North Schuylkill's Alex Deritis goes for the fall against Blue Mountain's Keenan Hall during their 114-pound bout Jan. 8. Looking closely at the action is referee Rodger Gehring. Deritis' pin helped the Spartans win 30-27 and take command of the Schuylkill League Division I race. (Photo by Bob Lipsky)

Now we know.

After North Schuylkill held off Blue Mountain 30-27 on Wednesday night, the paths to the Schuylkill League divisional championships have come into sharper focus.

The Spartans’ victory put them at 3-0 in Division I, one game ahead of Blue Mountain and a game and a half ahead of Tamaqua. North Schuylkill owns victories over both teams. All that remains for the Spartans to clinch their 24th divisional title and their first since the 2021-22 season is to take care of business on Jan. 22 when they host Pottsville at the Cesari-Hope Gymnasium.

A young team with just three seniors, North Schuylkill has taken some solid steps forward this season. The Spartans have put four freshmen, six sophomores, five juniors and three seniors on the mat this season. They don’t have any superstars, but they have 10 wrestlers with winning records. They also have a slew of depth at the developmental levels (JV and junior high) to infuse more talent onto the roster next season.

“We control our own destiny now,” North Schuylkill coach Corey Fetterolf said after the Blue Mountain dual. “This was the match where if they beat us, that was probably it. We beat them; we like our chances going forward.”

After Tri-Valley and Pine Grove knocked off Mahanoy Area on consecutive nights Dec. 18-19, the Division II race became a two-team battle. The Bulldogs and Cardinals are both 2-0 in the division, and both have two league duals remaining. This Wednesday, Tri-Valley hosts Williams Valley and Pine Grove travels to Schuylkill Haven. The Dawgs and Cards are heavily favored in both.

Wins there would set up a winner-take-all dual meet Jan. 22 at Pine Grove. Tri-Valley is seeking its fifth straight division crown and eighth overall since the 1995-96 season. Pine Grove, chasing Pottsville and Blue Mountain for most of this century, is aiming for its first divisional championship since going back to back in Division I in 1999-2000 and 2000-01.

Century mark

Congratulations to Blue Mountain senior Bradley Renninger for surpassing the 100-win plateau last weekend. Renninger added another victory Wednesday against North Schuylkill to raise his win total to 106.

Several other Schuylkill Leaguers are on pace to reach the century mark this season or early next season (all records are unofficial). Next up is likely Blue Mountain junior Owen Woll (96-25), followed by Pine Grove senior Austin Martin (91-43). North Schuylkill senior Nate Sterner (88-46) and Tamaqua seniors Aiden Schlier (85-37) and Jacob Hehn (85-55) are possibilities, too.

After that, Pottsville junior Terrell McFarland (84-10) could make it this season, while Mahanoy Area junior Kyler Quick (74-35) could set himself up to reach the 100-win mark early next season.

Coming up

The big event on the horizon is the Schuylkill League Wrestling Championships, set for Jan. 18 at Blue Mountain High School. More on the league meet in a moment.

First, this weekend is an oddity as are most squads are taking four days (Jan. 10-13) off from competition. After competing almost every Saturday this season, wrestlers get a chance to heal up some bumps and bruises, get a few days of practice in without worrying about making weight and just refresh themselves mentally for the grind ahead.

From now until the end of the season, every weekend will be filled with some kind of tournament or competition in addition to dual meets scattered throughout the weekdays.

Some of the highlights:

Friday-Saturday, Jan. 17-18 — Panther Valley and Tamaqua at the Coal Cracker Girls’ Wrestling Tournament at Jim Thorpe.

Sunday, Jan. 19 — Pine Grove girls at Lebanon Tournament.

Friday-Saturday, Jan. 24-25 — Blue Mountain, Mahanoy Area, Panther Valley, Tamaqua and Williams Valley at the Coal Cracker Boys’ Wrestling Tournament at Lehighton; North Schuylkill and Tri-Valley will make their annual trek to Bedford for the Thomas Chevrolet Wrestling Tournament.

Saturday, Jan. 25 — Pine Grove’s boys will compete in the Hershey Duals.

Sunday, Jan. 26 — Panther Valley and Pine Grove girls at the Battle of the Buck Tournament at Central Bucks West.

Saturday, Feb. 1 — District 11 Team Wrestling Championships at Bethlehem Freedom High School.

Saturday, Feb. 8 — Pottsville and Williams Valley at the Panther Open at William Tennent High School; and Mahanoy Area and Panther Valley at the Salisbury Duals.

Grappling gathering

One of my favorite events on the calendar is the Schuylkill League Wrestling Championships, set for Saturday, Jan. 18, at Blue Mountain High School. Action is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m., with the finals for first, third and fifth places set for 2:30 p.m. on three mats.

An important facet of the league meet is the Junior Varsity Tournament, which will run from 9 a.m. to completion. The Schuylkill League could always use more depth, and getting these JV wrestlers multiple matches goes a long way toward keeping these athletes engaged in the sport and helping them develop their skills.

All 10 league teams are set to compete, and the tournament usually features several matches you won’t see anywhere else: 3A vs. Class AA, Division I vs Division II.

Pottsville, which crowned four champions last season, is the defending team champ. Blue Mountain, North Schuylkill and Tri-Valley appear to be the main teams vying for the top spot this season.

The seeds are scheduled to be released Wednesday or Thursday.

Watch t102sportsnow.com for much more as the league tournament approaches.

District Duals

It’s time to start looking at who’s in, who’s out and who’s on the bubble for the District 11 Team Wrestling Championships, to be held Saturday, Feb. 1, at Bethlehem Freedom High School.

The top eight teams qualify according to district points; then those teams are seeded by the District 11 Committee.

The schedule has changed somewhat this season, making for an extremely long day for the participating teams. The Class AA quarterfinals will start the action at 9 a.m. on four mats, followed by the Class 3A quarterfinals on four mats. At 1 p.m., the Class AA semifinals will be contested on two mats, with the Class 3A semifinals on two mats at 3 p.m. The championship round for both classes will be contested at 7 p.m. on two mats.

According to the District 11 website, here’s where we stand at the moment:

Class AA

Palmerton (8-1) tops the rankings, followed by North Schuylkill (8-2). Pen Argyl (7-3), Northwestern Lehigh (7-3) and Saucon Valley (4-1) complete the top five. Look for Saucon Valley, provided it keeps winning, to be the top seed.

Tri-Valley (10-4) is sixth, with Lehighton (9-6) seventh and Pine Grove (7-4) eighth.

Teams on the bubble include No. 9 Mahanoy Area (7-4), No. 10 Palisdes (2-3) and No. 11 Tamaqua (6-9).

Class 3A

The powerhouse division is absolutely loaded this season, as Blue Mountain (11-6) rates 13th out of 23 teams.

State powers fill the potential bracket, with Bethlehem Catholic (6-0), Nazareth (4-0), Bethlehem Liberty (4-0) and Notre Dame-Green Pond (9-1) taking the top four spots in that order.

No. 5 Bethlehem Freedom (8-1), No. 6 Northampton (9-2), No. 7 Whitehall (9-2) and No. 8 Parkland (8-3) are in for now.

Watch for No. 9 Easton (2-2), No. 10 Stroudsburg (11-5), No. 11 Emmaus (7-3) and No. 12 Pocono Mountain East (10-4) to make a push.

Only competition with PIAA teams up to and including Wednesday, Jan. 29, will count in seeding.