Times News area basketball teams aren't the only ones dealing with a long layoff between the end of the regular season and the start of the playoffs.

Several area wrestling squads have been forced to bridge a gap that for some will be nearly a month without competition by the time the District 11 Class 2A and 3A individual tournaments kick off Friday night.Northern Lehigh's last match was Jan. 24 against Palmerton, while Pleasant Valley (Jan. 28) and Palmerton (Feb. 7) both had their most recent contests against Whitehall."It's been long," said Bears' head coach Justin Micklos. "It's definitely a little tough when you don't get that competition."At the start of the break, I gave them some time off, which helps for guys that are dealing with nagging injuries. But as we've gotten closer to districts, we've gotten more serious."Blue Bombers head coach Justin Petersen has taken a similar approach in dealing with the downtime."The break has its ups and downs for the team," he said. "Having about a month off at the end of the season enables the team to get healthy. Other than that it ends up making the season drag on for the kids. If you add the three weeks at the beginning of the season without a competition, you end up having seven weeks of just practice."That makes it very tough to keep kids motivated. I gave my team almost a week off to get away and clear their minds. You can go to other teams to get some action with other opponents, but its almost impossible to replicate the intensity that you would get with competition."While the time off has benefited the teams, it's also helped the coaches, such as Bulldogs first-year mentor Scott Snyder."The break certainly allowed me to regroup and refocus," said Snyder. "I would much rather have competed in District Duals, but the first week or two acted as a breath of fresh air as much as we would have liked to have been competing."I do think we have been doing things a little differently nearing the end of the season than we did in the beginning of the transition. I don't believe the difference was very big, but more or less developing a rhythm in the practice room. The team knows what to expect coming in to each practice depending on when our next competition is or what day of the week it is. I think developing that flow or rhythm helps tremendously in terms of functioning as a unit."Though not competition, Micklos and Petersen have made it a point to get their teams out of the wrestling room and into different environments to maintain a balance leading up to districts."Today (Monday) we were at Pen Argyl practicing with them," said Micklos. "It's just a different look for the kids, and that's something that benefits them. It breaks up the monotony of practice everyday.""We've gone to other rooms a few times to get different opponents," added Petersen. "It's nice to see the teams within the Lehigh Valley helping each other out."The extended layoff also serves as an opportunity for coaches to reinforce techniques that their wrestlers have practiced throughout the season but at a slower pace."It gives you a chance to really work on the stuff you've been teaching all year long," said Micklos. "There is more time to get around the room and work with each kid. You're not showing anything new; but you're able to slow it down and try to work with each kid individually."We also work on a lot of situational wrestling, like 30 seconds to go, down by two, what do you do? I think that really helps the kids because those are the type of situations that they'll face in the tournament, and being able to handle it could be the difference between winning or losing a match."Those moments are ones Petersen, who went 43-4 as a senior at Palmerton and finished his career with a record of 137-22, knows well."My approach changes a little bit because you try to get your guys mentally prepared for the tournament," he said. "Having gone through it, I understand that the mental aspect of the sport at this point in the season is critical."Also, having game plans going into matches is important. Limiting mistakes, finishing periods and wrestling well on the edge (can) make a big difference at this time of the year."Snyder and his staff are also well-versed in what it takes to succeed in the postseason."Our staff is fairly experienced with coaching and wrestling deep