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<p>History can be made at the PIAA Team Wrestling Championships for two history-making programs.</p><p>Lake-Lehman and Hazleton Area are both shooting for the record books when the tournament begins on Thursday at Hershey&#8217;s Giant Center.</p><p>Both have plenty of accolades inside the Wyoming Valley Conference and District 2. The Black Knights hold the mark for most 2A district dual titles with six, while the Cougars have a D2 record seven district dual championships. But neither team has won a meet at the state&#8217;s dual tournament in 11 combined previous appearances.</p><p>The perennial powers in District 2 aren&#8217;t alone. Only three teams in Wyoming Valley Conference history have ever won a dual at the PIAA Team Championships.</p><p>Berwick in Class 2A became the first team from the conference to ever win in Hershey with a win over Towanda in 2008. It took six years after that victory for the WVC to finally claim a win in Class 3A when Wyoming Valley West did so in 2014 knocking off Jersey Shore. Just two years after that, Tunkhannock beat Father Judge in the Class 3A tournament.</p><p>Lake-Lehman and Hazleton Area will certainly have work cut out if they are going to make history.</p><p>In Thursday&#8217;s round (round of 16) at 2 p.m., the Black Knights will face District 9 champion Brookville, which took fourth in 2017 and won the state championship in 2016 and is currently ranked 10th in the state by PA Power Wrestling. The Cougars will meet District 1 titlist Council Rock South at 6 p.m. with CRS currently ranked seventh in the state; Lehman and Hazleton Area are not ranked by the publication.</p><p>Still, both WVC squads do seem to match up fairly with their preliminary round opponents. In the match between the Black Knights and Raiders, Lehman&#8217;s Bob Long is ranked No. 18 in the state at 132 pounds. Brookville only has three wrestlers ranked in the top 20, meaning there could be many toss-up bouts.</p><p>Hazleton Area&#8217;s Johnny Corra (18th at 106 pounds) and Shane Noonan (third at 220) are the only ranked grapplers on the team, while the Golden Hawks have nine wrestlers ranked in the top 25 in their respective weights. But, where the Cougars close the gap is at the upperweights. That&#8217;s where they are strongest and where CRS either doesn&#8217;t have a wrestler ranked or is ranked the lowest of the team&#8217;s state-ranked athletes.</p><p><strong>Another record falls</strong></p><p>On consecutive days last weekend, two school wins records fell. After Hanover Area&#8217;s D.J. Erickson broke the school record for career victories, Dallas&#8217; Steven Newell did the same the very next day.</p><p>Newell went 5-0 at the Berwick Duals on Sunday to pass Ryan Monk for the most wins in Mountaineers history. Monk set the mark of 140 back in 2015; Newell stands at 144 entering this weekend.</p><p>It&#8217;s the third school wins record that has fallen this season so far as Tunkhannock&#8217;s Tommy Traver set the Tigers record back in December. If one more school record is broken this year, it is believed that will be the most times in one season that has happened among WVC schools. Three records were broken each in 2015 and 2008. Wyoming Valley West&#8217;s David Krokowski is 15 wins shy of breaking the Spartans record.</p><p><strong>An old new home</strong></p><p>The District 2 Individual Championships will not be held at the Kingston Armory this year.</p><p>It will mark the first time since 2013 that both the Class 2A and 3A tournaments will not be held at that site. The last time that the events were held at a different location, they were held at separate venues with Class 2A at Lake-Lehman and Class 3A at Hazleton Area.</p><p>Later this month, on Feb. 22-23, both tournaments will be held simultaneously at Hazleton Area High School. There will be six mats set up inside the gym in Hazleton, the same amount that was at the Armory the last five years, meaning the schedule will be nearly identical.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Lake-Lehman&#8217;s Bob Long, top, and the Black Knights will have their work cut out for the them in the PIAA Team Wrestling Championships as they look to secure their first-ever dual state tournament win. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_TTL020118D2-2AWrestlingDuals_1_CMYK.jpg</photo0><caption0>Lake-Lehman&#8217;s Bob Long, top, and the Black Knights will have their work cut out for the them in the PIAA Team Wrestling Championships as they look to secure their first-ever dual state tournament win. </caption0><photoCredit0>Bill Tarutis file photo | For Times Leader </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Hazleton Area, Lake-Lehman aim for 1st dual win</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Dave Rosengrant</p><p>For Times Leader</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>Up Next</strong></p><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>PIAA Team Championships</strong></p><p style="text-align: center;">Today through Saturday at Giant Center, Hershey</p><p><strong>Class 2A:</strong> Lake-Lehman vs. Brookville, 2 p.m.</p><p><strong>Class 3A:</strong> Hazleton Area vs. Council Rock South, 6 p.m.</p><p><strong>Note:</strong> The tournament is double-elimination with the quarterfinals and consolation round on Friday</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Times Leader sports at 570-829-7143 or on Twitter @TLsports</p></shirttailMeta></div>

PIAA Team Wrestling Championships Preview: Hazleton Area, Lake-Lehman look to make history