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PIAA Boys Basketball: WVC teams facing big challenges in second round

<p>HERSHEY &#8211; After the 2018 state wrestling tournament ended, a group of wrestlers from the Wyoming Valley Conference got together for offseason workouts and traveled to tournaments together.</p><p>That&#8217;s not unusual for those types of activities to take place since many of the athletes spend countless hours together anyway.</p><p>But this time it was different.</p><p>The conference was shutout from a medal at the PIAA Wrestling Championships in 2018 for the first time in decades. And those grapplers vowed to not let that happen under their watch again.</p><p>Among those who worked out together last offseason were Hanover Area&#8217;s D.J. Erickson and Hazleton Area&#8217;s Shane Noonan. It was those two who earned the medals for the conference this season after qualifying for states last year and walking out of Giant Center without any hardware.</p><p>&#8220;We just pushed each other because we saw each other so often saying &#8216;Dude, the conference didn&#8217;t get a medal last year, let&#8217;s get one this year. Let&#8217;s get this medal for the conference,&#8217;&#8221; Noonan said. &#8220;We didn&#8217;t have any last year, but we came out with two this year. That&#8217;s obviously an improvement. That&#8217;s good in my eyes.&#8221;</p><p>This past weekend, that duo both won the last matches of their careers as Erickson placed seventh at 152 pounds in Class 2A and Noonan took fifth in the 220-pound bracket in Class 3A.</p><p>&#8220;I knew last year that was a wake-up call for the conference that we need to do better,&#8221; Erickson said.</p><p>The two placewinners for the WVC is the first since 2017 when Hazleton Area&#8217;s Jimmy Hoffman was second in Class 3A and Meyers&#8217; Colin Pasone took sixth in 2A.</p><p><strong>A TRIO OF GOATS</strong></p><p>Three WVC schools saw their school mark for career wins set this year. Erickson leaves the Hawkeyes program as the school&#8217;s all-time wins leader with 124. Dallas&#8217; Steven Newell set the Mountaineers mark and ends his illustrious career with 153 victories.</p><p>The first mark to be set happened on the first weekend of the season back in December when Tommy Traver from Tunkhannock set the Tigers record. Traver missed out on the postseason after breaking his leg in a freak accident. He ended his career with 138 wins.</p><p>While Noonan didn&#8217;t get to the school record for victories, because Jimmy Hoffman&#8217;s mark of 161 may never be touched, he ends with 152, good for second on the school&#8217;s all-time list. He also claimed the Cougars&#8217; first regional title in nine years, and left a lasting impression in the wrestling room. The only two losses he had this season were to the state champion, Nate Schon from Selinsgrove, and last year&#8217;s state champion Hunter Catka from Sun Valley. Among other accomplishments, he also helped the team win two district duals titles with wins in the final duals of both championship years.</p><p>&#8220;There&#8217;s a lot of great things he&#8217;s done for the program,&#8221; Cougars coach Keith Maurer said about Noonan. &#8220;And I&#8217;ll take a lot of memories.&#8221;</p><p>Wyoming Valley West&#8217;s two-times state qualifier David Krokowski finished with 142 career victories, which is second on the Spartan&#8217;s all-time list. Bob Long, Lake-Lehman&#8217;s two-time graduating state qualifier, concluded his career with 117 wins.</p><p>Dallas heavyweight Shawn Henniger concluded his career with 90 wins, while Lake-Lehman 220-pounder T.J. Meehan walked out of Giant Center with 65 wins in three seasons wrestling varsity.</p><p><strong>UP-AND-COMING</strong></p><p>Four underclassmen from the WVC left Giant Center without a medal and now next year will now be in the same situation as many of the senior state qualifiers were over the weekend.</p><p>Tunkhannock&#8217;s Dave Evans and Gavin D&#8217;Amato and Lake-Lehman&#8217;s Hunter Burke all won one match in the Class 2A event, while Erickson&#8217;s teammate Joey Rowley had a tough event finishing 0-2.</p><p>The four gained valuable experience and will have something to grow on for next season.</p><p>&#8220;He&#8217;s already said he&#8217;s learned a ton,&#8221; Hanover Area coach Mike Griffith said about Rowley. &#8220;The level of wrestling down here is far superior than even at regionals. And he&#8217;s already telling me what he wants to do next year. And he&#8217;s already buying into what D.J. was saying last year to start doing some stuff.&#8221;</p><p>Evans, D&#8217;Amato and Rowley &#8211; all juniors &#8211; are all closing in on 100 career victories. Burke, a sophomore, has 57 victories in two varsity seasons.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Hanover Area&#8217;s D.J Erickson finished in seventh place at 152 pounds in the PIAA Class 2A Wrestling Championships at Hershey. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_Erickson2-2.jpg</photo0><caption0>Hanover Area&#8217;s D.J Erickson finished in seventh place at 152 pounds in the PIAA Class 2A Wrestling Championships at Hershey. </caption0><photoCredit0>Ed Boardman file photo | For Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_Noonan_Saturday2-2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Hazleton Area&#8217;s Shane Noonan battled to a seventh-place finish at 220 pounds in the PIAA Class 3A Wrestling Championships at Hershey. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_Noonan_Saturday2-2.jpg</photo1><caption1>Hazleton Area&#8217;s Shane Noonan battled to a seventh-place finish at 220 pounds in the PIAA Class 3A Wrestling Championships at Hershey. </caption1><photoCredit1>Ed Boardman file photo | For Times Leader </photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Dave Rosengrant</p><p>For Times Leader</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Times Leader Sports at 570-829-7143 or on Twitter @TLSports</p></shirttailMeta></div>

PIAA Wrestling: Determination drives WVC to medals