S, vs. Nixdorf-Enck winner.
(3) Brent Balmer, CC, vs. Cweink-Wood winner.
(11) Pavlik Teleguz, CV, vs. (6) Tom Thompson, PV.
(7) Nate Warner, Col, vs (10) Jared Danneker, E-town.
(2) Derek Kreiser-Shifflett, AC, vs. Yang-Pelton winner.

160
Preliminaries
(17) Jason Yoder, GS, vs. (16) George Baker, PV.
(21) Cody Williams, Eph, vs. (12) Justin Bollman, JPM.
(13) David Fair, MC, vs. (20) Kyle Kinderwater, MT.
(19) Tony Mojica, Leb, vs. (14) Arias Pappas, Don.
(15) Adam Stoner, Col, vs. (18) Russell Deaven, CC.
First Round
(1) Eric Resch, War, vs. Yoder-Baker winner.
(9) Tyler Gieniec, PM, vs. (8) Zack Kinert, L-S.
(5) Matt Trickett, Coc, vs. Williams-Bollman winner.
(4) Sheldon Barker, AC, vs. Fair-Kinderwater winner.
(3) Jordan Miller, Hemp, vs. Mojica-Pappas winner.
(11) Teddy Bowman, CV, vs. (6) Justin Weatherholtz, Elco.
(7) Justin Mento, LC, vs. (10) Josiah Diebler, Sol.
(2) Adam Zellman, E-town, vs. Stoner-Deaven winner.

171
Preliminaries
(17) Michael Randazzo, CC, vs. (16) Brandon Harvey, PM.
(21) Alex Cintron, L-S, vs. (12) Zach Brubaker, War.
(13) Matt Wagner, AC, vs. (20) Ben Kramer, Hemp.
(19) Cain Warfel, Col, vs. (14) Ben Moyer, Elco.
(15) Cameron Burke, Leb, vs. (18) Troy Sauger, MC.
First Round
(1) Michael Blaszczyk, LC, vs. Randazzo-Harvey winner.
(9) David Kennedy, E-town, vs. (8) Tyler Arkatin, Sol.
(5) Brandon Henne, Coc, vs. Cintron-Brubaker winner.
(4) Mike Dodds, CV, vs. Wagner-Kramer winner.
(3) Nick Dzwonchyk, NL, vs. Warfel-Moyer winner.
(11) David Belousov, Eph, vs. (6) Jay Morant, JPM.
(7) Ben Enck, MT, vs. (10) Anthony Huber, GS.
(2) Neal Sweigart, Don, vs. Burke-Sauger winner.

189
Preliminaries
(17) Jordan Stoltzfus, PV, vs. (16) Andrew Burkholder, Eph.
(21) Pedro Serrano, CV, vs. (12) Bryan McCall, War.
(13) Nate Nelson, JPM, vs. (20) Alex Egner, L-S.
(19) Seth Schmalhofer, PM, vs. (14) Jordan Elvey, Sol.
(11) Anthony Griffin, Elco, vs. (22) Antonio Jimmenez, MC.
(15) Allen Yordy, AC, vs. (18) Blake Bomberger, Coc.
First Round
(1) Shane Rosenberry, E-town, vs. Stoltzfus-Burkholder winner.
(9) Eric Hatter, GS, vs. (8) Delis Krupp, CV.
(5) Marcus Fischer, Col, vs. Serrano-McCall winner.
(4) Bob Dzwonchyk, NL, vs. Nelson-Egner winner.
(30 Evan Marin, Hemp, vs. Schmalhofer-Elvey winner.
(6) Sterling Goshea, Don, vs. Griffin-Jimmenez winner.
(7) Chris Ahnert, Leb, vs. (10) Theron Mitchell, LC.
(2) Austin Schultz, MT, vs. Yordy-Bomberger winner.

215
Preliminaries
(17) Byron Germer, Col, vs. (16) Tim Latham, Sol.
(19) Mike Wajtusic, PM, vs. Bryan Garris, PV.
(15) George Hinerman, GS, vs. (18) Brian Shorts, L-S.
First Round
(1) Antonio Giorgio, War, vs. Germer-Latham winner.
(9) Sean Heming, E-town, vs. (8) Nate Kulp, Hemp.
(5) John Fair, MC, vs. (12) Jeremy Gibson, AC.
(13) Dylan Binkley, Eph, vs. (4) Tony Anater, LC.
(3) Kyle Ueberroth, Coc, vs. Wajtusic-Garris winner.
(11) Kevin Royer, NL, vs. (6) Zach Hickernell, Elco.
(7) Dan Tonzola, CV, vs. (10) Aeryn Snyder, Don.
(2) Cutter Recher, MT, vs. Hinerman-Shorts winner.

285
Preliminaries
(17) John Devenney, War, vs. (16) Mason Dechert, NL.
(13) Nathan Kramer, GS, vs. (20) Carl Minieri, MC.
(19) James McCarney, Eph, vs. (14) Zach Smith, AC.
(15) Nick Gerdes, CC, vs. (18) Jesse Bennett, Don.
First Round
(1) Ramsey Lopatic, MT, vs. Devenney-Dechert winner.
(9) Even Singleton, PM, vs. (8) Jake Sentz, Col.
(5) Teddy Force, L-S, vs. (12) Errol Hammond, LC.
(4) Cole Dollman, CV, vs. Kramer-Minieri winner.
(3) Nate Bicher, Elco, vs. McCarney-Smith winner.
(11) John Martin, Sol, vs. (6) Charles Lee, Leb.
(7) Dominique Smith, JPM, vs. (10) Josh Mellinger, Coc.
(2) Alex Kirchner, E-town, vs. Gerdes-Bennett winner.

And here's the schedule one more time:
Friday
4 to 10 p.m. – Pigtails, first round, first round consolations, quarterfinals, second round consolations.

Saturday
10 to 11:30 a.m. – Third round consolations.
11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. – Semifinals and consolation quarterfinals.
1:30 to 3 p.m. – Consolation semifinals and seventh place bouts.
4:30 to 7:30 p.m. – Fifth place consolations, third place consolations and Championship Finals.

Enjoy the action everyone. I'll be providing updates as often as possible. If I can't get a wireless connection at CV, then I'll do something when I get home tonight and again tomorrow.

Wrestling odds and ends

(Photo by Chris Bradley: E-town's Adam Zellman has a good shot at getting to the finals at 160 pounds in tomorrow's L-L Tournament.)

With the Lancaster-Lebanon League tournament beginning tomorrow, I wanted to post some wrestling info. for you today. The seeding meeting for the tournament is tonight, so brackets aren't done yet. I'll try and get my hands on them tomorrow and post them for you, though.

First, here is the schedule for the L-L Tournament. It's being held at Conestoga Valley this year. Session I will be Friday night and Session II will be Saturday.
Session I
6 mats, scheduled from 4 to 10 p.m.
Here is what's on tap for Session I:
Pigtails
Preliminaries (Round of 16)
Consolation Round 1 (pigtails)
Championship Quarterfinals
Consolation Round 2
Session II
4 mats, beginning at 10 a.m.
Consolation Round 3, 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
Championship Semifinals, 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Consolation Quarterfinals, 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Consolation Semifinals, 1:30 to 3 p.m.
7th place bouts, 1:30 to 3 p.m.

They then usually clear the mats and start the finals in the evening. Don't know an exact time for that yet, but I'll post that with the brackets tomorrow.
While we're here, here are the current records for every Elizabethtown varsity wrestler, alphabetically:
Joey Alleman – 0-2.
Calvin Anderton – 13-8 (3 pins, 1 tech fall, 2 majors, 4 decisions)
Owen Bradley – 13-7 (2 pins, 1 tech fall, 3 majors, 6 decisions)
Zach Brandt – 0-1.
Jared Danneker – 13-7 (2 pins, 2 majors, 7 decisions)
Troy Ernest – 4-0 (1 pin, 1 tech fall, 1 major, 1 decision)
Tim Fedor – 1-3.
Sean Heming – 5-10 (2 pins, 1 major)
Matt Hoover – 19-1 (11 pins, 2 tech falls, 3 majors, 1 decision).
David Kennedy – 8-9 (4 pins, 3 decisions).
Alex Kirchner – 14-3 (7 pins, 7 decisions).
Tyler Lakota – 7-10 (4 pins, 2 majors, 1 decision).
Justin Lewis – 9-5 (8 pins, 1 decision).
Kyle Morrow – 1-11 (1 major).
Zach Myers – 3-6 (1 pin, 2 decisions).
Jeremy Rivera – 16-3 (7 pins, 4 majors, 3 decisions).
Antonio Rodriguez – 8-6 (1 pin, 2 majors, 1 decision).
Shane Rosenberry – 17-4 (13 pins, 1 tech fall, 2 decisions).
James Sliker – 0-1.
Andrew Smith – 1-0 (1 major).
Adam Zellman – 20-2 (10 pins, 2 majors, 7 decisions).

