It’s often said that the road to Hershey begins with districts.

That statement, however, is typically reserved for the individual event, which will be held at the end of the month.But the same holds true for this week’s District 11 team tournament, which will send two teams from both Class AA and AAA to the state tournament, set to begin next week.Four Times News area programs qualified for the Class AA tournament and will be in action Thursday night at various locations.Lehighton drew the top seed among area teams at No. 3, while Northwestern and defending champion Northern Lehigh are fourth and fifth, respectively. Panther Valley rounds out the contingent as the seventh seed.“The kids are really excited to have this opportunity. All of the hard work has gotten them the third seed in the district tournament and we get to see the winner of a good Palisades team that we haven’t seen before and a Notre Dame team we have wrestled earlier in the year,” said Lehighton head coach Danny Williams, referencing a 46-28 win over the Crusaders earlier this year at the Indian Duals. “They’re looking forward to that challenge and hoping to advance throughout the tournament.“It’s exciting whenever you can participate not only as an individual in the postseason, but also as a team. Getting that postseason feel is certainly a bonus to get everyone ready for the individual tournament at the end of the year, and we’re very pleased to have that opportunity as a team.”As the third seed, the Indians earned a bye in the opening round, as did Northwestern.The Tigers will await the winner of an opening-round match between Northern Lehigh and No. 12 seed Pine Grove.Coming off an appearance in the Colonial League final against Saucon Valley, Northwestern head coach Jim Moll is looking forward to the opportunity to possibly seeing the top-seeded Panthers once again in Saturday’s semifinals.“We gave them a battle, we pushed them a little bit,” Moll said after last week’s 40-24 loss. “But I think there are some things that we need to improve on.“I think we wrestled about as hard as I expected us to wrestle. I think we can do some things better to make the score a little bit closer, though.”A year ago, Northern Lehigh got hot at the right time and captured the title as the No. 4 seed. The Bulldogs knocked off Northwestern 30-29 in the quarterfinals before taking down top-seeded Saucon Valley 28-22 in the semis and finishing the job with an impressive 40-26 win over No. 2 seed Tri Valley in the finals.Northern Lehigh faces a similar path this season, as it will once again have to get through Northwestern in the quarters and the winner of the match between Saucon Valley and either No. 8 North Schuylkill or No. 9 Schuylkill Haven in the semis.“Every year with wrestling, you sometimes have a dual meet team, and sometimes you have a tournament team,” said Northern Lehigh head coach Steve Hluschak.“We have some very talented individuals, but we’re going to keep fighting and battling at district duals for the team stuff and we’ll see what happens.”As the No. 7 seed, Panther Valley will take on No. 10 Williams Valley in the opening round. The winner will face No. 2 seed Pen Argyl.Despite a great deal of individual success this season, the Panthers have consistently shown a team-first mentality. That fact was evidenced at this past weekend’s Coal Cracker tournament, where the squad placed three wrestlers in the finals and brought home the team title.“Everybody seems to root for each other,” said Panther Valley head coach Tim Robb. “They want to do well as a team; if I ask somebody to cut weight or bump up for an event, even if it’s going to cause them to lose, they’re fine with it.“They buy into it. We’ve worked real hard on some things, and they’re getting better and better with it.”Below is the schedule for the Class AA and AAA tournaments:THURSDAYCLASS AAAAT POTTSVILLE:No. 8 Emmaus vs. No. 9 Freedom (6 p.m.). Winner vs. No. 1 Pottsville (7:30).AT NAZARETH:No. 5 Liberty vs. No. 12 Bangor (6 p.m.). Winner vs. No. 4 Nazareth (7:30).AT CATASAUQUA:No. 6 Parkland vs. No. 11 Northampton (6 p.m.). Winner vs. No. 3 Easton (7:30).AT BETHLEHEM CATHOLIC:No. 7 Stroudsburg vs. No. 10 Blue Mountain (6 p.m.). Winner vs. No. 2 Bethlehem Catholic (7:30).CLASS AAAT BETHLEHEM CATHOLIC:No. 8 North Schuylkill vs. No 9. Schuylkill Haven (6 p.m.). Winner vs. No. 1 Saucon Valley (7:30).AT POTTSVILLE:No. 5 Northern Lehigh vs. No. 12 Pine Grove (6 p.m.). Winner vs. No. 4 Northwestern (7:30).AT NAZARETH:No 6. Palisades vs. No. 11 Notre Dame-Green Pond (6 p.m.). Winner vs. No. 3 Lehighton (7:30).AT CATASAUQUA:No. 7 Panther Valley vs. No. 10 Williams Valley (6 p.m.). Winner vs. No. 2 Pen Argyl (7:30).SATURDAYAT FREEDOM HIGH SCHOOLFirst-round consolations: 9 a.m.Semifinals: 10:45 a.m.Second-round consolations: 12:30 p.m.Championship final/consolation final: 4:30 p.m.True-second place match (if necessary): 6:30 p.m.BACK AT IT… Panther Valley won’t have too much time to enjoy Saturday’s triumph at the Coal Cracker tournament, as the Panthers are set to host North Schuylkill tonight at 7 p.m. and Pottsville tomorrow at the same time. The team certainly won’t be lacking mat time heading into Thursday night’s opening round match against Williams Valley in the District 11 Class AA team tournament.LEST WE FORGET…While much attention gets paid to what wrestlers at the varsity level accomplish, there are often times just as many kids that are grinding away in JV events go without recognition. A total of 78 kids from 16 different schools participated in the first-ever Coal Cracker JV tournament this past Saturday, which coincided with the varsity event. Northwestern Lehigh led the way, with Tyler Derr (138 pounds, 3-0), Matt Sheytah (145 pounds, 3-0) and Jason Lin (285 pounds, 3-0) all taking first in their respective weight classes. Host Panther Valley also enjoyed quite a bit of success, with Colby Newton (126 pounds, 3-0) and Colin Haydt (160 pounds, 3-0) earning gold. Teammates Mat Miller (132 pounds, 2-1) and Chris Walkinshaw (285 pounds, 2-1) took second for the Panthers, while Noah Berk (172 pounds, 3-1) placed third. Jim Thorpe’s Steven Counterman (195 pounds, 3-0) won gold, while Dalton Freer (145 pounds, 2-1) placed second and Austin Williams (138 pounds, 3-1) took third.WITHIN REACH… Lehighton’s Zach Kemmerer moved one step closer to his 100th career victory last week against Pine Grove, pinning James Gately in 1:02. Kemmerer now has 98 career victories and looks primed to join teammates Tegan Durishin, who earned his 100th career win earlier this year, and Connor Frey, who hit the milestone last season. Lehighton’s next match is set for Wednesday at Schuylkill League foe Blue Mountain. The Indians will be in action again Thursday in the District 11 team tournament. Northwestern’s Quentin Bernhard and Panther Valley’s Darren Goida both notched their 100th career victories last week to join Durishin, Capobianco and Northern Lehigh’s Matt Schmall as Times News area wrestlers who have accomplished the feat this season.