Monday News and Notes

 
Hard to be a King
   The only wrestling that went on involving my locals this past weekend was at the King of the Mountain Tournament, where Bedford competed with senior Ryan Easter and sophomore Jonathan Gabriel placing fifth and sixth at 132 and 113 pounds, respectively.
   I didn't make the trip to Central Mountain this year, but I've stated before that this event is harder to win than a state title. Once again, this year's brackets show that. You can access them here.
   There are plenty of weights where the top kids are mixed between Class AA and Class AAA teams, plus there's often championship caliber out of state wrestlers in the field too. It's obviously early in the season, so there's not a lot of tuneup time for it, and a lot of kids aren't at their true weight classes yet.
Say it ain't Snow
   This weekend's action was hampered with the snowstorm that hit the area on Saturday. That wiped out the ICC Duals at Tussey Mountain, while Chestnut Ridge was entered into a very good looking field at the Jarvis Tournament up in Athens. That event was cancelled, while the ICC Duals will be made up on Friday, January 3. I was planning on heading to Tussey, where I wanted to see District 6 teams Moshannon Valley and West Branch as well as get a glimpse of Everett heavyweight Devin Reed, who moved in from James Buchanan in the offseason and made waves in his Warrior debut with a pin of Mount Union's Nik Smith, a D6-AA third-placer last winter.
   Meanwhile, Chestnut Ridge hasn't seen a lot of mat time with only one match so far. The Lions have two key District 5 matches later this week, which you can see below.
Palovcsik a Hall of Famer
   Congratulations to former Everett coach Norm Palovcsik, who will be inducted with eight others into the Pennsylvania Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.
   Palovcsik, who coached at Everett in the 1970's, was a state champion for Clearfield in 1968 and a three-time district champion. Currently, he is the tournament director at the King of the Mountain Tournament and also puts out the PA Wrestling Roundup newsletter.
   Among the others to be inducted are the late Jim Butler, who passed away in 2012, and current Nazareth coach Dave Crowell.
   Butler worked for years as a photographer at the Clearfield Progress, and he was instrumental in seeing young wrestlers achieve more through offseason tournaments, where he would often take them to.
   Crowell is the only coach in Pennsylvania to have guided at least one wrestler to a state championship for three different schools (Easton and Nazareth in Class AAA, Wilson Area in Class AA).
   The induction ceremony takes place in April.
Hawks appear to still be Golden
   Like it or not, Bethlehem Catholic looks like Class AA's top team across the state again.
   While there are no Cruz's in the Golden Hawks' lineup for a change, there is still plenty of firepower. I knew that they had seven state qualifiers back, and it appears as if there is a new group of youngsters to carry the torch. Two freshmen, Jake Riegel and Mikey Labriola, placed in the top three at their weights in the King of the Mountain.
The Numbers Game
   The PIAA enrollment numbers are out for the next two-year cycle, beginning with next fall's sports seasons.
   In wrestling, there aren't a whole lot of notable changes. Speaking of Bethlehem Catholic as I did before, rumors I heard of a potential move to Class AAA were just that. The Golden Hawks are remaining in Class AA. In this region, Bald Eagle Area and Philipsburg-Osceola will continue to be wrestling up in Class AAA despite being AA size. Johnstown is moving down to Class AA.
   There are 11 schools listed as Class AA that will be wrestling up. Aside from Bald Eagle and Philipsburg, the others are Middletown of District 3, Waynesburg of District 7, Westinghouse in District 8, Bradford, Clearfield, Punxsutawney, and St. Mary's in District 9, and District 10's Oil City and Titusville.
This Week on the Local Mats
Tuesday
   Everett at Bellwood
   HOPE for Hyndman at Keyser (WV)
   Northern Bedford at Tussey Mountain
Thursday
   Bedford at Cambria Heights
   North Star at Chestnut Ridge
   Bellwood at Claysburg
   Everett at Northern Bedford
   HOPE for Hyndman at Mountain Ridge (Md.)
Friday
   Central at Tussey Mountain
Saturday
   Bedford at Chestnut Ridge