Here's even more wrestling stuff:
District Three Tournament Timeline:
Team Tournament:
Jan. 27: preliminaries at higher seeded team.
Jan. 29: quarterfinals at higher seeded team.
Jan. 31: semis, consolations and finals at Milton Hershey Spartan Center.

Sectionals
Saturday, Feb. 14: prelims, quarters, semis, consolations and finals.
Note: This year, E-town is returning to the L-L League sectional, which is Section Three. Remember, recently, the Bears were in the Section Two tournament with a bunch of Mid Penn teams. This year, they're back in Section Three, which is at Hempfield with the following teams: Cedar Crest, CV, Donegal, Hempfield, L-S, Lebanon, McCaskey, Central, Township, Penn Manor, Solanco and Warwick.

Individual Tournament
Friday, Feb. 20, prelims, consolations and quarters, @ Hersheypark Arena
Saturday, Feb. 21, semis, consolations and finals, @ Hersheypark Arena

All culminating with the PIAA State Tournament, March 5-7 @ The Giant Center.

OK, that's all for now. Back tomorrow with the league brackets.

Rosenberry joins the Century Club

At the Donegal Tournament earlier this year, Shane Rosenberry became the latest E-town wrestler to reach 100 wins. He was honored on Saturday for joining the Century Club

I apologize for not getting this up sooner, but I didn't know Rosenberry had reached this milestone. I knew he was close, but didn't know he was there. Anyway, congratulations to Shane on a great accomplishment – he's certainly earned it.

So far this season, Rosenberry is 5-1 in duals and 11-3 in tournametn for a 16-4 overall record.

Kroesen inducted into E-town Wrestling Hall of Fame

Before Saturday's EAHS wrestling match against Garden Spot, E-town inducted Hob Kroesen into the Elizabethtown Wrestling Hall of Fame.

Kroesen, pictured above with E-town head coach Mike Sernoffsky, was a 1963 graduate of EAHS, where he was a two-year letterwinner. He then went into the Air Force for four years before attending E-town College, where he wrestled and lettered each year.

After college, Kroesen was a PIAA wrestling official for 25 years, where he officiated all levels, including the PIAA state tournament and the NCAA qualifying tournament. He also coach E-town Boys Club wrestling for 15 years and coached the likes of Tom Miller, Mike Miller, Jon Givens and Dennis Rosenberry.

He also helped found the Elizabethtown Optimist Club Junior High Wrestling Tournament.

Kroesen was inducted into the District Three Wrestling Hall of Fame in 1998.

Bears roll past Lebanon, stay in first

Boy, the E-town wrestling team did a number on Lebanon last night, beating them 66-15. The Cedars are having a down year and haven't won a league match yet, but I think last night's match probably lasted about 20 minutes.

To start with, E-town had six pins – and all of them came in under a minute. Shane Rosenberry, Justin Lewis, Adam Zellman, David Kennedy, Jeremy Rivera and Troy Ernest all had pins for E-town. And then, the Bears got five wins via forfeit. Lebanon also picked up a forfeit, a pin and a decision. Of the 14 total matches, six weren't even wrestled (forfeits), six ended in first period pins, one ended in an early third period pin and only one was decided by a decision in three full periods. Sheesh, I don't think I've ever heard of such a quick match.

Anyway, the Bears are looking pretty good in dual meets so far. They dropped their first dual meet of the year, a nonleague match against Middletown, but have won their last four. They are currently 4-1 overall and 3-0 in league matches and sit alone in first place of Section Two, which they have won for the last two years. So they're primed for a three-peat if they can keep it up.

Tomorrow, E-town is supposed to do battle with Garden Spot, who is 2-1 and has an excellent team. Of course, they're calling for six inches of snow. So if the meet is canceled, I'll post it here (as long as I can find out). Looking at E-town's schedule so far, their biggest win is probably the 34-27 one they picked up on Dec. 20 against Cocalico, because the Eagles are 3-1 in league meets and just a game back of E-town.

After Garden Spot, E-town will tune up for the League Tournament (which starts Jan. 16) with matches against L-S and Ephrata, which they should win. Basically, if the Bears can beat Garden Spot, I don't see anything left in dual meets that should keep them from their third straight Section Two title. But the match against Spot is HUGE. It's scheduled for 1:30 p.m. tomorrow in Daubert Gymnasium, by the way. If it's postponed, my guess is they'll make it up after leagues. Leagues end on Jan. 17, and E-town doesn't have another match scheduled until Jan. 22, so early in that week would be likely for a makeup. But we'll see about the snow first.

Have a great weekend everyone and, as always, stay classy Elizabethtown.

EAHS Wrestling Preview

Head Coach: Mike Sernoffsky, 26th season.

2007-2008 record: 14-5 overall, 7-0 Section Two. Repeated as Section Two champions. Won the Lancaster-Lebanon League Tournament team title. Lost to Warwick 39-25 in the first round of the District Three team tournament. Sent nine wrestlers to the District Three individual tournament and one wrestler to the PIAA state tournament.

Key Returners: Matt Hoover, sophomore, 103 pounds (30-13 last year); Calvin Anderton, junior, 112/119 (32-12); Antonio Rodriguez, sophomore, 130; Kyle Morrow, junior, 135/140; Justin Lewis, junior, 145 (21-19); Jared Danneker, junior, 152; Adam Zellman, senior, 160 (27-12); Zach Myers, junior, 160/171; David Kennedy, junior, 160/171; Shane Rosenberry, senior, 189 (38-7); Sean Heming, junior, 215; Alex Kirchner, senior, 285 (28-18).

The Bears have a solid core returning from last year’s Section Two and Lancaster-Lebanon League championship team. They will be led by Hoover, Anderton, Lewis, Zellman, Rosenberry and Kirchner, all of whom were district qualifiers last year.

Hoover had an outstanding freshman season and returns to lock down the 103-pound spot for E-town. He won 30 matches a year ago and should be good for 30 wins and another appearance in the district tournament.

Anderton won 32 matches last year at 112 pounds and will wrestle again at either 112 or 119 pounds. He’s a tough wrestler who should be in the 20-win club again this year.

Lewis won 21 matches last year at 130 pounds, but makes the jump this year to 145. If he continues where he left off, he’s another 30-win candidate.

Zellman quietly put together a great season last year, winning 27 matches and finishing second in the Bears’ sectional tournament. He should get to 30 wins this season and make a return trip to districts.

Rosenberry won an outstanding 38 matches last year and will again wrestle at 189. He finished second in the sectional tournament, third in the district tournament and was the Bears’ only state qualifier last year. He should lead the Bears in wins again this season and could make a run at leagues and districts, and should find himself wrestling in the Giant Center in early March in the PIAA tournament.

Kirchner won 28 matches at 285 last year while routinely giving up a ton of weight. He’s bigger this year, but still relatively small for a heavyweight. However, that won’t stop him from reaching 30 wins. He’ll use his quickness to make a lot of noise in the regular season and postseason tournaments.

Rodriguez, Morrow, Danneker and Myers all saw significant varsity mat time last year and will be looking to continue their improvement. Keep an eye on Danneker, a tough kid who could win more than 20 matches for the Bears. Kennedy didn’t wrestle much varsity last year as a sophomore, but is a strong wrestler and might be one of E-town’s breakout wrestlers at 171 pounds this year. Heming steps in to take over the 215-pound spot for the Bears. He is in a tough weight class, but the junior will get the Bears points when they need them.

All in all, this is a relatively young group with only Kirchner, Rosenberry and Zellman seniors. But they’ve still got enough experience to lead the Bears to another successful campaign.

“We’ve got a good nucleus returning, and we’ve got a good group of young kids as well,” said Sernoffsky. “We’ve got decent numbers as well. Thirty kids on the roster is the most we’ve had in a long time. They’re going to have to be good because we’ve got a heck of a schedule this year, which is a good thing.”

Key Newcomers: Owen Bradley, freshman, 112 pounds; Jeremy Rivera, freshman, 125; Andrew Smith, junior, 135; Tyler Lakota, sophomore, 140.

Each one of these four new wrestlers are good enough to find themselves in the starting lineup at the beginning of the season.

Bradley and Rivera are both freshman who should have an immediate impact this season. Sernoffsky is hesitant to put too many expectations into freshmen, but said that both are progressing very nicely.

“I think they’ll come along. I like the way the kids are working and the coaching staff has just been terrific,” he said.

