Warriors, Patriots, Buckhorns join the Elite Eight Power Rankings

Lackawanna Trail and Delaware Valley used a busy first two weeks of the season to solidify the top two spots in the Riverfront Sports Elite Eight Wrestling Power Rankings of District 2 teams, but there is plenty of movement behind the Lions and Warriors.

Abington Heights climbed into the third spot in the rankings while Hazleton Area also moved up and Wyoming Area, Pittston Area and Wallenpaupack moved into the rankings, which were released on Christmas Eve.

Wyoming Area grabs the fourth spot in the rankings, which Abington Heights had held before moving up one position.

Hazleton Area gains three spots into fifth.

Pittston Area and Wallenpaupack join the rankings in sixth and seventh.

Western Wayne slips two spots to eight.

Honesdale, Lake-Lehman and Wyoming Valley West all fell from the rankings.

A closer look at the performance of each of the ranked and formerly ranked teams during the intense start-up to the season in which all of the teams have taken part in both dual meets and tournaments.

Lackawanna Trail won its only dual, shutting out Elk Lake, 61-0, in the opener of defense of its Lackawanna League Division 2 title, and took the title of two tournaments, winning the season-opening Rough Rider Invitational at Catasauqua and last weekend’s Lackawanna League Tournament.

Robbie Schneider (160), Seth Ross (189) and Jonah Houser (215) won individual titles in both tournaments. Ethan Lee (132), and Max Bluhm (138) also won their weight classes at the 13-team Rough Rider Invitational. Deegan Ross (152) also finished first in the 14-team field at the Lackawanna League Tournament.

Delaware Valley is 2-0 in Lackawanna League Division 1 with wins over Scranton and North Pocono by a total of 117 points. The Warriors finished second to Lackawanna Trail in the league tournament and were 12^th out of 21 teams at the Cumberland Valley Kickoff Classic.

Zach Jacaruso won the title at 120 pounds at both Cumberland Valley and the league tournament. Brady Colville, at 106, and Dom Moyer, at 126, also added titles at the league tournament.

Abington Heights is 6-1 overall and 2-0 by a total of 118 points over Wallenpaupack and Valley View in Lackawanna League Division 1. The other matches were at the Battle of Bethlehem Duals where the Comets went 4-1.

The Comets got league tournament titles from Luke Sirianni (113), Brian Heard (138), Austin Smith (145) and Caleb Marzolino (172).

Wyoming Area is 8-4, including 2-0 in Wyoming Valley Conference Division 2. The Warriors beat divisional opponents, Berwick and Dallas, by a total of 67 points.

The Warriors handed rival Pittston Area its only loss at the season-opening Gary Woodruff Duals, but could not prevent the Patriots from winning that tournament title on a tiebreaker. Wyoming Area also went 2-3 in the Dandy Mini-Mart Duals at Towanda.

Defending state champion Jaden Pepe (126, 132) and three-time defending District 2 champion Connor Wrobleski (189) are both 12-0 for District 2’s busiest team.

Hazleton Area (2-0), including 1-0 in WVC Division 1 where it is the division champion.

The Cougars won each dual locally by at least 28 points, but finished back in the pack at two high-caliber tournaments. They were 18^th of 24 teams at the Tom Best Top Hat Invitational at Williamsport and 14^th of 17 teams in the XCalibur Tournament at Wilkes-Barre Area.

Bryce Molinaro won the 189-pound title in Williamsport.

Pittston Area leads WVC Division 1 at 2-0, has the title of the Gary Woodruff Memorial Duals at Wyalusing Valley and is 6-2 overall. The Patriots have split with Wallenpaupack, taking a potential Woodruff title away from the Buckhorns on a neutral mat, then losing on the road.

Nobody has made it through the first period with sophomore Julian Everitt, who has six pins along with two forfeits at 138 and 145.

Wallenpaupack is 5-2 overall with a Division 1 loss to Abington Heights and a fourth-place finish in the Lackawanna League Tournament.

League 132-pound champion Gunnar Myers is 9-1 with five pins, two technical falls, two forfeits and a loss by decision to defending state champion Pepe from Wyoming Area.

Western Wayne has the district’s best dual meet record at 5-0, but finished behind five teams to place sixth in the Lackawanna League Tournament.

The dual meet record includes a title at the Wildcat Duals at Athens where the Wildcats went through the bracket with three straight victories.

Honesdale is 4-3, including 2-0 in Lackawanna Division 1.

The Hornets went 2-3 at the Battle of Bethlehem Duals and placed seventh in the league tournament.

Lake-Lehman lost its only dual, 48-24, to West Scranton and placed sixth out of 13 teams in the Rough Riders Invitational at Catasauqua.

Wyoming Valley West is 3-4, including 1-0 in WVC Division 1.

The Spartans went 1-4 in the Case-Flynn Duals at Pottsville and placed fifth out of 20 at the Penn Manor Tournament where Dorian Hoffman (106) and Ian Ratchford (126) won titles.

The opening rankings, with records and previous rankings: