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Four Berks teams qualify for District 3 Team Wrestling Championships

brian smith, reading eagle, pa.
·2 min read

Jan. 29—Four Berks teams have qualified for the District 3 Team Wrestling Championships, it was announced Sunday.

Berks Catholic earned the top seed in Class 2A and will be joined in the 12-team field by Tulpehocken and Hamburg. Wilson is seeded second in the 16-team Class 3A bracket.

The 10th-seeded Trojans and 12th-seeded Hawks open with first-round matches Monday, while the Saints earned a bye.

Tulpehocken (11-7), making its first appearance, will wrestle at seventh-seeded Trinity (13-7) at 6 p.m., while Hamburg (8-8) will be at fifth-seeded Eastern York (12-4) at 6 p.m.

Berks Catholic (19-0), the Berks champ, will host four teams Wednesday in quarterfinals/semifinals. The Saints will face the winner of the first-round match between No. 8 Biglerville (13-8) and No. 9 Bermudian Springs (12-8) in one quarterfinal at 6 p.m. In the other quarterfinal at 6, No. 4 Bishop McDevitt will take on the Eastern York-Hamburg winner. The semifinals and consolation matches will follow.

The tournament concludes Saturday at Cumberland Valley, with consolation matches starting at 10:30 a.m. The final and third-place match will be at 3:30 p.m.

The top three teams qualify for the PIAA Tournament.

In Class 3A, Wilson will host four teams Tuesday for first-round and quarterfinal matches.

The Berks runner-up Bulldogs (13-2) will face No. 15 Manheim Central (15-6) in a first-round match at 6. No. 7 Central York (9-2) will take on No. 10 Hempfield (11-5) in the other match at 6. The winners will meet in a quarterfinal to follow.

The semifinals and first two rounds of consolations will be held at Spring Grove Thursday, starting at 5 p.m.

The finals and third-place match will be held Saturday at Cumberland Valley at 1 p.m.

The top four teams qualify for the PIAA Tournament.

Berks Catholic is making its second straight appearance in districts. The Saints went 1-2 last season, losing to Newport 31-30 in the quarterfinals. The Buffalos seemingly took advantage of a policy by Catholic dioceses in Pennsylvania that did not allow co-ed contact sports, which prevented the team's male wrestlers from taking the mat against females. Newport earned 12 points by sending out two female wrestlers for matches.

The policy was suspended by the Diocese of Allentown the next day, and remains suspended.

Hamburg qualified for the first time since 2020, when it won its second straight championship. This will be the Hawks' 19th overall appearance.

Wilson is making its second straight appearance and 14th overall. The Bulldogs lost to Cocalico 34-32 in the first round last year. They are looking for their first first-round victory since 2016.