BOYERTOWN – The second season, the postseason that is, has arrived … individual sport at its very best. And it isn’t just who does this and who does that. It’s who wins, or who wins often enough to survive the first week of a month-long grind that eventually separates the good from the not-as-good in a state with as storied a wrestling history as any anywhere.

In other words, there are usually no remaining team goals to pin down.

Usually, that is.

But you can bet your headgear, singlet and shoes – and a don’t-count-the-calories-lunch – that Great Valley has a team title on its mind going into today’s District 1-Class AAA Section Four Tournament.

The Patriots, considered one of the district’s premier teams from the very beginning of the season, and arguably one of the top three, didn’t get the opportunity to prove it. Great Valley officials had to shut down the program because of a skin infection that affected a number of the Patriots.

Because of the outbreak, Great Valley was forced to withdraw from the district duals, and because of the accompanying panic from around the district, saw its bid for an outright – and undisputed – Ches-Mont League championship get erased. The Patriots didn’t get to strut their collective stuff for 23 days, or until they finally returned to the mats for the Pequea Valley Duals last weekend and a non-league match with Brandywine Heights on Wednesday.

“The kids feel like they need to go out and prove themselves,” said head coach Joe Tornetta, a Phoenixville graduate who at the end of the season is stepping down after a long and very successful career at Great Valley. “They feel there are people out there who still think they are still overrated. They want to prove they are as good as publicized.”

Boyertown head coach Pete Ventresca was impressed with the Patriots well over a month ago, when they met up at the Cedar Cliff Duals. The Bears had a five-point lead going into the final bout, but Tornetta

opted to forfeit than send out one of his aces who was nursing an injured shoulder, giving Boyertown a bit of a deceiving 36-25 win.

“(Great Valley) is good, very good,” Ventresca said recently. “It’s a team that doesn’t really have many holes in its lineup.”

If the seedings for today’s brawl are any indication, yes, the Patriots are indeed good. They picked up 11 top-four seedings. The top draws went to Kyle Liberato (26-2 at 125 pounds), Domenic DeRobertis (27-2 at 145), Justin Schellenger (26-2 at 160), Myles Tornetta (26-3 at 189), and Carl Buchholz (28-2 at 215). Three teammates are No. 2 seeds.

“The kids have worked extremely hard and have had to overcome some serious obstacles in the process of getting here (today),” Tornetta said. “But sectional wrestling, postseason wrestling, is a bit different than dual meet competition. We will have to wrestle our best.”

Boyertown has been at its best – or close to it – in recent weeks. The Bears finished second to Quakertown in the district duals, avenged that loss to the Panthers to finish among the top six at the state duals, then capped the regular season with a rout of Phoenixville for its third straight Pioneer Athletic Conference championship.

The Bears have just two No. 1 seeds in Jeremy Minich (31-4 at 112) and Alex Pellicciotti (35-3 at 130). But three others – 2007 section champion Matt Malfaro (119), defending champion Tim Feroe (152) and a healthy Zach Heffner (189) – are situated No. 2 in their respective weight classes, and Trevor MacMinn (125) is a No. 3 seed.

Boyertown also has senior Charles Jones back at 171. Jones won nine of his first 11 bouts – losing just two close decisions – before suffering an injury at the Beast of the East Classic in Delaware..

The area’s two other teams in the section – Owen J. Roberts and Spring-Ford – each has a No. 1 seed. For the Wildcats, it’s Nick Fuschino (25-1) at 152. For the Rams, it’s Justin Franiak (21-8) at 285. Both are defending champions.

If there is one weight class in particular that could be the headliner today, it’s 152 – with two returning champions in Fuschino and Feroe (33-5), and very good rivals in Great Valley’s Travis Donnor (19-4) and Bishop Shanahan’s Evan Duffy (23-5).

If Fuschino and Feroe meet up in the final, Feroe will be looking for a little revenge considering he was 0-4 against Fuschino back in 2006-07, the last time the two met. In their respective high school careers, the pair have wrestled 29 common opponents, and Feroe has gone 30-7 against that group while Fuschino has gone 28-5.