Smith is an experienced wrestler who transferred to E-town this school year. He will give them some varsity experience at the middle weights, where the Bears lost some good wrestlers to graduation. Lakota is another tough wrestler who will jump into the middle weights and battle every match.

Key Losses: Oliver Thayer; Travis Leber; Blake Rosenberger.
E-town lost some very good wrestlers to graduation, including these three district qualifiers. Rosenberger won 37 matches last year, including the individual title at 145 pounds in the L-L Tournament, and was one of E-town’s best wrestlers.

Thayer had a great season as well, winning 31 matches and making it to districts. He was a rock at the 135-pound weight class and has taken his skills to Kutztown.

Leber was a beast at 171 pounds, leading the team in wins with 39 and also making it to districts.

But what made these three so great for the team, besides their 107 combined wins last year, was their leadership. Sernoffsky knows their results will be tough to replace immediately, but he said he’s confident that the returners learned a great deal from them.

“Those are big shoes to try and fill and they will be tough to replace,” he said. “They took a lot of wins with them, and they were good leaders. Now it’s up to the next group to step up to those roles, and they will.”

Strengths: Experience, attitude, coaching.
Returning six district qualifiers is something that doesn’t happen often, especially with three of them being underclassmen. This is a group that has seen success. They’ve won two straight Section Two championships, they’re coming off of a league team championship and they’ve done well in the individual postseason tournaments. They’ve seen what it takes to beat the best wrestlers in the area, and that kind of experience will help them in the wrestling room and will help the younger wrestlers learn as well.

They are also a hard-working, modest group, which has been paying dividends so far in the preseason.

“We’ve got some experience back, which is nice. I don’t think anybody is looking at, ‘I’m a superstar and they’re building the team around me,’” said Sernoffsky. “I think we’ve got a great nucleus of returners and hopefully we’re preparing them well.”

Sernoffsky has been at E-town now for more than a quarter of a century, so you’d be hard pressed to find a coach in the L-L League with more experience than him. And he’s surrounded himself with hard-working, knowledgeable assistants from the varsity level and down through the program. The result has been a strong junior high and JV program, which in turn benefits the wrestlers when they get to varsity (as the Bears’ young wrestlers will find out very soon).

Weakness: Youth.
The Bears have a lot of experience returning, but they also have some very young wrestlers who are about to get their first dose of what life is like at the varsity level. E-town’s youth is not necessarily a weakness for them, but the underclassmen are replacing seasoned district qualifiers for the most part and, as Sernoffsky said, those are big shoes to fill.

But what the fresh faces at the lighter and middle weights give E-town is a chance to continue building on what the program has done the past couple of years. They have seen what the varsity has done lately and those accomplishments have translated into the freshmen and sophomore expecting good things of themselves.

“I don’t want to put pressure on individuals, but if you get over .500 from the freshmen, that’s good,” said Sernoffsky. But the freshmen who are coming up are expecting more than .500 of themselves and that’s good.”

This is a young group that isn’t afraid and that is anxious to get on on the mats and prove themselves. And that alone makes them a dangerous bunch.

Outlook: From a team standpoint, it would be hard to do much better than what E-town accomplished last year. But instead of trying to compete with what last year’s team did, the Bears will be looking to build off of that success and reach higher goals.

“Winning is a habit and losing is a habit,” said Sernoffsky. We’ve told them that winning Section Two in the L-L league is not getting to the state tournament yet. We need to up the ante. And now they’re starting to believe it and they’re expecting to win, individually as well as collectively.”

With a bunch of wrestlers who are capable of finishing near or above 30 wins, E-town should find itself in the thick of the section race once again. The Bears will get an idea of how good they can be very early in the season. On Friday, they begin their year by traveling to Williamsport to participate in the Top Hat Tournament – where powerhouses like Central Dauphin and Cumberland Valley will be waiting. After that, the Bears will face Middletown, Dallastown and rival Manheim Central in consecutive dual meets. All good teams and all before Christmas. Talk about baptism by fire for the underclassmen.

But Sernoffsky said the tough early season schedule is a good thing for his wrestlers. It gets them against quality competition from the beginning and, if anything, will show them what kind of improvements they need to make as the season progresses.

The Bears have a lot of kids on the roster, which makes practices and wrestle offs that much more competitive. They aren’t dwelling on who did what last year, but forging ahead as a group and working as individuals to make the team the best it can be.

“Everybody in here is important. Everyone has an opportunity to challenge and beat someone out,” Sernoffsky said. “I think it’s a pretty good family and they’ll be OK. Hopefully we’ll keep getting more and more kids out because that helps make us a better team.”

A team that enjoyed its view from the top of the L-L mountain last year, and wants to get back there again.

Sernoffsky talks about Tom Miller

If you might remember, a month or so ago I did a special insert in our print edition commemorating the 2008 inductees of the EASD Athletic Wall of Honor. One of those inductees was Tommy Miller, E-town's only state wrestling champion. I interviewed E-town wrestling coach Mike Sernoffsky about Miller, but unfortunately, we didn't catch up until after deadline and I couldn't get Mike's quotes into the story in time. But he had some very nice things to say about Tommy, and I wanted to pass them along. Here's what Sernoffsky had to say about his state champ:

Tom Miller is definitely a special person. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to coach him as an outstanding high school athlete.

Tom qualified for districts in three sports his senior year – football, wrestling and track. He also ran cross country one year. Tom was also a top student. Tom did all the extras, running on his own, putting in extra practice, staying late for more repetitions.

It was great to coach someone who believed in his coaches and himself. He never put himself above the team. I started at E-town Tom's freshman year. It was easy to recognize he was a special kind of kid. I never saw Tom lose twice to the same wrestler in high school. His sophomore year was the only time he did not win the sectional tournament (he finished second). The following week at districts, he pinned the lad who had beaten him. His last two years in high school, he was 61-1, losing only in the state finals as a junior.

I was very fortunate to have a wrestler in the state finals three times in my first four years at E-town. (Dennis Rosenberry in 1984, Tom Miller in 1986 and 1987.) Tom's senior year at the state meet, a reporter asked me if something was wrong with Tom after his first match because he "only" majored his first round opponent in the state meet (his opponent's record was 35-2). After Tom's semifinal victory in overtime (I think he was watching the other semi match most of the time he was wrestling), we went to eat and I knew no one would touch him in the finals because he was so relaxed.

He told me, 'well at least no I can't do any worse than last year.' He never showed it, but he put a lot of pressure on himself to excel. My only concern during dinner before the finals was that he might receive a forfeit in the finals and be robbed of the opportunity to wrestle for the medal. His finals opponent won in the semis by injury default via a slam. He did wrestle and Tom pinned him in the second period.

Tom is definitely a special person. My wife still refers to him as our 'first' son.

End of the road for Rosenberry

Shane Rosenberry's season came to an end yesterday at the Giant Center in the PIAA Class AAA Wrestling Championships.

Rosenberry lost his preliminary match to Philipsburg-Osceola's Bo Reifer 12-6. Reifer was a district champ and came in with a 37-3 record. Rosenberry hung tough early, allowing only a takedown to Reifer in the first period and trailed 2-0. But Reifer hit Rosenberry with a four-point flurry early in the second to take a 6-0 lead. Rosenberry trailed 8-4 heading into the third period. He got an escape early to get within three, but Reifer pulled away with a takedown and two back points late.

In his first consolation match, Rosenberry got another district champ, Lower Merion's Anthony Fulginitti, who came in at 34-2. Rosenberry scored first, getting a takedown 1:19 into the match. But Fulginitti scored four points in the final 13 seconds to take a 6-2 lead. A Rosenberry reversal as time expired in the first made it 6-4. Rosenberry didn't score in the second period and nearly held Fulginitti scoreless, but he got a take down with 20 seconds left and two near fall points as time expired to go up 10-4 heading into the third, where Rosenberry could only manage an escape and lost 12-5.

It's never easy to see your season end, especially when you are in the state tournament, but Rosenberry should be proud of what he was able to accomplish this year. He won 38 matches and lost only 7 and, perhaps more importantly, he took another step. Last year, he failed to get out of districts. But he learned from it, and came back this year to get to states. And he'll learn from his experience in states this year and will get back there as a senior.

Trust me when I say that it's a different world at states. The level of competition is amazing and, until you experience it first hand, it's extremely tough to prepare for it. But Rosenberry's been there now. He knows how good the wrestlers at that level are, and he now knows what it's going to take to do better if he gets back there again.

Wrestling odds and ends

I never posted the schedule for states (at least I don't think I did. Of course, I once drafted Mark Ellis in the third round of a fantasy baseball draft...so I never know what the heck is happening in my brain).

Just in case, though, here it is. Because I care about you, I'm giving you the schedule for Class AA and Class AAA. I know, I'm too good to you. Remember though, don't show up to the Class AA prelims and expect to see Shane Rosenberry on the mats....E-town's AAA.

