Following a brief, but albeit welcome lull, wrestling returns tomorrow with the start of the District 11 Class AA and AAA individual tournaments.

As in years past, the Class AA schools will wrestle at Bethlehem Freedom Friday, while the AAA schools compete at Liberty. Both sides will converge Saturday night at Liberty for the consolation and championship finals.Last season brought great success for many Times News area wrestlers, as 28 individuals advanced directly to the Southeast Regional from the Class AA district tournament, while four made it to the Northeast Regional from the Class AAA event.With a wildly successful regular season in the books, it goes without saying that most everyone is looking forward to what lies ahead."We're very excited about the start of the postseason," said Lehighton head coach Danny Williams. "For many of our wrestlers, this is their final postseason, and they have very high goals and expectations."Lehighton senior Connor Frey is one of six returning Class AA champions that will be looking to get the postseason started on the right foot.In addition to Frey, Northern Lehigh's Colton Rex, Matt Schmall and Ryan Farber all return after capturing gold last year, as do Jim Thorpe's Kevan Gentile and Northwestern's Caleb Clymer.Two runner-ups from last year, Northwestern's Quentin Bernhard and Northern Lehigh's CJ Young, will be looking to move up one step on the podium.The Tigers and Bulldogs each bring back two third-place finishers in Jarett White and Cameron Kates, respectively, while Tamaqua's Tanner McHugh will try to move up from a fourth place finish last year.Northwestern has already earned some postseason hardware after taking second at the District 11 Class AA duals and advancing to the PIAA Team Championships.Tigers' head coach Jim Moll is hoping his wrestlers will carry that momentum into this weekend's individual tournament."As a team I expect to wrestle hard, and compete with a high level of effort," Moll said. "We have a lot of wrestlers that should be on the podium. If we continue to compete the way we have been over the second half of the season, we should have a successful weekend."Individually, I have high expectations for a lot of our guys. What I would like to see, and expect to see from everyone, is that we improved more than our opponents since the last time we wrestled them. If you beat someone by two points the last time, we want to win by four this time around. If you lost by four the last time, we should be winning this time around."Improvement, in some form, will be the goal for everyone taking the mat this weekend."Tegan (Durishin) is looking to make the district finals, something that he narrowly missed a year ago," Williams said of the senior, who took fourth last season. "The same can be said for Zach Kemmerer, who was third in the district a year ago. Wyatt (Clements) is in a great position. … He just missed out on making it to regionals last year, and I know it's a goal of his to move on to the next tournament."For some of our younger wrestlers, like Nate (Kemmerer) and Cody (Scherer), they're looking to build upon their experience from last year and get to the regional tournament in their sophomore year."Several wrestlers took advantage of an expanded field last year to not only make it to regionals, but to advance all the way to Hershey.Panther Valley's Darren Goida and Ali Capobianco, Northwestern's Matt Peters and Palmerton's Jared Mooney all took fifth - the final qualifying spot - at the District 11 Class AA tournament to advance to the Southeast Regional. But all parlayed that success into a trip to the PIAA Championships a week later.Palmerton head coach Justin Petersen, who posted a 137-22 career record while wrestling for the Blue Bombers, knows as well as anyone that anything can happen in the postseason, and hopes his team is able to capitalize when opportunities present themselves."This weekend I am looking for my guys to compete in every situation they find themselves in," he said. "We are very young, and for many of our guys, it will be their first postseason tournament. So, I am looking for them to stay in the moment and not look ahead to future matches."Everyone has goals, they need to stay focused on those goals throughout the tournament, even if it doesn't go as planned. But it should be fun, I am looking forward to it."After sending three wrestlers to the PIAA Championships in back-to-back years, Panther Valley has a good shot to continue that success again this year with Capobianco, the Kennedy brothers, Hunter and Tanner, and Dylan Moyer all wrestling at a high level this season."Tanner (Kennedy) placed fifth last year. … (He) has a shot to get out, but is going to have his hands full," said Panther Valley head coach Tim Robb. "Hunter (Kennedy) has a great chance to get out, but has no room for errors in a tough weight class. If Ali (Capobianco) wrestles to his ability, he could be a finalist. He has to wrestle though; anyone could not get out."And Dylan has a great chance of being in the finals. Again he must wrestle, but he is definitely in a great spot."With almost two full weeks to rest and let some nagging injuries heal, most everyone should be at close to 100 percent heading into the sport's second season."It certainly gives you a chance to get a little healthier," said Moll. "This is a tough sport, and it can take a toll on you mentally and physically. The two weeks (off) have really given us a chance to recover a little, put in some more hard work, and then get fresh for this weekend."You can clean up some techniques, or focus on some situational wrestling. There isn't a whole lot of new technique you are going to add at this point. We want to reinforce the things they do well as individuals."Unfortunately, the break won't be enough time for everyone to fully recover, as Northwestern's Peters and Panther Valley's Goida will be unable to compete this weekend due to lingering injury issues.On the Class AAA side, Pleasant Valley returns two of its wrestlers that advanced out of the district tournament to the Northeast Regional a year ago.Jason Jacobi (25-4) and Trent Thomas (25-3), who both took fifth at the districts last season, have enjoyed similarly stellar senior campaigns and appear primed to not only finish on the podium this year, but possibly make the trip to Hershey."I'm looking for our guys to go out and wrestle like they have all year and give 110 percent," said Bears' head coach Justin Micklos. "We have a great group of kids, and I have high expectations for all of them in the postseason."The time to turn those postseason dreams into reality is now."At this point in the year, the work has been put in, your physical shape is in check, but one of the biggest factors is the mental edge," said Jim Thorpe head coach Shawn Albert. "Guys that are confident and focused on getting to the next tournament have the best chance to move on. I hope to see our seniors make it through. No coach or wrestler wants their season to end on Feb. 27."This is a very important postseason for our seniors especially, as they're looking not only at the district and regional level, but the state level," added Williams. "From their freshmen year, it has been a goal of theirs to make their way to the medal stand, and it's been something they've been working very hard to attain for their entire careers."Game on.*******ON TOP … A total of eight wrestlers from the Times News area earned No. 1 overall seeds for the district tournaments. In Class AA, Jim Thorpe's Kevan Gentile (106), Northwestern's Quentin Bernhard (126), Northern Lehigh's Matt Schmall (138), Ryan Farber (160) and CJ Young (170), Palmerton's Jared Mooney (182) and Lehighton's Connor Frey (195) will all be seeded first in their respective weight classes. In Class AAA, Pleasant Valley's Trent Thomas (220) earned a No. 1 seed.*******WELL DONE … Several Times News area wrestlers made the most of their opportunity at this past weekend's Ray Nunamaker Memorial District 11 Junior Varsity Tournament at East Stroudsburg South High School. Northwestern's Ryan Dengler took first at 132 pounds. Other place-winners for the Tigers were: Ryan Haas (2nd, 113 pounds), Tony DiCataldo (2nd, 126 pounds), Colin Rex (5th, 126 pounds) and Jason Lin (6th, 285 pounds). Panther Valley's Colin Haydt (4th, 152 pounds), Hunter Kerestes (4th, 170 pounds), Justin Ogozalek (5th, 120 pounds), Aaron Eidem (5th, 285 pounds) and Matt Miller (6th, 132 pounds) also earned medals. Northwestern took fifth in the team standings, while the Panthers placed ninth.