into the individual portion of the season, so we know what to expect," commented Snyder. "We start pumping the brakes at practice a little in the postseason to prevent injuries and keep guys fresh by shortening practice and live wrestling, but as a wrestler you have to understand that cutting practice time means making the time you put in valuable."But sometimes, it simply comes down to having the right attitude."We just try to go with the flow of things," said Micklos. "Maybe at the beginning of this break I was a little more strict. But now I've just tried to keep it all positive. I want them to get their mindset right and believe that they can succeed."**********JV TOURNAMENT ... Pleasant Valley's Anthony Mazella capped his Ray Nunamaker Memorial JV Tournament with a gold medal.Mazella cruised past Northampton's Shaun Miller with a 16-4 major decision in the 170-pound final Saturday.Mazella's title capped a successful day for Times News area wrestlers, as a total of 14 area grapplers earned hardware.Northwestern's Jack Casciano lost by technical fall (15-0) to Liberty's Sebastian Mateo in the 120-pound final. Northern Lehigh's David Neff won a 16-15 decision against Lehighton's Will Smith in the 220-pound third place match.Lehighton and Panther Valley each had four place winners.In addition to Smith, Jake Hauser (285) also placed fourth for the Indians, while Kevin Madea (106) and Nate Lucykanish (120) finished sixth.For the Panthers, Louden Breiner (106) placed fourth, Colin Haydt (182) fifth, and Noah Berk (160) and Noah Easterly (195) took sixth.Will Delicker (138) recorded a fourth-place finish for the Tigers, while Sam Day (182) took sixth.Christian DeReinzi (285) also placed fifth for the Bears.Bethlehem Catholic won the team title with 228.5 points. Nazareth (165.5), Northampton (146), Liberty (130.5) and Saucon Valley (84) rounded out the top five.Lehighton (63.5) edged Panther Valley (63) for ninth place in the 35-team event. Northwestern (53) was 14th; Pleasant Valley (29) 19th; Northern Lehigh (23) 24th; Jim Thorpe (20) 27th; and Palmerton (1) 33rd.**********JUNIOR HIGH TOURNAMENT ... Lehighton's Derek Hunter placed first at the Tony Iasello Memorial Junior High Wrestling Tournament over the weekend. Hunter defeated Saucon Valley's Nickolas Warnke 2-1 in overtime of the 252-pound final.Austin Kern placed second for the Indians, falling 5-1 to Mahanoy Area's Michael Aldsworth in the 187-pound final.Tamaqua's Carson Krell and Nate Wickersham led a group of four place winners for the Blue Raiders. Krell (147) placed fifth and Wickersham (132) sixth, while Aaron Coccio (107) took seventh and Michael Shlanta (92) eighth.Panther Valley's Caleb McDermott defeated Easton's Sunny Salazar 3-2 in overtime to claim seventh at 140 pounds.Lehighton's Brandon Ramirez knocked off Jim Thorpe's Jared Newhall, 3-1, to place seventh at 157 pounds.Northampton captured the team crown with 291.5 points. Nazareth (280.5), Bethlehem Catholic (233.5), Easton (181.5) and Emmaus (141.5) filled out the top-five.**********OFF THE MAT ... In Off The Mat's seventh issue of Class 2A state rankings released last week, Northern Lehigh's Ryan Farber led the way, moving up to No. 1 at 160 pounds, while Northwestern's Caleb Clymer came in at No. 3 at 152 pounds. Palmerton's Jared Mooney (195) was ranked fourth and Tamaqua's Tanner McHugh (138) fifth in their respective weight classes. Northwestern's Bailey Wehr moved up from seventh to fifth at 120 pounds. Panther Valley's Hunter Kennedy was 15th at 160 pounds. District 11 had two teams in Off the Mat's top-25 Dual Meet rankings. District champion Saucon Valley dropped from second to seventh, while runner-up Wilson remained 16th.**********IN CASE YOU MISSED IT ... Jim Thorpe concluded its regular season last Friday with a Schuylkill League Division 1 match against Pine Grove. Though the Olympians fell 57-16, JT still had several individual winners. Ethan Mordaunt (195) pinned Austen Ney in 3:10, while John Newhall (113) topped Noah Venszl with an 11-0 major decision. Cameron Condly (160) and Austin Williams (170) won by decision for the Olympians.**********STALLING ... With only one team (Jim Thorpe) having competed since last Friday's column, the Mat Rankings will not run this week. Look for an updated version of the rankings in next Wednesday's column.