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Over the last four years, Division 1 of the Wyoming Valley Conference has not produced a regular season dual with the promise of Wednesday&#8217;s Hazleton Area at Tunkhannock match.Yes, there have been close duals in previous seasons, but those &#8212; including last year when Hazleton Area defeated Coughlin by two points &#8212; have consisted of forfeits.When the Cougars make the 56-mile, hour-long trip to Tunkhannock, both teams will put forth full lineups as they will likely decide the division championship, barring upsets with three weeks to go before the District 2 Duals Tournament begins.Tunkhannock won last weekend&#8217;s WVC Tournament championship by 57 points over the second-place Cougars, but anyone will tell you that a dual is much different. Just ask both coaches.&#8220;It&#8217;s gonna be a real tough dual,&#8221; Tigers coach Bob Hegedty said. &#8220;We don&#8217;t match up as well as I would like. We have to find a way to win. They&#8217;re a real good team, well-coached. Their kids work hard. We&#8217;re going to have to find a way to win.&#8221;&#8220;This (the tournament result) won&#8217;t transpire into a dual,&#8221; Cougars coach Keith Maurer said. &#8220;I really think it&#8217;s going to be a great dual to be honest with you. I looked at it on paper and I think it&#8217;s going to be one of the better matches the Wyoming Valley Conference has had in a while, parity wise.&#8221;Looking at possible matchups on paper, the score should be very close and can go either way. It will likely come down to which team gets more bonus points. Also coming into play is coaching strategy after the coin toss, and what weight the dual will begin.The winner will be in position to win the division, which is bigger this season because the conference&#8217;s top seed for district duals will host quarterfinals and semifinals on Wednesday, Feb. 3. The No. 2 seed will have to travel to the Lackawanna League champion, which will probably be Scranton on the same day.You&#8217;ll want to get to Tunkhannock early because the Tigers have been drawing huge crowds this season and the gym is expected to packed once again.The last time a dual of this magnitude occurred in the division WVC and consisted of no forfeits was in 2012 when Coughlin defeated Wyoming Valley West, 33-31; both teams tied for the division title that season.Hoffman on a missionHazleton Area junior Jimmy Hoffman has reached the PIAA Championships his first two seasons, but both times, he&#8217;s walked away without a medal.This season, he&#8217;s been using those past results as motivation. He&#8217;s been so dominant that there was a two-week period earlier in the season when opponents didn&#8217;t even score a point on him and the 138-pounder enter&#8217;s Wednesday&#8217;s dual with Tunkhannock with a record of 22-2.&#8220;What happened last year has fueled me for this year and I just used that energy for this year,&#8221; Hoffman said. &#8220;And it&#8217;s transferred over to now. Whatever happened last year. I&#8217;m going to keep building upon it.&#8221;Quick&#8217;s conquestWhile Hoffman has been nearly unbeatable for Hazleton Area, Tunkhannock&#8217;s Dakota Quick has been on a similar path at 132 pounds.A senior, Quick enters with a record of 18-3 and is coming off a performance at the WVC Tournament which earned him the Outstanding Wrestler Award.&#8220;He&#8217;s one of those kids that&#8217;s a gamer and he loves the spotlight,&#8221; Hegedty said. &#8220;He means a lot to our kids and is a big part of our lineup.&#8221;It&#8217;s unlikely that Quick and Hoffman square off in Wednesday&#8217;s dual, but there&#8217;s a slight chance that Hegedty gets strategic and bumps Quick up a weight since Hoffman has defeated Tunkhannock&#8217;s 138-pounder Jake Richards at least five times with no losses in their careers.Tough matches pay offLake-Lehman was expected to finish strong at the WVC Tournament last weekend, and the Black Knights produced by finishing third as the highest team from Division 2 edging out Meyers by six points.What might not have been expected are the team&#8217;s two titlists at the tournament. R.J. Driscoll and Mike Slivinski overcame the odds to be crowned champions at 126 pounds, and 22, respectively.Although that can be argued. Lehman has wrestled a very tough schedule so far this season wrestling and beating District 2 Class 3A teams, West Scranton, Wallenpaupack and Crestwood. The Black Knights also participated in hard tournaments like the X-calibur, which consisted of top teams from the eastern part of the United States, and the Conestoga Valley Holiday Classic, which saw many of the best programs from all over the state.&#8220;Going to those tough-competition tournaments we come here to the conference (tournament) and (the competition) not as high as the competition we&#8217;re used to,&#8221; Driscoll said. &#8220;It&#8217;s a big confidence boost for us Lake-Lehman wrestlers.&#8221;<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Hazleton Area, Tunkhannock battle in biggest dual so far</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Dave Rosengrantdrosengrant@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach Dave Rosengrant at 570-991-6398 or on Twitter @tldrosengrant</shirttailMeta></div>

Wrestling Notebook: Hazleton Area, Tunkhannock dual could be a classic