BY JEFF FALK

FREDERICKSBURG – Over the past two years, Northern Lebanon has accomplished things that no other wrestling teams in Lebanon County ever have. That trend continues.

But in a county where basketball has always been – and presumably always will be – king, has anyone even taken notice of the Vikings? And if not, will Northern Lebanon ever receive the credit it deserves for those accomplishments?

On Monday night, Northern Lebanon took a giant step towards what would be an unprecedented fourth straight Lancaster-Lebanon Section Three championship with a resounding 64-9 trouncing of rival Elco. The Vikings won 12 of the 14 bouts and did so in dominant fashion, with eight pins and two technical falls.

Six of Northern Lebanon’s pins were logged in the first period.

With the win, the Vikings improved to 13-1 overall, 5-0 in the circuit and within another dual meet triumph of yet another Section Three title. Last night represented the fourth section dual meet in which Northern Lebanon has scored at least 60 points this season.

Northern Lebanon is currently seated first in the District Three Class AA power rankings.

Elco, on the other hand, fell to 13-3 on the season and 3-1 in the section. The Raiders are situated 11th in the District Three Class AAA power rankings.

“A win on Thursday (against Columbia) gives us our fourth straight section championship,” said Northern Lebanon head coach Rusty Wallace. “It’s not something we talk about. It’s something that comes along the way. We want to win a district championship. That’s absolutely something we want to win. We want to be at the state tournament on Day Three. Ask any kid in our room and they’ll say the same thing. But there’s a lot of good teams out there.

“The wrestling world knows. Our community knows. Our school knows,” continued Wallace. “But the average person doesn’t know what these kids do. They sacrifice a lot to have a team like this. They wrestle 11 months out of the year. Over the summer, you’ll find them in the wrestling room, in the weight room. I don’t want any recognition. I could care less. But I like it when these kids are recognized for what they do. Everything they get, they deserve. If you ask me, they never get enough.”

“I asked him, ‘Are you better than last year?'” said Elco head coach Chad Miller of Wallace. “Because I don’t know. I think the competition they have faced this year is not as tough. I don’t think our league (Lancaster-Lebanon) is all that tough.

“They (the Vikings) have a lot of goals they can achieve,” Miller continued. “They have some workers in their (wrestling) room, and it’s contagious. It makes your team better. They put in the time. We don’t put in the time in the off-season. It’s not a priority for them (his wrestlers), as it is for Northern Lebanon. That interest has got to come from parents.”

Northern Lebanon captured the first six bouts to open a commanding 35-0 advantage. Numerically, the Vikings clinched the win at 106, where Kyler Anspach decked Raider Levi Brooks at the 47-second mark to push that lead to 44-3.

The Vikings had earned falls from Blaise Bressler in the opener at 152, Quinn Blatt at 170, Hunter Wallace at 182, Luke Funck at 195 and Matt Vines at 220. Northern Lebanon also got five team points from Luis Negreiros’ 19-3, 4:15 technical fall at 160.

“We competed well,” said Wallace. “Today was tough because we didn’t have school. It throws kids out of their routines. I thought the kids came out and took it to them. They had a good approach. They looked for points early, and falls when they were there.

“We try not to look at it (the score) that way,” added Wallace. “We try to look at each individual kid. If we do that, we’re going to be OK. We have a lot of experience in the lineup. The score usually takes care of itself.”

“We didn’t even come in with a shot,” said Miller. “We had some close matches. It made no sense to give out forfeits. I don’t want to bump and take gambles just to take a chance. Everything would’ve had to go right.

“We might not have any district qualifiers on the team,” Miller added. “But that doesn’t mean we’re not a good team. We can win matches because we have a lot of kids, and I think we can continue to do so. But against a team like this, we’re going to get killed. We don’t have any options. They (the Vikings) have plenty.”

Northern Lebanon also picked up falls at 120 from Colin Leonard and at 145 from Stephen Herb, and a 17-1, 3:28 technical fall from 138-pounder Zach Kelly. Viking 113-pounder Dustin Breidegan registered a 7-1 decision over Raider Alex Puglio.

In the most competitive bout of the evening, at 132, Viking Trevor Leonard edged Raider Owen Nell. Leonard held off Nell in the third period, after opening a 4-1 second-stanza advantage.

“It’s practice for what’s coming up,” said Wallace. “Winning in December and January isn’t really important to us. We want to win in February and March. Right now, we’re looking for weaknesses and things to work on. What you see is what you get. We’re eating three meals a day, lifting and having fun.

