HS Wrestling: Schuylkill League adds 6 regional qualifiers

Austin Martin, Pine Grove

WHITEHALL — When opportunity knocked, six Schuylkill League wrestlers answered.

Let’s explain.

Late last week, District 12, due to lack of wrestlers, opted to give up its third qualifier for the Class AA Southeast Regional Wrestling Championships. That opened a spot in the 16-man bracket, so the fifth-place wrestler from District 11 was compared to the seventh-place finisher from District 3. The wrestlers’ records and prestige points were calculated at each weight class, and the athlete with the higher point total got the trip to regionals.

This benefitted the Schuylkill League greatly, as six wrestlers got into regionals this way early Sunday morning.

They are:

North Schuylkill freshman Easton Edwards (27-8) at 121;

Tamaqua sophomore Brody Schlier (25-16) at 133;

Pine Grove senior Austin Martin (31-6) at 160;

Mahanoy Area sophomore William Stoyer (13-5) at 172;

Tamaqua senior Jacob Hehn (27-13) at 189;

and Pine Grove senior Robbie Schaeffer (31-8) at 215.

In all eight of the 13 berths went to District 11 wrestlers.

The local contingent is a mix of three underclassmen who will experience first-hand the level of regional wrestling and three seniors who get to extend their seasons at least one more week.

They join the 20 other wrestlers who qualified (17 in AA 3 in 3A) for a total of 26 boys’ regional qualifiers.

The Southeast Regional will be held Friday and Saturday at Bethlehem Freedom High School. The top five placewinners at each weight class will advance to the PIAA Wrestling Championships on March 6-8 at the Giant Center in Hershey.