* * *

Boyertown, which returned to District 1 in 2004, has had more champions (22) the past five years than any other team in the Section Four field. Owen J. Roberts (10), Spring-Ford (9), Downingtown West (8) and Great Valley (7) are a distant second through fifth, respectively. … The only teams in all of District 1 with at least one section champion in each of the previous 10 seasons (1999-2008) are Neshaminy (Section One); Upper Perkiomen (Section Two); Methacton and Norristown (Section Three); and Upper Darby (Section Five). Henderson has also accomplished the feat while competing in Sections Four and Six during that span.

SECTION THREE

Phoenixville, back up in the AAA bracket for the first time in six years, picked up a pair of No. 1 seeds in Matt Cermanski (20-10) and Ken Cenci (25-5) for the Section Three Tournament at Methacton. Cermanski will be at 125, while Cenci is at 215 for the Phantoms, who also saw Chris Onder (16-8) draw the No. 2 spot at 112 and teammate Dan Giannone (15-13) get No. 3 at 125.

Perkiomen Valley has six top-three seeds. The Vikings’ No. 2 seeds are Gavin Milligan (28-4) at 130 and Jordan Deane (22-9) at 135, while the No. 3 seeds are Justin Beitler (18-8) at 103, Vaughn Gehman (12-13) at 145, Brett Petriello (22-11) at 189, and Chase Godfrey (28-4) at 285.

Host Methacton, meanwhile, didn’t get a No. 1 seed for the first time in recent memory. The hosts’ favorites are No. 2 seeds Rob D’Annunzio (22-6) at 103 and Brandan Clark (24-4) at 215, and No. 3 seed Kyle Kovalsky (21-7) at 160.

Justin Andrews, a section champion two years ago, is a contender at 119.

* * *

Phoenixville hasn’t had a Class AAA section champ since Ed Bearden, the third member of his family – joining Paul (1978) and Tom (1981 and 1982) – to capture a gold medal at sectionals. … Norristown’s David Irwin, who wrestled at Upper Perkiomen two years ago and was a Section Two champion, is 21-2 and seeded second at 112 pounds. … The Phantoms’ Sam LaPorte (3-23) opens against Plymouth-Whitemarsh’s John Staudenmayer (31-0), the only unbeaten wrestler in the entire sectional.

SECTION TWO

Upper Perkiomen drew five No. 1 seeds for the Section Two Tournament in its own gym. The Indians, who will have to deal with District 1-AAA Team Duals champion and defending section champion Quakertown, hope to get a lift from Marty McStravick (23-8) at 119, Garrett Fellman (21-11) at 125, Mike McStravick (27-5) at 140, Nick Edmonson (18-4) at 171, and Jared Bennett (32-2) at 285.

Pottsgrove’s Zach Robinson (25-5) is the No. 1 seed at 130. Falcon teammates D.J. Ludy (20-9), Danny Michaels (15-6) and T.J. Demetrio (23-7) all drew No. 3 seeds at 125, 135 and 145, respectively.

Pottstown, back up in the AAA bracket for the first time since 1990, got a No. 3 seed in Will Carter (15-9) at 285.

* * *

Unfortunately, either Pottsgrove’s Anthony Martin or Pottstown’s Rashaad Lighty will see their season end this morning when the two meet in a pigtail at 152 pounds. … Last season, Robinson became Pottsgrove’s first section champion since Brian Shallcross was a gold medalist in 1993. … Because of its long run in AA, Pottstown hasn’t had a Class AAA section champion since the memorable 1989 postseason run saw Chris Ruyak, Larry Wallace, Frank Stehman, Tom Medvetz, Brian Campbell and Job Price pin down gold for the Trojans. When the Class AA field expanded and forced officials to go with a two-section format in 1991, Pottstown’s Mike Johnson, Ron McCalicher, Shawn Schmidt, Dave McDonnell, Joey Allen and Rich Fagley were all District 1-Class AA Section One champions. The Pioneer Athletic Conference – Pottstown, along with Pottsgrove (three), Perkiomen Valley (one) and St. Pius X (one) – accounted for all but two of the individual gold medals in that sectional. … In the last 10 years, Upper Perkiomen has had a District 1-high 52 section champions – including a district-record eight in 2006.