“Things are going pretty well,” continued Wallace. “We really beefed our schedule up this year, because we wanted our kids to be battle-tested. We want them to have some losses because they’ve seen really good kids. Our kids responded really well. We’re just plugging away.”

“We have the same team wrestling every year,” said Miller. “We have kids who only wrestle over the winter. I don’t see any second-generation wrestlers, and that hurts us. But we’ve averaging 16 or 17 wins a year.

“They (the Vikings) almost ran the table on us,” Miller continued. “We wanted to keep every match as close as we could. I said to our guys, ‘Don’t look at the scoreboard. It’s not going to motivate you’ We treated it almost like a tournament. It gives some kids experience.”

Elco was victorious at 285, where Ryan Rolon upset George Thompson 7-2. The two heavyweights were locked in a two-all deadlock, before Rolon worked a take-down early in the third period.

Raider Shawn Price received a forfeit at 126.

“They battled,” said Wallace of the Raiders. “They had some kids who came after us. They’re doing something right over there. They always have kids out. It’s a tough sport. They brought some kids who really pushed our better kids.”

“I’d like to win every dual meet we have left,” said Miller. “Maybe we can get into a position where we can be in the district duals and be competitive. Our goal was 20 wins this year.”

To purchase images in this article email jkfalk2005@yahoo.com, or to see more go to www.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lancaster-Lebanon League

 Section Three Standings

TEAM	LEAGUE	OVERALL
Northern Lebanon	5-0	13-1
Annville-Cleona	5-1	8-3
Elco	3-1	13-3
Pequea Valley	2-3	5-8
Donegal	1-3	1-3
Columbia	1-4	2-13
Lancaster Catholic	0-5	0-10

 

 

 

2015-16 Northern Lebanon Wrestling Results

DATE	OPPONENT	TIME	RESULT
12/04	@2015 Mule Classic Tournament	4:30 PM	—
12/08*	Donegal	7:00 PM	W 69-6
12/12	@Northern Lebanon @ Barnesville	9:00 AM	—
12/17 *	@Lancaster Catholic	7:00 PM	W 69-4
12/19	Kutztown	9:00 AM	W 66-15
12/19	Brandywine Heights	9:00 AM	W 62-16
12/19	Pine Grove	9:00 AM	W 71-6
12/19	Bermudian Springs	9:00 AM	W 44-27
12/19	Red Lion	9:00 AM	W 55-16
12/22*	@Annville-Cleona	7:00 PM	W 47-27
12/28	@2015 Bethlehem Liberty Holiday Classic	9:00 AM	—
01/09	@Fauquier (VA)	8:00 AM	W 53-15
01/09	@Battlefield (VA)	8:00 AM	W 39-27
01/09	@Colonial Forge (VA)	8:00 AM	W 40-29
01/09	Nazareth	2:00 PM	L 21-46
01/14*	@Pequea Valley	7:00 PM	W 61-16
01/18*	Elco	7:00 PM	W 64-9

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2015-16 Elco Wrestling Results

DATE	OPPONENT	TIME	RESULT
12/10*	@Pequea Valley	7:00 PM	W 45-33
12/11 *	@2015 Penn Manor Holiday Tournament	5:30 PM	—
12/15	@Milton Hershey	7:00 PM	L 27-53
12/22*	Columbia	7:00 PM	W 81-0
12/29	@Academy Park	8:00 AM	W 42-28
12/29	@Strath Haven	8:00 AM	W 39-31
12/29	@Upper Moreland	8:00 AM	W 39-32
12/29	@Great Valley	8:00 AM	W 38-33
12/29	@Interboro	8:00 AM	W 51-24
01/02	Lebanon	9:00 AM	W 53-21
01/02	East Pennsboro	12:00 PM	W 48-24
01/02	Newport	12:00 PM	L 25-47
01/02	Upper Dauphin	12:00 PM	W 60-19
01/02	Springfield (Delco)	12:00 PM	W 49-30
01/06	@Elizabethtown	7:00 PM	W 45-26
01/14*	@Lancaster Catholic	7:00 PM	W 60-15
01/18*	@Northern Lebanon	7:00 PM	L 9-64

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PIAA District Three

 Class AAA Power Rankings

 

