WRESTLING: PAC-10 gets four of top five seeds for duals

By Don Seeley
dseeley@pottsmerc.com

ROYERSFORD — If there was one thing representatives from every league in District 1 agreed on Sunday afternoon it was that the Pioneer Athletic Conference has been carrying its weight, if not more, this wrestling season.
When all the deliberations and discussions were over and done with during the seedings for this week’s opening rounds of the 19th annual District 1-Class AAA Team Duals, four PAC-10 teams accounted for five of the top seeds, five of the top 10, and six overall.
Defending champion Owen J. Roberts, which owns a 26-match winning streak against district rivals, was the unanimous No. 1 seed. The undefeated Wildcats (10-0) haven’t lost to anyone within the district since a duals semifinal setback to Council Rock South two years ago.
The Wildcats were followed in the seedings by No. 2 Spring-Ford (14-2); No. 3 Downingtown East (17-2) from the Ches-Mont League; No. 4 Upper Perkiomen (12-4); and No. 5 Boyertown (12-5).
All earned first-round byes, but will be on the mats immediately following the openers on Tuesday night.
The PAC-10 will have two other teams — No. 10 Methacton (11-4) and No. 16 Pottstown (19-7), the runner-up in last year’s Class AA bracket — in the 5:30 p.m. openers, though. Methacton, which hopes to benefit from competing on its home mat in Fairview Village, takes on No. 23 West Chester East (10-3). Pottstown meets No. 17 Interboro (21-3) at West Chester Rustin.
Four different sites overall will be used to host the opening rounds … and the PAC-10 teams will be spread out among them.
The winner of the Pottstown-Interboro match at West Chester Rustin will take on Owen J. Roberts; Spring-Ford meets the winner of No. 15 Central Bucks East (11-7) and No. 18 Central Bucks South (9-3) at C.B. East; Upper Perkiomen meets the winner of No. 13 Garnet Valley (11-3) and No. 20 Pennridge (11-4) at Wissahickon; and Boyertown meets the winner of No. 12 Council Rock North (9-3) and No. 21 Ridley (16-5) at Methacton.
The quarterfinals (6 p.m.) as well as both the semifinals and first round of consolations (7:30 p.m.) are scheduled for Friday, Feb. 1 at Upper Dublin High School, which will also host the consolation semifinals (1 p.m.) and and both consolation and championship finals (4 p.m.) the following day.
In Class AA, defending champion Lower Moreland (14-5) was the unanimous No. 1 seed. New Hope-Solebury (9-6), Bishop McDevitt (6-10) and Springfield-Montco (3-13) are the second through fourth seeds, respectively. Both the Class AA semifinals (1 p.m.) and final (4 p.m.) will be held Saturday, Feb. 2 at Upper Dublin.

NOTES
Seven of the 24 teams in the field have previously won the district’s Class AAA team duals title. Upper Perkiomen leads the group with five, followed by No. 7 seed Council Rock South and No. 6 seed Pennsbury with three each; No. 8 seed Norristown with two; and Boyertown, Methacton, Owen J. Roberts with one apiece. … Upper Perkiomen is the only District 1 team to go on to win the state duals title (2006). … The Indians’ Tom Hontz and Rams’ Tim Seislove were the head coaches representing the PAC-10 during Sunday’s meeting at Spring-Ford High School. ... The top four teams from District 1 advance to the state AAA team duals tournament, which opens Monday, Feb. 4 before shifting out to Hershey on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.