NOTES

Pellicciotti owns the most wins (35) of anyone in today’s six sectionals. Norristown’s Marcus Robbins is next with 34, while teammates Brandon Parker and Joe Kent, along with Feroe, are next with 33 apiece. … Feroe, Chichester’s Bob Scheivert and Robbins share the District 1 lead in pins with 22 each.

My oh my, how we’ve progressed. Let’s see, we have voice mail, e-mail, text-messaging, blogs, forums, Facebook … enough already. We still have the ol’ Letter to the Editor, too (nah, forget that one — you actually have to write or type something and sign your name to it).

But everyone has an opinion on everything, and countless venues to express them.

Go back as long as you want, back to our parents’ or even our grandparents’ day — a generation or two, if you will — and you’ll find, very much like today, everyone had an opinion of this and that. But those opinions, our own personal points of view or what we may have thought was right and wrong, were curbed to a great extent by respect.

Respect?

Gotta be kidding me, right?

Respect? That’s gone the way of the rotary telephone and Atari, Donkey Kong, Pac-Man, and Tetris.

No one knows exactly when or where, but at some point and time, way too many people became authorities on sports. No one knows for sure if they were motivated by their own past, when they may have failed miserably as athletes themselves or were scarred by an indifference with a coach or two. Perhaps they were motivated during the drive to and from work with sports talk shows of all kinds blaring on the radio,

or during the hours at home when they melt into the sofa, flick from channel to channel to watch and listen to even more experts.

But eventually, or so they think, they know a great deal more about the games than anyone else, including the men and women who coach them and the athletes who play them.

So today, thanks to our electronic geniuses, these sports authorities — hiding behind the anonymity afforded them by voice mail, email, blogs, and forums — express their opinions on anything and everything.

Sadly, they’re read (or heard).

The sport of wrestling sure hasn’t escaped the experts’ wrath, either, especially in recent years. And the great mat minds were full of themselves last week when Great Valley pulled out of the District 1-AAA Duals because of a skin infection that spread throughout the team.

There were those who questioned the “timing” of head coach Joe Tornetta’s decision to pull out, others who questioned the “competency” of District 1 administrators for not replacing Great Valley in the duals lineup. There was one genius who questioned the professionalism — or integrity — of a writer who covers the Patriots for our sister paper, The Daily Local News. Of course, as every genius likes to claim today, he or she had their sources. I won the lottery four times last month, too (and didn’t even buy one ticket).

The fact anyone would question Tornetta or Great Valley’s administration on their handling of the skin infection issue is ludicrous.

When the seeding meeting was held Sunday a week ago at Spring-Ford, Tornetta had one wrestler diagnosed with excyma and another seeing a doctor for a “pimple look alike.” One was already cleared to return to the mats the day before the district duals began. But at the conclusion of Tuesday’s practice, both wrestlers’ conditions had worsened, at least visually on their face, neck, and arms, and another wrestler developed a “pimple look alike” condition. Tornetta made calls to the parents to have their sons get checked by doctors. Upon returning to school Wednesday morning, Tornetta was informed there were three suspected cases of herpes gladiatorum, the scientific name for mat herpes. The Ches-Mont League match with Rustin on Wednesday night was postponed at that time.

Also on Wednesday, a dermatologist spoke with Great Valley administrators who, along with Tornetta, made the decision to shut down the wrestling program for 10 days because even more wrestlers may have been infected by the skin condition despite showing no symptoms.

Within the hour, at approximately 3 p.m. Wednesday, calls were made to both Bob Ruoff, chairman of District 1, and Dennis Kellon, chairman of the District 1 Wrestling Steering Committee, to inform them of the situation at Great Valley as well as the decisions to shut down the program and pull out of the duals.

Tornetta and everyone else at Great Valley should be commended, not condemned, for handling the situation.