AAA School  W  L  T  Rating 1 Cumberland Valley 8- 1- 0  0.803827 2 Central Dauphin 8- 0- 0  0.802139 3 Solanco 4- 0- 0  0.795821 4 Cedar Cliff 17- 0- 0  0.775556 5 Wilson 13- 1- 0  0.768018 6 Exeter Township 8- 2- 0  0.723072 7 Spring Grove 6- 1- 0  0.707324 8 Milton Hershey 9- 1- 0  0.704131 9 Northern York 5- 1- 0  0.703455 10 Warwick 15- 1- 0  0.702455 11 Eastern Lebanon County 13- 2- 0  0.699950 12 Penn Manor 7- 2- 0  0.696165 13 South Western 8- 4- 0  0.664076 14 Cocalico 10- 2- 0  0.659274 15 Big Spring 9- 4- 0  0.654919 16 Red Land 11- 5- 0  0.645215 17 Reading 14- 6- 0  0.633174 18 Red Lion 5- 2- 0  0.631611 19 New Oxford 9- 4- 0  0.630639 20 Chambersburg 7- 3- 0  0.628388 21 Manheim Central 9- 3- 0  0.627850 22 Lower Dauphin 8- 4- 0  0.624842 23 Shippensburg 2- 1- 0  0.608291 24 Gettysburg 2- 1- 0  0.588805 25 J P McCaskey 7- 4- 0  0.587747 26 Governor Mifflin 8- 8- 0  0.565783 27 Central York 6- 5- 0  0.561688 28 Conestoga Valley 8- 7- 0  0.557130 29 Susquehannock 5- 3- 0  0.550492 30 Waynesboro 5- 3- 0  0.543716 31 Kennard Dale 7- 5- 1  0.542146 32 Dallastown 6- 7- 0  0.539187 33 Daniel Boone 3- 5- 0  0.517848 34 Carlisle 3- 5- 0  0.516331 35 Elizabethtown 5- 5- 0  0.509387 36 Mechanicsburg 6- 9- 0  0.505298 37 Twin Valley 6- 7- 0  0.493619 38 Garden Spot 6- 9- 0  0.485416 39 Middletown 4- 8- 0  0.470556 40 Lampeter Strasburg 6- 8- 0  0.465825 41 Central Dauphin East 4- 7- 0  0.458981 42 West Perry 5- 8- 0  0.433154 43 Manheim Township 2- 7- 0  0.428412 44 Hershey 5- 11- 0  0.418850 45 Susquehanna Township 2- 7- 0  0.385709 46 Oley Valley 4- 10- 0  0.383928 47 Greencastle Antrim 5- 9- 0  0.378493 48 Hempfield 2- 7- 0  0.378094 49 West York 2- 11- 0  0.363729 50 Donegal 1- 3- 0  0.352009 51 Conrad Weiser 2- 8- 0  0.350350 52 Dover 2- 11- 0  0.346691 53 Muhlenberg 1- 6- 0  0.327980 54 Lebanon 4- 16- 0  0.322944 55 Harrisburg 2- 10- 0  0.321856 56 East Pennsboro 3- 8- 0  0.321430 57 York Suburban 1- 4- 0  0.294809 58 Northeastern 0- 9- 0  0.293602 59 Ephrata 1- 10- 0  0.284913 60 York County School Of Technology 1- 6- 0  0.271235 61 Cedar Crest 1- 11- 0  0.263608 62 James Buchanan 0- 9- 0  0.253345 63 Palmyra 0- 9- 0  0.244815

PIAA District Three

Class AA Power Rankings

 

AA School  W  L  T  Rating 1 Northern Lebanon 12- 1- 0  0.739060 2 Hamburg 14- 1- 0  0.711753 3 Boiling Springs 5- 1- 0  0.701502 4 Bermudian Springs 13- 1- 0  0.684911 5 Newport 18- 2- 0  0.680645 6 Biglerville 10- 5- 0  0.627891 7 Camp Hill 4- 1- 0  0.623223 8 Wyomissing 7- 1- 0  0.620939 9 Annville Cleona 8- 3- 0  0.598896 10 Delone Catholic 6- 4- 0  0.544685 11 Upper Dauphin 6- 4- 0  0.536193 12 Susquenita 3- 3- 0  0.486998 13 Hanover 5- 4- 0  0.486869 14 Brandywine Heights 7- 7- 0  0.479815 15 Bishop McDevitt 4- 5- 0  0.472196 16 Littlestown 6- 11- 0  0.432153 17 Pequea Valley 5- 8- 0  0.432064 18 Eastern York 2- 4- 0  0.380558 19 Halifax 4- 13- 0  0.350472 20 Kutztown 4- 13- 0  0.342725 21 Schuylkill Valley 1- 6- 0  0.310638 22 Columbia 2- 12- 0  0.287602 23 Lancaster Catholic 0- 8- 0  0.259819 24 Fairfield 0- 4- 0  0.244643 25 Tulpehocken 2- 15- 0  0.235614 26 Trinity 0- 17- 0  0.206647