Thursday:
Class AA:
9 a.m. – Preliminaries
12:15 p.m. – First Round Consolations

Class AAA:
4 p.m. – Preliminaries
7:15 p.m. – First Round Consolations

Friday:
Class AA:
8 a.m. – Quarterfinals.
9:45 a.m. – Second Round Consolations.
6:30 p.m. – Semifinals
6:30 p.m. – Third Round Consolations.
9 p.m. – Fourth Round Consolations.

Class AAA
1 p.m. – Quarterfinals.
2:45 p.m. – Second Round Consolations.

Saturday:
Class AA
12:30 p.m. – 3rd, 5th and 7th place Consolations.
2:10 p.m. – Parade of Champions
2:30 p.m. – Finals.

Class AAA;
8 a.m. – Semifinals
8 a.m. – Third Round Consolations
10:30 a.m. – Fourth Round Consolations.
6 p.m. – 3rd, 5th, 7th place Consolations.
7:40 p.m. – Parade of Champions.
8 p.m. – finals.

In other E-town wrestling news, senior Blake Rosenberger will don the singlet one last time in the L-L League vs. Berks all-star meet on Tuesday, March 11 at Schuylkill Valley High School at 7 p.m. Rosenberger is the L-L League's 145-pound representative and will face Wyomissing's Anthony Frost. He is the only E-town wrestler in the match.

Rosenberry's bracket

Here's a quick look at the PIAA Class AAA bracket for Thursday's state tournament at the Giant Center in Hershey.

E-town's Shane Rosenberry, above, is the only E-town wrestler in the tourney, so here's what he has waiting for him in the 189-pound bracket.

Rosenberry is the third seed from District Three (or the South-Central region according to the PIAA). In the first round, he'll take on the No. 1 seed from the North-West region, Pittsburgh-Osceola's Bo Reifer. Reifer is a senior and currenly sports a 37-3 record. Rosenberry, a junior, has a 38-5 record.

Should he win his first match, Rosenberry will get the winner between Lower Merion senior Anthony Fulginitti (34-1) and Hempfield Area senior TJ Valore (33-5). Fulginitti is the overall top seed in the bracket. Nobody said states is easy. Sheesh, what a tough draw.

Warwick's Antonio Giorgio is also in the bracket. He is a perfect 43-0 this year and will get Neshaminy's Joe Stemme (25-11), the fourth seed from the South-East region, in the first round. If Giorgio wins, he could very well get a shot at defending state champ Nate Eachus from Hazleton in the second round. Eachus won last year as a junior and is currently 33-6 and the second seed from the North-East region.

Should be interesting Thursday. You can see the complete AA and AAA brackets here: http://www.wjpa.com/wrestling.htm.

Rosenberry heading to states

(photo by Chris Bradley)
Shane Rosenberry's phenomenal season will continue. Rosenberry had a great weekend at the District Three tourney at Hersheypark Arena, losing only to eventual district champ Antonio Giorgio, and taking third place at 189 pounds to qualify for the upcoming PIAA State Tournament.

States will begin on Thursday, March 6 at the Giant Center in Hershey. Here's a look at Shane's road to the Giant Center.

1st Round: Shane pretty much dominated every match he wrestled in with the exception of the Giorgio bout in the semis. He got things started in the first round with a 12-0 major over Manheim Central's Josh Pavlik.

Quarterfinals: Ephrata's Jordan Becker hung around, but Rosenberry was ultimately too much, hanging a 10-5 decision on Becker to advance to the semis.

Semifinals: It seems like Rosenberry has had real trouble with two wrestlers this season – Keith Dickey of Cedar Cliff and Giorgio, who is still has yet to taste defeat this season. Giorgio didn't pin Rosenberry, but he earned a 16-8 major decision to send him to the consolation bracket. This Giorgio kid is only a sophomore and I think may win one or two state championships before he graduates. he's the real deal.

Consolation semis: Rosenberry earned another major, this one on Hempfield's Evan Marin, 16-7.

Consolation finals: In the second period, Rosenberry flipped Reading's Gary Estella on his back and pinned him in 2:07 to clinch his spot in states.

Here's how the other eight E-town district qualifiers fared:
103: Matt Hoover lost in the first round to eventual district champ Cameron Throckmorton, sending him to the consolation bracket. In consys, Hoover earned a 14-2 major in the first round before losing his next bout to Jacob Verheyen 6-1.

112: Calvin Anderton lost a heartbreaker to the No. 2 seed in the bracket 2-1 in the first round. And in his first consolation match, Anderton was pinned by Zach Terefenko to end his season.

130: Just Lewis lost to 2 seed Nathan Warner in the first round and lost by tech fall to Conestoga Valley's Justin Lapp in the first round of consolations.

135: Oliver Thayer was pinned by top seeded Zach Grove in the first round. He won his first consolation match by a 4-3 decision over Ephrata's Jared Becker, but was on the short end of a 4-3 decision in his next bout, falling to Andrew Eshleman.

140: This one was a bit surprising to me. This was a good bracket, but I thought Blake Rosenberger had a good shot of getting through and making it to states. Things started well for Blake as he earned a 7-3 decision in the first round over Mechanicsburg's Evan Baer. He then beat Muhlenberg's Bo Cadelaria (who entered the match with just one loss this year) in the quarterfinals, 8-5, to advance to the semifinals. In the semis, Rosenberger lost a close 6-4 decision to eventual champ Bryce Busler (who beat Marshall Peppelman in the finals). And then, in the consolation semis, Eddie Stephenson ended Rosenberger's season with a 6-5 decision.

160: Adam Zellman was pinned by Dallastown's Clay Gable in the first round and pinned again in the first round of consolations, losing to Governor Mifflin's Dave Gurtowski.

171: Travis Leber made some noise before being eliminated. He won his first round bout over Bryce Shaffer, 8-6, before losing a 5-4 decision to Jarvis Cummings in the quarterfinals. In the consolation round, he majored Alex Swartz 11-2 but lost to Cory Baker 5-3 in the consolation quarterfinals.

285: Alex Kirchner lost his opener to Danny Estricher by fall. In the consolations, he won his first match 5-3, and won his second 7-4 before losing to Brandon Kline in the third round of consolations.

Some other notes:
• Of the 42 state berths awarded for Class AAA, 18 of those came from Section Two (which E-town is in), for an astonshing 42 percent of the berths. Wow. Now you see why people say that E-town's sectional tournament is among the best in the state.

• Jordan Enck lost in the 215 finals. Didn't see that one coming.

Bracketology: District Three wrestling

Here's a quick glimpse at what the nine E-town wrestlers are facing at the District Three wrestling tournament later today.


103: Matt Hoover (28-11)
Hoover, one of five E-town wrestlers with four seeds, gets a tough match-up in the first round, where he runs into Cameron Throckmorton, who is 32-1 and the top seed out of Section Five. Should he pull the upset there, he'll get the winner of Jacob Smith (16-6) out of Waynesboro and Eddie Lockowitz (28-10) from Daniel Boone. But to beat Throckmorton would be a huge upset.


112: Calvin Anderton (32-10)
Anderton, another fourth seed, gets Chambersburg's Jimmy Hughes in the first round. Hughes in the top seed out of Section 1, and is sporting a 32-1 record. Tough go for Calvin, but he does have 32 wins and is certainly capable of winning. If he does win, he'll get the winner between Dover's Abe Evans (28-5) and Wilson's Zach Terfenko (22-18).


130: Justin Lewis (21-17)
Lewis is another four seed for the Bears. He draws the top seed from Section 5 (and second seed in the bracket), Spring Grove's Nathan Warner, who is 31-7. It certainly won't an easy matchup for Lewis, but if he wins, he'll get the winner between CV's Justin Lapp (21-13) and Shippensburg's Russell Davidson (33-3).


135: Oliver Thayer (30-10)
I think that of all the four seeds the Bears have, Thayer has the best shot of making some noise. Problem is, he got another tough draw (like he did in sectionals). He do battle in the first round with the top seed in the bracket, and No. 1 seed from Section Five, Central York's Zach Grove, who is a perfect 31-0 this season. That's a tough break for O, but if he can squeak though, he'll have a good shot in the second round, where he'll get the winner or Ephrata's Jared Becker (29-7) and Cumberland Valley's Tom Wiechelt (33-3).


140: Blake Rosenberger (37-3)
I think Rosenberger, represents E-town's best chance at a state berth. He shouldn't have much trouble in the first round, where he'll meet the third seed from Section One, Mecanicsburg's Evan Baer, who is 26-11. In the second round, Rosenberger will get the winner between Muhlenberg's Bo Cadelario (30-1) and Central York's Corey Green (27-11), which will probably be Cadelario. Rosenberger will have his hands full there, but if he gets through that, he could very well make it to the finals ... where Marshall Peppelman will be waiting.


160: Adam Zellman (29-10)
Zellman is one of E-town's three No. 2 seeds from Section Two and he'll match up with Dallastown's Clay Gable (33-6) in the first round. Gable is another two seed from Section Five. That'll be a tough one for Zellman, but he's proven time and time again this season that he is a very good tournament wrestler. If he win's he'll likely get top seed Mike Evans (19-1) of Cumberland Valley, who should cruise through his first round match. Tough draw for Zellman, but he's a very strong wrestler who has a nice shot of getting through to states.


171: Travis Leber (37-5)
Leber, E-town's leader in wins, is a three seed out of Section Two and will face off with Gettysburg's Bryce Shaffer (27-10), a No. 1 seed from Section One. I like Leber's chances there, and he'll likely draw Hempfield's Jarvis Cummings (27-9) in the quarterfinals. Don't be surprised to see Leber in the semifinals with a good chance of advancing to the Giant Center.


189: Shane Rosenberry (36-4)
I think there are two wrestlers in this bracket that will give Rosenberry trouble – Warwick's Antonio Giorgio and Cedar Cliff's Keith Dickey, both of whom have beaten Rosie this year. But I think that, along with Rosenberger, Shane will be at the Giant Center for states. In the first round, he gets Manheim Central's Josh Pavlik (11-9) and then the winner between Gettysburg's DJ Cool (awesome name by the way) (24-6) and Ephrata's Jordan Becker (31-10). I expect Rosenberry to match up with Giorgio (who is 39-0) in the semifinals and to grab that third spot in the bracket and advance to states.


285: Alex Kirchner (27-16)
Kirchner is the last of E-town's four seeds, and draws the top seed from Section 1, Mechanicsburg's Danny Estricher (28-3) in the first round. That will be a tough bout for Kirchner, but he's quick and is able to grind out those 3-2 types of matches. If he can get it to OT, he's got an edge. If he wins, he'll face the winner of Hempfield's Sean Sheehe (36-10) and Dallastown's Clifton Ward (29-11).

There you have it. Also, here's a tentative schedule for the tournament. It could change with the weather, but here is what is slated for now:
Friday:
1st round: 4 p.m.
Consolation 1st round: 6:30 p.m.
Championship Quarterfinals: 6:30 p.m.
Consolation 2nd round: 9:15 p.m.

Saturday:
Championship semifinals: 1 p.m.
Consolation third round: 1 p.m.
Consolation fourth round: 3 p.m.
Third and Fourth place matches: 5 p.m.
Parade of Champions: 6:15 p.m.
Finals: 6:30 p.m.

Unofficial District Three pairings

I got my hands on the unofficial D3 wrestling pairings for the first round. When they are confirmed, I'll give you more info on them, but for now, here's what I have:

103: Matt Hoover, Et, freshman, 29-11 vs. Cameron Throckmorton, South Western, freshman, 32-1.
112: Calvin Anderton, Et, sophomore, 32-10 vs. Jimmy Hughes, Chambersburg, sophomore, 32-1.
130: Justin Lewis, Et, sophomore, 21-17, vs. Nate Warner, Spring Grove, senior, 31-7.
135: Oliver Thayer, Et, senior, 30-10, vs. Zach Grove, Central York, senior, 31-0.
140: Blake Rosenberger, Et, senior, 35-3, vs. Evan Baer, Mechanicsburg, junior, 26-11.
160: Adam Zellman, Et, junior, 27-10, vs. Clay Gable, Dallastown, junior, 33-6.
171: Travis Leber, Et, senior, 37-5 vs. Bryce Shaffer, Gettysburg, junior, 27-10.
189: Shane Rosenberry, Et, junior, 34-4, vs. Josh Pavlik, Manheim Central, senior, 11-9.
285: Alex Kirchner, Et, junior, 27-16, vs. Dan Estricher, Mechanicsburg, senior, 29-3.

Bears send 9 to districts

It would be difficult not to classify E-town's secitonal tournament on Saturday as a success. Despite the stiff competition, E-town sent nine wrestlers through to this weekend's District Three tournament at Hersheypark Arena.

Three Bears advanced all the way to the finals: Blake Rosenberger at 140, Adam Zellman (pictured above, photo by Chris Bradley) at 160 and Shane Rosenberry at 189. All three lost in the finals.

Travis Leber was ablel to come back and finish in third place despite losing his first match. And five Bears: Matt Hoover, Calvin Anderton, Justin Lewis, Oliver Thayer and Alex Kirchner all finished fourth and earned the right to continue their season this weekend.

The absence of 215-pounder Sean McMullen was a mystery. I have not confirmed why McMullen (who was the 2 seed in the bracket and had a great shot of getting through to districts) was not at the sectional tournament, but his season (and his high school wrestling career) is now officially over. When I figure out what happened with Sean and why, I'll let you know.

But other than that, job well done by the Bears. I think we all though E-town would send a few through to districts, but nine is a fantastic number.

As always, when brackets are announced, I'll post them.

Wrestling: 1st round sectional matchups

Here are the first round matchups for the Bears in Saturday's District 3, Section 2 Class AAA tournament. Special thanks to Tom Knorr for sharing these. You can view the full brackets at Knorr's Web site, www.tknorr.com.

103: Matt Hoover, E-town, freshman, 27-9 record, vs. Shawn Hall, CD East, freshman, 11-15.
Bracket top seed: Clayton Youtz, CD, senior, 37-5.

112: Calvin Anderton, E-town, sophomore, 30-8, vs. Tyrus Nickoli, CD East, junior, 21-8.
Bracket top seed: Somon Rice, CD, junior, 38-4.

119: Antonio Rodriguez, E-town, freshman, 11-21, vs. Andrew DiMatteo, Red Land, sophomore, 5-15.
NOTE: This is a preliminary round matchup. The winner will face Chris Kochinsky, Middletown, senior, 28-2, in the first round.
Bracket top seed: Kochinsky.

125: Kyle Morrow, E-town, sophomore, 7-26, vs. Mike Layton, Harrisburg, junior, 6-16.
NOTE: This is also a preliminary round matchup. The winner will face Tyler Buckman, CD, sophomore, 33-10, in the first round.
Bracket top seed: Buckman.

130: Justin Lewis, E-town, sophomore, 19-15, vs. Kalann Washington, Harrisburg, freshman, 3-8.
Bracket top seed: Nick Kristich, Lower Dauphin, senior, 26-1.

135: Oliver Thayer, E-town, senior, 28-8, vs. Robert Tupper, Susquehanna Twp., sophomore, 20-7.
Bracket top seed: Jay Haas, Red Land, senior, 22-4.

140: Blake Rosenberger, E-town, senior, 33-2, vs. Aaron Wolaver, Red Land, junior, 13-14.
Bracket top seed: Marshall Peppelman, CD, sophomore, 31-1. Rosenberger is the second seed. He should have a pretty clear path to the final, where Peppelman will be waiting in what should be a very good match.

145: Jared Danneker, E-town, sophomore, 10-12, vs. Grant Dickey, Cedar Cliff, freshman, 20-12.
Bracket top seed: Walter Peppelman, CD, senior, 38-2.

152: Zach Myers, E-town, sophomore, 4-8, vs. Jacob Loffreda, Hershey, junior, 19-12.
Bracket top seed: Tony Dallago, CD, junior, 36-5.

160: Adam Zellman, E-town, junior, 25-9, vs. Ryan Rexrode, CD East, senior, 11-15.
Bracket top seed: Justin Aube, CD, senior, 20-6. Zellman is the 2 seed in this bracket. He has an excellent shot at getting to the finals here.

171: Travis Leber, E-town, senior, 34-4, vs. Harry Arndt, Hershey, junior, 25-4.
Bracket top seed: Edward Ruth, Susquehanna Twp., junior, 17-0.

189: Shane Rosenberry, E-town, junior, 32-3, vs. Luke Drayer, Hershey, sophomore, 9-6.
Bracket top seed: Keith Dickey, Cedar Cliff, senior, 32-6. Rosenberry is the second seed. His main roadblock to the finals will likely be CD's Kyle Wolfe, who he could meet in the quarterfinals.

215: Sean McMullen, E-town, senior, 22-9, vs. Troy Shott, CD, senior, 4-11.
Bracket top seed: Jaime Reitzi, Middletown, junior, 26-5. McMullen is another second seed for the Bears. He'll likely run into Red Land's Dustin Hicks (22-5) in the quarterfinals.

