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NTL WRESTLING: THE FINAL WEEK BEFORE DISTRICT DUALS ARE SET; TOWANDA-ATHENS PROMISES TO END THINGS WITH A BANG (2022-01-25)

Northern Tier Sports Report
It’s the final week of the dual meet regular season, and that means the districts top wrestling teams are jockeying for position - or just trying to get in to the tournament.

Here are the standings as of the beginning of this week:

1. Montgomery      12-1

2. Benton               11-1

3. Canton               11-2

4. Montoursville     14-3

5. Towanda            15-4

6. Lewisburg          11-3

7. Athens                7-2

8. So. Columbia     5-2

9. Wyalusing          12-6

10. S. Williamsport 4-2

11. Milton               11-6

12. Warrior Run     9-6

13. Mt. Carmel       10-7

14. Hughesville      7-5

15. Sugar Valley     5-4

16. Muncy              9-8


Teams still alive:

NPL                  5-6

Troy                  3-4

Williamson       5-8


Any team with a .500 or better record is invited to compete, with the pigtails on Monday, January 31, the first round on Wednesday, February 2, and the rest at Milton on Saturday, February 5.


Right now the first round match-ups would be Muncy at Montgomery, Sugar Valley Rural Charter at Benton, Hughesville at Canton, Mt. Carmel at Montoursville, Warrior Run at Towanda, Milton at Lewisburg, South Williamsport at Athens, and Wyalusing at Southern Columbia.


The top four seeds look pretty well set, though, if Towanda beats Athens, and Montoursville falls to both Southern Columbia and Milton, the Knights could move up a spot.


Montgomery just has CMVT left, while Benton takes on Muncy and Sullivan County. Canton will look to close out their third straight league title at NP-Liberty on Wednesday.


The Towanda-Athens match means a lot for seeding in the top eight as the loser has a good chance of dropping.


Lewisburg has three winnable matches left on their docket with Midd-West, Bloomsburg, and Sayre.


Southern Columbia has the toughest schedule left, with Montoursville, and their SOCO Scuffle left.


Wyalusing has a good opportunity to pick up two wins tonight to try and get into the top eight so they don’t have to travel.


South Williamsport takes on Muncy to end the season, while Milton has Montoursville. Warrior Run and Mt. Carmel are both done.


Hughesville has winnable matches with Loyalsock and Jersey Shore, while Sugar Valley Rural Charter will face Williamson and Sullivan County. 


It’s a tough end to the season for Muncy with CMVT, Benton, and South Williamsport - they will need to win at least one to stay .500.


Outside looking in Troy has the best chance, being one win away from .500 and their lone bout left against 1-win Wellsboro.


NPL has three matches left, but two of them are against two of the top teams in the NTL with Wyalusing and Canton.


Williamson has the steepest road, with SVRC, Wyalusing and then end the week with a tournament.


One thing is pretty much guaranteed, the standings won’t look like this by the end of the week.


ATHENS AT TOWANDA

The last big NTL match left, with huge district dual implications for both teams, will be this Wednesday. 


A win by Towanda gives them an outside chance of moving up into the top four, a loss could see them drop a few spots. 


The same for Athens, a win and they could move past Towanda in the standings, a loss and they could drop, though, it would take a bad week for them to fall out of the top eight.


Towanda’s line-up:

Wyatt Stranger (106)        19-4

JB Parker (113)                 7-5

Shane Atwood (120)         15-7

Hayden Space (126)         10-5

Rylee Sluyter (132)           14-7

Riley Vanderpool (138)     22-3

Sawyer Robinson (145)    9-10

Jace Gunther (152)           14-7

Mason Higley (160)           11-2

Bryant Green (172)           21-2

Aiden Miller (189)              6-10

Spencer Jennings (215)    4-12

Jared Gunther (285)          13-11


Against Wyalusing they had two forfeits at the lower weights, so their roster may be in a state of flux. Sluyter can move down to 126 if need be, Green has moved up to 189, while Miller’s been used as high as 215.


Tim Parker (215, 3-7) has also been used at the higher weights.


Athens’s line-up:

Keaton Sinsabaugh (106)    6-12

Gavin Bradley (120)             21-0

Mason Vanderpool (126)      7-5

Kaden Setzer (132)              20-2

Jacob Courtney (138)          14-2

Gavin McGrath (145)           1-6

Lucas Forbes (152)              9-7

Karter Rude (160)                19-4

Cameron Whitmarsh (172)   5-10

Colin Rosh (189)                   10-5

Caleb Nason (215)               9-8                

Joshua Nittinger (285)          15-9


In their recent league dual with Wyalusing they had two forfeits, but one was a double forfeit with the Rams, so they only gave up six points there. They've had wrestlers in and out of the line-up all season.


They’re also not afraid to bump their kids around, either, as Bradley has been as high as 126 this year, while Rude went up to 172 to beat NPL’s Kohen Lehman.


Of course, there’s a lot of tantalizing match-ups, headlined with 20 match winners Setzer and Vanderpool facing off with each other. Rude also bumping up to take on Green would be another fun one for the fans.


There’s been a lot of close dual meets this year, so don’t expect this one to be any different.




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