The writer who was covering the incident from the beginning was bashed for not revealing the so-called story right away — Monday, that is. First of all, there was no story on Monday, or Tuesday for that matter. A skin condition or two, which a lot of wrestling teams experience in a season, doesn’t constitute a story. But when it spreads throughout a team and causes a program to be shut down, it is a story.

The media doesn’t — and should never at any time — write or publish stories based on hearsay or according to unreliable sources. And creating a story without someone, a creditable source, that is, to back it … well, check the fiction section of your nearest library. It’s called professionalism, and ignoring that standard can easily lead to libel or defamation suits in this litigation-happy society today. So Thursday, when it became “official” that Great Valley was out of the duals, the Daily Local News reported the story the following morning.

Of course, the geniuses took a few shots at the district administrators for not reseeding, too. The reseeding would have been elementary, but doing that — inserting a new 24th and final seed and bumping everyone up would have also meant changing locations for quite a few teams’ first-round matches. But that, as simple as it may sound, would have also created obvious havoc for teams with their already scheduled travel plans of getting to the right location in time.

Ruoff, Kellon, and everyone else involved in the decision to stay the course — giving the winner of the first-round match that was supposed to face Great Valley a forfeit — meant no complete overhaul of the bracket was required. No wave of phone calls had to be made, not one coach had to prepare for “another” team at the last minute, and not one school had to rework its transportation schedule. In other words, good job.

Bottom line, Tornetta and everyone else at Great Valley did what was best for their wrestlers and, in doing so as proficiently and promptly as they did, protected the entire District 1 wrestling community.

As far as surprises on the mats, there were none in last week’s first two rounds of the District 1-AAA Duals. Except for No. 17 Perkiomen Valley’s win over No. 16 C.B. West — and C.B. East getting the forfeit, of course — there were no upsets.

The District 1-AA Duals champion will come from outside the PAC-10 for the first time in three years. Pottstown swept the title the previous two years, while St. Pius X won it in 2006.

THE HEAVYWEIGHTS

The District 3-AAA duals seedings were released over the weekend, and they should be of interest to wrestling fans around the state when the tournament gets under way tonight. Two of the best teams in all of Pennsylvania — Central Dauphin (10-0) and Cumberland Valley (11-2) — are seeded No. 1 and No. 2 — and No. 3 Lower Dauphin (20-1) is no slouch, either. Berks County champion Schuylkill Valley (20-1) drew the No. 4 seed, while runner-up Wilson (17-2) opens as No. 7. … The other big boy in the Commonwealth — Northampton — is likely to get the No. 1 seed up in District 11, which holds its tournament this weekend. And while Nazareth and Easton are expected, as always, to compete, don’t overlook Blue Mountain, which has been ranked as high as No. 4 in the state this season. … Central Mountain, another proven power this winter, is expected to get the No. 1 seed out in District 6.

SELECT GROUP

Spring-Ford recently joined Methacton as the only area schools with 500 or more wins in the history of their wrestling programs. The Rams’ milestone win was their 45-28 decision of Upper Moreland in the final match of the Parkland Duals two weeks ago. Going into this week’s matches, Methacton (503) and Spring-Ford (502) and eighth and ninth, respectively, on District 1’s all-time win chart. Unofficially, Pottstown is 10th with 490 wins.

A number of other schools throughout the state have reached or passed milestones of their own this season. Pius X (District 11) has gone over the 300-win mark; General McLane (District 10) has passed 450; Corry (District 10) has gone over 500; and Nazareth (District 11) has gone beyond the 700-win mark in its storied history.

MOVING UP

Boyertown’s Ryan Kemmerer, who is expected back in the lineup this week, is at No. 8 on The Mercury’s career chart with 150 wins. … Teammate Tim Feroe is at 98 and could hit the coveted 100-win mark Friday night at the duals. … Upper Perkiomen’s Mike McStravick (95) is within range, but may have to wait for the postseason, when Boyertown’s Matt Malfaro (89) is likely to reach the mark as well.