285: Alex Kirchner, E-town, junior, 25-14, vs. Kevin Washington, Harrisburg, junior, 10-16.
Bracket top seed: Daniel Nickoli, CD East, senior, 28-0.

Some analysis: First a disclaimer, I admit that I don't know a whole lot about the majority of the wrestlers that E-town will be facing. Hey, they're all from the Mid Penn, and I really only cover E-town (who is in the L-L). So I'm really basing this mostly off of records and things I have heard about some of these wrestlers.

Looking at the brackets, I'd say E-town has a pretty good chance of sending more than a couple of wrestlers through to districts. In the 103, 140, 145, 152, 160, 171, 189, 215 and 285 brackets, E-town wrestlers won't have to worry about meeting up with the top seed until the finals, at which point they will have already clinched a district berth. That's a pretty refreshing thought for the Bears.

Going weight by weight, here's my take on each (for what it's worth). Remember that the top 4 wrestlers in each weight class will advance to districts from this section. And that's how it should be. The competition in this tournament is steep, so the top 4 deserve to move on.
103: I think Hoover has a decent shot at moving on. In his half of the bracket, he'll have to watch out for second seeded Zack Witman from Middletown. Most of the wrestlers only need 2 wins on Saturday to advance.
112: Tough draw for Calvin Anderton. Nickoli will give him fits in the first round, and the winner gets to take on top-seeded Rice in the quarters. The good news is that if Anderton loses his first match, he has a chance to get to the third place match in wrestle-backs.
119: If Rodriguez wins his prelim match, he gets Kochinsky, who is very good.
125: Same thing for Morrow, as he'll also get a top seed if he wins his prelim match. It'll be tough for either to get through this tournament. Not putting them down, just being honest.
130: Lewis should be able to win his first round match, but would then have to do battle with top-seeded Kristich, who I remember from the past couple of years. He is an excellent wrestler. There are three really good wrestlers in this class, counting Middletown's Kyler Killian and CD's Kenny Stank, so Lewis will have to be at the top of his game to get fourth.
135: Like Anderton, Thayer gets a tough draw here. His first round match is no cupcake, and if he gets through that he'll have to face Haas in the semis. Ouch. But Thayer is resilient, so even if he loses and is forced into the consolations, he'll wrestle with all he has to get into that third place match.
140: I really don't see anything preventing Rosenberger from advancing to face Peppelman in the finals. I'm not sure if he can beat Peppelman, but I'm not saying he can't beat him either. Either way, Blake should be wrestling in Hersheypark Arena next weekend.
145: Danneker has his hands full in the first round with Dickey, who I hear is an outstanding wrestler – especially for a freshman. Walt Peppelman will win this bracket, so the other six wrestlers are vying for the remaining three spots.
152: Myers had a pretty good showing at leagues, but he might be a little too inexperienced to get through this tournament. He's got two good wrestlers in his half of the bracket (Loffreda and LD's Chad Savage), so he'll have to wrestle at his absolute best.
160: Zellman got a very good draw, with a lot of good wrestlers in the other half of the bracket. I think he'll get to the finals and will likely qualify for districts.
171: It's doubtful anyone here can beat Ruth, but Leber hasn't won a team-high 34 matches by accident. He can hang with just about anyone. He's got a tough draw in the first round, though and another tough matchup waiting for him in the semis. He is in a loaded half of the bracket and will need to wrestle strong to get through. I think he's got a good shot, though.
189: Rosenberry should cruise to the finals, where he'll likely get top seeded Keith Dickey, of Cedar Cliff. Dickey will give Rosie all he can handle, but it is possible for him to win there. You'll see him in Hershey next weekend too.
215; It appears that a matchup between Red Land's Dan Hicks and McMullen will happen in the quarterfinals. Sean has a great shot to get through, but I don't think he will be able to overcome Reitzi and win the bracket.
285: Kirchner is giving up a ton of weight here, but he has all season and still found a way to win 25 times. If he wins his first round match, he'll likely have to get through consolations to make it to Hershey.

There's my take. Best of luck to all wrestlers tomorrow.

Girls basketball/wrestling schedule changes

The EAHS girls basketball team wraps up its season tonight at 8 p.m. against Steelton-Highspire. The girls were originally suppose to close with a game against Lower Dauphin on Feb. 5, but that game has been dropped. My guess is that LD made the playoffs and would not be able to play E-town because they would have played too many games then. And Steel High was available, just not on Feb. 5, so the game was moved to tonight.

It's been a season of learning for the Baby Bears. They've won just one game so far, and that game back in December. But this is an extremely young team and they'll do nothing but get better. If you've seen them play, you've seen how much energy and passion they play with even when things aren't going their way. They're getting their feet wet and learning the varsity game and when they do, look out, because they'll never stop playing hard.

Also, just a reminder, the wrestling match originally scheduled for tonight at Carlisle has been moved to Tuesday night, Feb. 5, at Carlisle at 7 p.m. Also, the Feb. 2 match against Lancaster Catholic was moved to Feb. 8. The JV will start at 6:30, the varsity at 7:30 p.m.

Wrestling: District 3 team tournament brackets

The District 3 wrestling team tournament brackets are now available at the district's Web site (http://district3.piaa.org). But I have them here for you to save you a click over to there. E-town drew the No. 12 seed (surprising to me... I thought they'd be higher). But they begin things by facing an L-L rival, Warwick. Should be a great match. The winner of the E-town-Warwick matchup will get the winner of No. 4 Big Spring vs. No. 13 Hempfield.

The first round begins at 7 p.m. on Tuesday night (Jan. 29), at the higher seed's school. The quarterfinals will be on Thursday, Jan. 31, at 7 p.m. and will again be at the higher seed's school. The semifinals and finals will be on Saturday, Feb. 2 at Milton Hershey's Spartan Center. The AAA semis are at 2 p.m. and the finals are at 6:30 p.m.

Here's the Round One Bracket, with team seed and record in parentheses:

1. Central Dauphin (13-1) vs. 16. Reading (13-9).
8. Red Lion (17-2) vs. 9. Carlisle (12-4)

5. Warwick (8-0) vs. 12. Elizabethtown (13-3)
4. Big Spring (10-2) vs. 13. Hempfield (16-2)

3. Lower Dauphin (13-2) vs. 14. Dallastown (7-5)
6. Cumberland Valley (12-4) vs. 11. Wilson (16-3)

7. Cedar Cliff (14-3) vs. 10. South Western (8-2)
2. Spring Grove (13-1) vs. 15. Conestoga Valley (12-5).

The winners of the matches that are grouped together will wrestle each other in the next round (ex. the CD/Reading winner wrestles the Red Lion/Carlisle winner, etc, etc.)

So there you have it kids. Enjoy.

Magical ride continues

(Photo by Chris Bradley).

The Elizabethtown wrestling team's dream season continued last night, as the Bears stormed from behind to beat Lampeter-Strasburg and capture their second straight Section Two championship. The win came less than a week after E-town won its first-ever Lancaster-Lebanon League team championship, marking the first time in school history that the team had won league and section titles in the same year.

The atmosphere at last night's match was probably the most electric out of any E-town wrestling match I've ever attended. The fans were absolutely fantastic (with the exception of the guy in the front row who was screaming at L-S' coach to sit down. There was really no need for that, the guy was just arguing for his wrestler. Coaches do that all the time and there's nothing wrong with it. The fan should've kept his focus where it belonged – on the mat. Let the coach do his job). OK, now that I'm down from my soapbox...seriously, the crowd was awesome, and believe me, the wrestlers noticed. After the match, I interviewed Adam Zellman, Shane Rosenberry and Sean McMullen (who is pictured above, by the way), and when I asked each of them about the crowd support, they couldn't help but smile. Great job by the E-town fans.

And you can't say enough about the resolve of this E-town group. The Bears were in a 23-4 hole at one point before Zellman jumpstarted them with a pin at 160. McMullen was completely dominant, getting to wrestle closer to his actual weight at 189 and earning a pin in 20 seconds. Rosenberry bumped up to 215 and was noticeably smaller than L-S' Chris Eldredge, but he wrestled with the energy and passion that he has all season and got a pin.

Also, Alex Kirchner did an amazing job to beat Teddy Force in triple OT. The crowd was going BESERK on that one. What a fun match to watch. If they were at their natural weights, I'd bet that Rosie, McMullen and Kirchner would all be 189 pounders, and darn good ones at that. But it just shows the unselfishness of this group that they are willing to wrestle wherever they are needed and give the coaching staff and their teammates 100 percent for every single match, no matter how much weight they are giving up.

Congratulations to the Bears, who will have to wait until Sunday for District Three to announce the team tournament brackets. I'll try and post them as soon as I get them, but you can visit the district's web site for yourself if you choose. Just follow the link on the right hand side of this page.

