HS Wrestling: Girls to start journey to states
Panther Valley's Brenda Banks stands atop the podium after winning the 235-pound title at the PIAA Girls' Wrestling Championships on March 8 2025, at the Giant Center in Hershey. (Photo by Bob Lipsky)
The Road to Hershey officially opens this weekend.
The regular season has ended. The state team duals are in the books. All that remains is to determine the 39 individual state wrestling champions in Pennsylvania. That’s 13 boys in Class AA, 13 boys in Class 3A and 13 girls in a bracket combining big and small schools alike.
The District 3 Girls’ Wrestling Championships start the postseason fun Friday when they hold their four sectional tournaments. Upper Dauphin, which has a co-op with Tri-Valley, will compete in the Section IV Tournament at Susquenita High School. Action will begin at 10 a.m. and continue until the tournament’s completion.
UDA is coming off a quarterfinal finish in the inaugural District 3 Girls’ Wrestling Team Championships and has several wrestlers looking to make deep postseason runs.
Since District 3 has 77 schools sponsoring girls’ wrestling, D-3 uses sectionals as its first postseason qualifier. Other sectionals will be held at Governor Mifflin, Dallastown and Mechanicsburg.
Seniors Cambrie Herb (15-8) at 100 and Maggie Hoffman-Long (17-2) at 142 are from Tri-Valley. The Trojans also have juniors Jada Dillard (22-7) at 124 and Jacelyn Henninger (22-6) at 136 as well as sophomore Chloe Ratcliffe (20-3) at 190.
The top four in each weight class will advance to the District 3 Girls’ Southcentral Regional Championships on Feb. 28 at Manheim Township High School. The top four at regionals will qualify for the PIAA Wrestling Championships on March 5-7 at the Giant Center in Hershey.
Meanwhile, the District 11 Girls’ Wrestling Championships have expanded to a two-day event as 34 teams now sponsor girls’ wrestling.
Bethlehem Freedom High School will host the event. The tournament will begin at 1 p.m. Saturday with the pigtails, preliminaries, quarterfinals and first-round consolations. Day 2 on Sunday will start at 9 a.m. with the second round of consolations, followed by the championship semifinals and two rounds of consolations. Bouts for first and third places are set for 2 p.m. The top three placewinners in each weight class will move on to the Southeast Regional, scheduled for Feb. 22 at Quakertown High School. The top four at regionals will advance to states.
When the brackets were released Thursday, several local girls earned high seeds.
Leading the way is three-time state champion Brenda Banks (27-0). The Panther Valley senior star is the No. 1 seed at 235 pounds. In addition, Pine Grove sophomore Geanna Lemke (25-3) is the No. 1 seed at 142.
Panther Valley senior Alisa Williams (26-4) earned the No. 2 seed at 170, and North Schuylkill freshman Ka’ren-is Holmes (13-2) gained the No. 3 spot at 100.
On the boys’ side
The District 11 Class AA and 3A Wrestling Championships will be held Feb. 20-21. The Class AA will originate at Bethlehem Freedom before moving to Bethlehem Liberty for the consolation and championship finals. The entire Class 3A event will be held in Liberty’s Memorial Gym. The top four in Class AA and the top five in Class 3A will advance to regionals.
Look for much more on District 11 when the pairings are released next week.
Before that, however, two big events hold their traditional spots on the calendar this weekend.
First, the Ray Nunemaker Memorial District 11 Junior Varsity Wrestling Championships will be held Friday and Saturday at Bethlehem Liberty. The tournament is a great chance for up-and-coming wrestlers to see where they stand districtwide.
In addition, the Tony Iasiello Junior High Wrestling Championships will be contested Saturday and Sunday at Parkland High School. Like the JVs, the entire district, big schools and small schools alike, will grapple at Parkland.
More milestones
Congratulations to Tri-Valley head coach Dave Boltz for posting the 250th dual-meet victory of his career with a 60-5 thumping of Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech. It was a great touch, but not all that surprising, that many former wrestlers and coaches came out to honor Boltz, one of the most respected coaches in any sport in Schuylkill County.
Boltz’s milestone was just one of many reached so far this season. Earlier, North Schuylkill head coach Corey Fetterolf gained his 100th career victory.
Individually, Pottsville’s Terrell McFarland, Mahanoy Area’s Kyler Quick, Mahanoy Area and Marian’s Rory Dixon, Tri-Valley’s Owen Wolfgang and Jaxson Bruso, Williams Valley’s Camron Green, North Schuylkill’s Cadyn McGraw and Panther Valley’s Brenda Banks reached 100 wins for their respective careers. Dixon is a junior, while the others are seniors.
Next in line is North Schuylkill senior Gaige Mentusky, who will enter the district tournament with 99 career victories.
Top performers
Many wrestlers have had superb regular seasons. Here’s a sampling (boys’ wrestlers listed at their lowest weight):
40 wins
Mahanoy Area/Marian junior Rory Dixon (41-4 at 152)
Mahanoy Area senior Kyler Quick (40-3 at 215)
