It seems that every year the question on every District XI wrestling fan’s mind is, “Can ANYONE beat Bethlehem Catholic?” The answer this year is a definitive “maybe.”
This past weekend the Golden Hawks dropped two dual meet matches to #4 in the nation Lake Highland Prep out of Florida and then lost to Malvern Prep, ranked #8 in the nation. They will wrestle #9 Wyoming Seminary on Thursday, before moving on to the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference “championship day”.
This Saturday on RCN, the #14 Nazareth Blue Eagles will take their shot at the Golden Hawks, in the Eastern PA Conference Championship match. The teams are each champions of their divisions, and will meet at 7:00pm on Saturday night at the Easton Middle School. The atmosphere should be much like the old days when fans looked forward to three or four outstanding dual meets each year. That environment has been missing for a few years, but rest assured the Middle School gym will be rocking, especially if Nazareth can give the Hawks a battle.
Both lineups are peppered with nationally ranked talent, and both offer plenty of balance throughout their squad. There is a very good chance that Beca, banged up with injuries, can be in the throes of a three-match losing streak by the time Saturday rolls around. Granted—all three losses are to top-tier academies – but the losses are not something that Jeff Karam’s team is used to. How will they react?
Nazareth, under legendary coach Dave Crowell, will have their hands full. They will need bonus points from their blue chippers, and will need to grab at least two tossup bouts. Even if this all goes the way of the Eagles, they may need one more upset.
If Beca prevails, as I suspect they will, fear not Blue Eagle fans. This may be the first of three consecutive Saturdays that feature these squads. There is nothing that can stop a rematch for the District XI Team Championship, and both are favored to make the PIAA State Championship finals.
Scott Barr (who assisted with this blog) and Jim Best will be there along with the RCN television crew to bring you these two powerhouses. It will certainly take us back to the days when Easton-Northampton, Easton-Nazareth, Nazareth-Northampton, etc. were on every wrestling fans’ calendar.
Those were the good old days of Lehigh Valley wrestling!
ABOVE THE EARS (SOME MUSINGS)
- Tom Brady of the Patriots and Matt Ryan of the Falcons text each other regularly during the NFL season. Matt Ryan played his college football at Boston College and Tom Brady always followed him. Two good friends will try to beat the other in the Super Bowl.
- Up this way, we do not get to see the Falcons very often, but they were sure impressive yesterday against the Packers. No player was more impressive than Julio Jones – 15 catches, 247 yards, and 3 TDs. Bill Belichick always says he wants to stop the opponent’s best player, but seven Falcons caught passes on Sunday.
- How do the Patriots do it? They draft Chris Hogan, a Penn State lacrosse player, and they make him a star wide receiver. No organization is better at resurrecting careers and finding obscure players.
- During the Lafayette at Lehigh men’s game on Saturday, Lehigh honored the team that stunned Duke in the first round of the NCAA playoffs in 2012. The star of that team, C. J. McCollum, could not be there because he was preparing to play the Celtics as a member of the Portland Trail Blazers. He did send a recorded message that was played in the arena. He went on to score 35 points against Boston and Portland won the game.
- Only Allen remains undefeated in high school basketball as Bangor suffered their first defeat to Stroudsburg this past weekend. And then there was one. Allen has Liberty and Stroudsburg this week – two tests for the Canaries!
Gary’s Guesses: NFL Picks – (Last week – 1-1; Overall – 168-95-2 – 64%)
SUPER BOWL PICK NEXT WEEK