Wrestling match change

Just got a fax from EAHS. E-town's scheduled wrestling match with Lancaster Catholic has been moved from Feb. 2 to Feb. 8. The JV will begin at 6:30 p.m. and the varsity will start at 7:30 p.m.

Breaking news....Bears win Leagues

Just got back from Manheim Township, where the E-town Bears won the Lancaster-Lebanon League tournament, beating out Hempfield and Warwick for the team crown.

It is the first time in the 14-year history of the tournament that E-town has been crowned the team champ. Blake Rosenberger was E-town's only individual champion, winning the 145-pound weight class.

I'll have plenty more on this Monday, just wanted to post a quick update for all of those who were curious and didn't make it to Neffsville tonight.

Congrats to head coach Mike Sernoffsky and the rest of the Bears. Job well done.


On a side note, my Maryland Terps went to North Carolina this afternoon and walked out with a shocking win over the No. 1 and previously unbeaten Tar Heels in college basketball. That's what I'm talking about Terps. Fear the turtle, baby. Fear. The. Turtle.

That's all for tonight, E-town, until Monday, enjoy the NFL games tomorrow and, as always, stay classy.

Cheers.

L-L Tournament matchups

OK, here's the skinny on the league wrestling tournament today:
The first round begins at 4 p.m. at Manheim Township. Today, the wrestling will include pigtails, the first round, quarterfinals and the first round of consolations.

Action picks back up tomorrow at 10 a.m. with more consolations. Semifinals are scheduled to kick off at 11:30 a.m. And the fifth, third and first-place bouts will all take place following the L-L Hall of Fame inductions at 4;30 p.m. Personally, I think it's an awful idea to run the 1st, 3rd and 5th place bouts simultaneously. Not only because it makes it more difficult for me to cover, but because it takes away from the kids – and that's the most important thing. The championship matches should be the ONLY matches happening in the gym when they are up. Those kids earned it. From what I understand, this was Township's decision (that's not confirmed, just hearsay). If that's the case, I feel like they are making a mistake.

Anyway, onto the first round matchups. Forgive me if I don't know the first name of an E-town opponent. All I was given was last names and I don't know all of the other wrestlers' first names.

103 – Matt Hoover, E-town, (18-4, 3 pins) vs. the winner of the May, Cocalico, and O'Malley, Garden Spot.
* The favorite in this bracket has to be Ortiz from McCaskey. I've seen him for a couple years now, and he's going to be tough to beat. Hoover's only a freshman though, so this will be a good measuring stick for him.
112 – Calvin Anderton, E-town, (20-4, 4 pins) vs. Sullivan, Solanco.
* Anderton has had a great season, but the Stoltz kids from Township is really good. Calvin could open some eyes though.
119 – Antonio Rodriguez, E-town, (7-15, 1 pin) vs. Quinn, Warwick.
* This is a pigtail matchup. The winner of this bout gets second-seeded Aspril, of L-S.
125 – Kyle Morrow, E-town, (5-16) vs. Evan, Ephrata.
* Another pigtail matchup. The winner here gets the top seed, Warwick's Pearsall.
130 – Chapis, Warwick, vs. Justin Lewis, E-town (10-6, 3 pins).
* Lewis is a scrappy wrestler with a pretty decent record, but I'm predicting Donegal's Grove wins this bracket. Just a hunch.
135 – Oliver Thayer, E-town, (21-2, 2 pins) vs. the winner of Wager, Manheim Twp, and Webber, Cocalico.
* The Big O is the top seed in this bracket. He hasn't lost a dual meet match, but has 2 losses in tournaments. I expect him to be wrestling in the finals.
140 – Robby Townsley, E-town, (6-6, 2 pins), vs. Hamid, CV.
* I'd be shocked if Garden Spot's Aaron Yohn didn't win this bracket. The kid is very good. Townsley could surprise a few people and place high in this bracket, though.
145 – Blake Rosenberger, E-town (21-2, 3 pins), vs. the winner of Haitos, Lebanon and Ki. Kinderwater, Manheim Twp.
* Blake's the top seed here. He is one of the best wrestlers (arguably the best) on a very strong E-town team. Expect him to be in the finals.
152 – Zach Myers, E-town, (1-5) vs. Weatherholtz, Elco.
* Pigtail matchup here. The winner gets Graeff, of L-S. This is usually Zac Distasio's weight class, but he's not in the tournament. Haven't gotten word yet if it is an injury, or what is happening with Zac, but Myers, a sophomore, will be E-town's 152 pounder.
160 – Adam Zellman, E-town, (18-5, 5 pins), vs. Gieniec, PM and Belousov, Ephrata winner.
* Zellman has pretty quietly put together an outstanding campaign this year. He could finish very high in this bracket, but I like Sweigart from Donegal. That kid is so tall for a 160 pounder that he has a definite advantage.
171 – Travis Lever, E-town, (21-2, 4 pins), vs. winner of Fowler, L-S, and Hinerman, GS.
* Travis is the 2-seed in this bracket (Ephrata's Blake Crowther is the top seed). If he can get to the finals against Crowther, it will be a fantastic matchup.
189 – Shane Rosenberry, E-town (21-1, 7 pins) vs. winner of Ueberroth, Cocalico and Felus, Columbia.
* Rosie is the 2 seed in this bracket. The Giorgio kid from Warwick is an absolute beast and the top seed. Should Shane make the finals (and he should), he'll have his hands full with him.
215 – Sean McMullen, E-town, (13-5, 4 pins) vs. winner of Stuckey, Cedar Crest and Torres, McCaskey.
* The obvious favorite here is Central's Jordan Enck (who I believe will be a state champion this year). McMullen is giving up weight to almost everyone, but he has the ability and strength to get far.
285 – Alex Kirchner, E-town, (15-9, 2 pins) vs. Force, L-S.
* Kirchner is another kid giving up a lot of weight in this class. But he's strong and he's quick, and that could propel him to a top-five finish.

There you have it. Enjoy the tournament.

In the Driver's Seat

Well, well, well, I certainly didn't see this one coming. Manheim Central beat Lampeter-Strasburg (we're talking about wrestling by the way) last night and put the Bears (6-0 leage, 12-3 overall) in sole possession of first place in Section Two. L-S drops into a second place tie with CV and Central is still hanging around.

Next Thursday's matchup with L-S is still huge for E-town, but at least the Bears know now that they control their own destiny. Heck, they clinched at least a tie for the section title with a win over Garden Spot last night coupled with the L-S loss. Beat the Pioneers next Thursday, and they'll repeat as section champs.

But first things first, the Bears need to take care of business tomorrow and Saturday at the L-L League Tournament. Last year, they had a great outing, finishing fourth. I think they are up there with Warwick and Hempfield in terms of the teams to beat this year. Warwick is very, very tough, as is Hempfield, but the winner of the tournament should be one of those three schools, and there's no reason to think that the Bears can't take the whole enchilada. Time will tell, I suppose.

I'm trying to get my paws on the first round matchups of tomorrow's tournament. When I do, I'll post them along with any insight I have.

Playing catch up

Happy New Year to everyone! I hope you all had a safe, enjoyable New Year's Eve and that you are still sticking by your New Year's resolutions (my resolution of eating healthier begins AFTER the NFL playoffs. Sorry, but I just can't enjoy watching my Redskins while munching on carrot sticks. I need some hot wings or chili or something like that. And lots of it).

Now that the holidays are beyond us and everything is running on a much more regulated schedule, especially here in Newspaper Land, let me catch up with how the E-town teams in action over the holiday break fared at their respective holiday tournaments.

WRESTLING

The Bears were in the Donegal Holiday Tournament on Friday and Saturday and looked good, sending eight kids to the finals, winning three individual titles, and winning the team standings.

Shane Rosenberry, above (awesome photo by Chris Bradley), was an absolute monster in this thing. He had five matches total and earned five pins in a TOTAL time of 2:59. I still think he was robbed of OW in the tourney (although Middletown's Chris Kochinsky is a beast), but great effort by Shane at 189 pounds, especially in the finals, where he picked up a pin in less than 30 seconds. Blake Rosenberger wrestled a great match against Aaron Yohn (who is pretty darn good) in the finals and picked up a decision to win the 145 title. And Travis Leber, who is brutally strong and rocks a devastating arm bar, continued his great season by winning the 171 class. Combined, Leber, Roseberry and Rosenberger have a 39-4 combined record. Wow.

Definite props should go to Sean McMullen and Alex Kirchner as well. McMullen was second at 215 and Kirchner was second at 285 despite both obviously giving up tons of weight. I don't know their exact weights, but if either of these kids weigh more than 200 pounds, I'd be amazed. What they are doing this year while wrestling kids much, much heavier than they are is astounding.

While I'm in the mood to give out props, great tournaments by Oliver Thayer, Matty Hoover, Zac Distasio and Kyle Morrow as well. Morrow came out of nowhere to make it to the finals at 125 as a six seed. Great job by him, good for you Kyle.

BOYS BASKETBALL

Break 'em up! Chad Styer, above (photo by Randy Dininni), and the Bears are riding a two game winning streak after beating Garden Spot last night. E-town lost its first game in the West Shore tournament over the break, but rebounded to beat Penn Manor in the consolation game on Friday night and beat Garden Spot by 13 last night, thanks to 12 points from Quinn Cozzens and 11 each from Styer and Jordan Hallman.
E-town is now 4-7 overall and 1-5 in league play, but I'm not giving up on them yet. I really think this is one of the better teams in Section Two and that they can make a late season run at a playoff spot. It's too soon to say if the hole they are in is too big to dig out of, but I know they'll give it one heck of a shot.
We'll know much more about their position this time next week. E-town's next two games (tomorrow and Monday) are against Ephrata and Solanco, both Section Two teams. Two wins there are the Bears are back in this thing.

GIRLS BASKETBALL

Becca Bigler, above (photo by Randy DininnI), went beserk on Friday night in the Hershey Holiday Classic and led E-town to its first win of the season. Bigs had 19 points and 20 boards and the Bears whooped Greencastle-Antrim 59-31 in the consolation game of the tournament.
E-town was held to just a point in the second half last night, though, against Garden Spot and lost to the Spartans 28-16. Puzzling.
The Baby Bears are extremely young, so it'll be another year or so before they are in the mix, but the experience they are getting this season is going to be very, very, very valuable.

That's all for now, E-town. I'll be at the wrestling match tonight, the girls basketball game tomorrow night, and the boys basketball game on Monday, so feel free to come over and say hi.

Stay classy Elizabethtown.

Cheers.

Bears thump Donegal

(Shane Rosenberry, shown here in E-town's win over Hershey last week, earned a tech. fall last night. – photo courtesy of Naomi Herr).

Well, color me impressed. E-town looked very good last night and completely dominated Donegal en route to a 43-15 win. The Bears have had a lot of expectations heaped on them already (I've heard rumblings that several coaches in the L-L League said that they were the team to beat in the league), and they've lived up to them so far.

After picking up the program's 400th win last week in dominating fashion, the Bears put it on Donegal and it really wasn't even close. I was very impressed with the energy E-town wrestled with and it was great seeing how much stronger and better some of the wrestlers have gotten since last year.

Justin Lewis, Blake Rosenberger (who I think is going to have a huge year, even though he's in a stacked weight class at 145) and Calvin Anderton all picked up pins. Oliver Thayer (very impressed by him last night as well) and Sean McMullen both had major decisions and Shane Rosenberry had a tech. fall. Jared Danneker and Travis Leber both won by decision.

Great job by the Bears last night. They travel tomorrow to Middletown, which will be a great early season measuring stick for this team. Middletown is always one of the strongest teams in the district, so it will be interesting to see how the Bears stack up with them.

EAHS wrestling preview

Head Coach: Mike Sernoffsky, 25th season.

2006-2007 Record: 13-3 overall, 6-1 Section Two. Section Two champions.

Key Returners: Calvin Anderton, sophomore, 112 pounds; Oliver Thayer, senior, 135; Blake Rosenberger, senior, 145; Robby Townsley, senior, 140; Zac Distasio, senior, 152; Adam Zellman, junior, 160; Travis Leber, senior, 171; Justin Lewis, sophomore, 130; Jared Danneker, sophomore, 130; Shane Rosenberry, junior, 189; Sean McMullen, senior, 215; Alex Kirchner, junior, 285; Nico Givens, junior, 140.
E-town returns a ton of talent from last year’s section-champion squad. Up and down their lineup, the Bears are filled with experienced wrestlers capable of winning a lot of matches.
They will be led by the big three of Rosenberger, Rosenberry and McMullen. Rosenberry and McMullen were district medalists and state qualifiers a year ago and all three have an excellent shot of getting to the Giant Center for the state tournament this year. Rosenberry and McMullen will mainly wrestle at 189 and 215, but can also go at 171 and 189, respectively. Both are very strong, quick and technically sound and will win plenty of matches this season.
Rosenberger seems primed for a big season as well, and will be a force all season long, including leagues and sectionals and, barring an injury, will likely be a district and state qualifier.
The rest of E-town’s returners are more than capable of making a lot of noise in the season-ending tournaments, as the Bears return five wrestlers with 25 or more wins from last year. You’d be hard pressed to find a weakness in any of the weights that E-town has returning wrestlers at.

Key Newcomers: Matt Hoover, freshman, 103; Antonio Rodriguez, freshman, 119; Kyle Morrow, sophomore, 125; Zach Cramer, sophomore, 125; Zach Myers, sophomore, 152; Sean Heming, sophomore, 285; Hayden Gerhart, senior, 152; David Kennedy, sophomore, 160.
For the first time in several years, the Bears will be able to trot out a full lineup, with Hoover and Rodriguez filling the 103 and 119 weight classes.
The depth at the other weights will help the Bears get better in matches because they will have more competition on the practice mats, something that is very important in wrestling.
All of these newcomers will have the luxury of learning the ropes from the deep class of returning wrestlers, which will help keep E-town strong for the next couple of years.

Key Losses: Cole Hilsher, Joey Ahern, Chris Marsh, Alex Herr.
Hilsher and Ahern were both captains last year and brought a lot of senior leadership (not to mention talent) to E-town’s roster and will be missed.
Marsh gave the Bears a solid heavyweight, which will be taken over now by Kirchner. Herr was also a solid wrestler and always gave supreme effort when he was on the mat.

What they do well: Know how to win, wrestle with heart.
Go watch an E-town wrestling match. What you’ll see is every wrestler, from 103 pounds through heavyweight, wrestle hard each and every match and never quit. Several times last year, E-town wrestlers fell behind in the first and second periods of matches, only to come back strong in the third period and pull out wins. In section matches, and tournaments especially, the wrestlers who don’t give up are often the ones getting their hand raised at the end.
The Bears are also familiar with winning. You won’t find anyone wearing an E-town singlet being easily intimidated by an opponent, which is a testament to their previous success and also to the Bears’ coaching staff. E-town has plenty of wrestlers capable of qualifying for districts, and they know what they have to do to get there. E-town also has a lot of members of the football team on its roster. Sernoffsky said he hopes those players can continue the winning tradition they started in the fall.
“The kids are on a high from successful fall sports seasons and we plan to build on that,” he said.

What they need to work on: Not being complacent.
The Bears have a very good team this year, and they know it. There’s a fine line between confidence and arrogance and E-town has to be careful to stay on the side of confidence. Just because they are supposed to win a lot of matches doesn’t mean it will come easy.
E-town has to continue working hard, hitting the weight room and practicing hard each and every day. Sernoffsky said his wrestlers have good heads on their shoulders and doesn’t see complacency as being as issue.
“We must guard against an attitude that we don’t have to work hard because we are supposed to be good,” he said. “I don’t believe the coaching staff will allow that, as the kids can see from the intensity of practice so far.”

How they fared so far this season: 1-0.
E-town dismantled Hershey in its season-opening match on Saturday, Dec. 1, picking up the program’s 400th win in the process. It was an important win for the Bears, as they got the season started the way they wanted to in front of dozens of former EAHS wrestlers.

Outlook:
All signs point to a huge season for the Bears this year, if they can avoid key injuries. E-town has a lot of wrestlers on its roster, but there are still some weight classes that lack a lot of depth.
But it’s hard for E-town’s fans not to be excited about the upcoming season. Their success will hinge on how well the returning wrestlers can harness last season’s success and build on it. In nearly every match, the Bears can rely on getting points from Rosenberry, McMullen and Rosenberger and look for wrestlers like Anderton, Thayer, Townsley, Distasio, Zellman, Leber, Danneker and Kirchner to step up rack up a lot of wins, leading to another double-digit win total for the team.
The Bears lost just one match in section play last year, to Manheim Central. The Barons will be tough again this year (the 215 matchup of McMullen and Jordan Enck will be a highlight there), so E-town will not waltz to a repeat of the section crown.
E-town will have a strong season this year, and should be able to at least match last year’s 13 wins. The Bears could also send between four and five wrestlers to districts, with Rosenberger, Rosenberry and McMullen having the best shot to make the state tournament.
“We have a good blend of seniors and underclassmen with quite a bit of experience,” Sernoffsky said. “We hope to continue with the success of the football and soccer teams and win another section title this year.”

*I'll be at Daubert Gym tonight for the big Donegal-E-town match. More on this tomorrow.