{"id":76385,"date":"2015-02-04T13:44:08","date_gmt":"2015-02-04T13:44:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sandbox.web.rcn.net\/rcntv\/?p=76385"},"modified":"2023-02-17T22:27:17","modified_gmt":"2023-02-17T22:27:17","slug":"sportstalk-shop-three-wrestling-season-surprises","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/sportstalk-shop-three-wrestling-season-surprises\/","title":{"rendered":"The SportsTalk Shop:  Three Wrestling Season Surprises"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>While many things unfolded the way most Lehigh Valley HS wrestling experts thought the season would, there were still several big surprises during this year\u2019s District XI team wrestling season.\u00a0 Here are a few of the highlights:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Becahi\u2019s Level of Dominance<\/strong><br \/>\nThe fact that the Golden Hawks ran through its 3A district competitors in this, its first year moving up from being a \u201cClass 2-A\u201d\u00a0 team, is not really a surprise.\u00a0 They have been scoring victories over many local wrestlers from larger schools for some time during their competition in the now-defunct Lehigh Valley Conference.\u00a0 What was shocking was by HOW MUCH Becahi beat up on other Lehigh Valley powers Easton, Parkland, Nazareth &amp; company.\u00a0 Here\u2019s a look at three of their biggest wins over conference opponents\u2014all by healthy margins &#8211; this winter.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/tsXYPmfH_TI\" width=\"425\" height=\"350\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/OUjiv7BzK54\" width=\"425\" height=\"350\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/rREcNV5eOf8\" width=\"425\" height=\"350\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Expect the Hawks\u2019 success to continue in the state tournament this weekend and once the \u201cindividual\u201d playoffs get underway in a few weeks.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Freedom\u2019s Amazing Season<\/strong><br \/>\nLast year we had Patriots\u2019 Head Coach Brandon Hall on our \u201cRCN SportsTalk\u201d show and he told us some great stories about what he, his coaches and players have had to overcome in trying to build up the program \u2014a task especially difficult with the high level of competition in the Lehigh Valley.\u00a0 His team took the next step in a big way\u2014entering the playoffs with an amazing 24-0 record and an impressive win in the \u201cAmerican\u201d Division of the highly competitive Virginia Duals tournament.\u00a0 Freedom\u2019s next step will be to continue this high level of success for the next few years against the powerhouse teams in the Eastern Pennsylvania region.\u00a0 However, you have to give a huge congratulations to Coach Hall and his team for all of their success this year\u2014and putting together a season that no one outside of the northern half of Bethlehem saw coming.<\/p>\n<p>Aside from any match involving Becahi, Freedom and most of the other teams in the newly formed Eastern Pennsylvania Conference made for entertaining team competition this winter.\u00a0 Here are a few of the best matches, including this past weekend\u2019s \u201cUltimate Qualifier\u201d:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/cgdggx3lREk\" width=\"425\" height=\"350\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/iy1lIXAFEG8\" width=\"425\" height=\"350\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/nlCNrNQJbZg\" width=\"425\" height=\"350\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Northern Lehigh\u2019s 2A Championship<\/strong><br \/>\nBecahi no longer competing in the 2A bracket left a wide-open district tournament for some team to come up and win this year\u2019s crown\u2014a title the Hawks have dominated over the last few seasons.\u00a0 Saucon Valley headed a field of impressive smaller schools that had multiple talented wrestlers this season.\u00a0 Head Coach Chad Spirk has done an amazing job over his career of building his program\u2014which sometimes in the past was overshadowed by other teams\u2019 performances from the LVC.\u00a0 However, it was Northern Lehigh\u2019s Steve Hluschak and his Bulldogs that pulled off the win over the Colonial League Champion Panthers to advance into this weekend\u2019s PIAA tourney as the #1 2A representative from District XI.\u00a0 Northern Lehigh was one of several teams that made for a great season, along with Northwestern, Notre Dame and Bangor.\u00a0 Most of these head coaches were on \u201cSportsTalk\u201d recently\u2014you can hear more about their teams and their thoughts on local wrestling by watching the show for free through RCN On-Demand.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking of \u201cSportsTalk,\u201d this Thursday (Feb. 5<sup>th<\/sup>) at 6pm, we\u2019ll have our \u201cUltimate\u201d wrestling panel with local legends Gene Waas and Sam Burgio joining Jack Logic, Joe Craig and myself as we preview this weekend\u2019s State Finals, the upcoming District XI Individual Wrestling Tournament and give our thoughts on some controversial decisions that were made in terms of forming the new playoff system.\u00a0 We\u2019ll also have wrestling experts Brad Wilson and Scott Barr on our February 19<sup>th<\/sup> live show to preview RCN\u2019s coverage of that weekend\u2019s \u201cIndividuals Championships\u201d and also give their takes on local wrestling issues.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019d love to hear your comments &amp; questions about Lehigh Valley HS wrestling!\u00a0 Who stood out in your mind as the top individual wrestlers\u2026and which other team\u2019s exceeded expectations?\u00a0 Email us at <a href=\"mailto:RCNSportsTalk@rcn.com\">RCNSportsTalk@rcn.com<\/a> and we\u2019ll read and respond to your emails on our upcoming live shows!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>While many things unfolded the way most Lehigh Valley HS wrestling experts thought the season would, there were still several big surprises during this year\u2019s District XI team wrestling season.\u00a0 Here are a few of the highlights: Becahi\u2019s Level of Dominance The fact that the Golden Hawks ran through its 3A district competitors in this,&#8230;<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"Yoast SEO Relevanssi index exclude","inline_featured_image":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4,5],"tags":[161,222],"class_list":["post-76385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured","category-sports","category-the-sportstalk-shop","tag-district-xi","tag-high-school-wrestling"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The SportsTalk Shop: Three Wrestling Season Surprises - ATVN<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The SportsTalk Shop: Three Wrestling Season Surprises - ATVN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"While many things unfolded the way most Lehigh Valley HS wrestling experts thought the season would, there were still several big surprises during this year\u2019s District XI team wrestling season.\u00a0 Here are a few of the highlights: Becahi\u2019s Level of Dominance The fact that the Golden Hawks ran through its 3A district competitors in this,...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/sportstalk-shop-three-wrestling-season-surprises\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"ATVN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-02-04T13:44:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-02-17T22:27:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Chris Michael\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Chris Michael\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/sportstalk-shop-three-wrestling-season-surprises\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/sportstalk-shop-three-wrestling-season-surprises\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Chris Michael\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6aba8df7f74bf50b72426776afd0067a\"},\"headline\":\"The SportsTalk Shop: Three Wrestling Season Surprises\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-02-04T13:44:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-02-17T22:27:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/sportstalk-shop-three-wrestling-season-surprises\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":694,\"commentCount\":0,\"keywords\":[\"District XI\",\"High School Wrestling\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Featured\",\"Sports\",\"The SportsTalk Shop\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/sportstalk-shop-three-wrestling-season-surprises\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/sportstalk-shop-three-wrestling-season-surprises\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/sportstalk-shop-three-wrestling-season-surprises\\\/\",\"name\":\"The SportsTalk Shop: Three Wrestling Season Surprises - ATVN\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-02-04T13:44:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-02-17T22:27:17+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6aba8df7f74bf50b72426776afd0067a\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/sportstalk-shop-three-wrestling-season-surprises\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/\",\"name\":\"ATVN\",\"description\":\"Local Programming &amp; Astound Digital Cable, Internet &amp; Phone Services\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6aba8df7f74bf50b72426776afd0067a\",\"name\":\"Chris Michael\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"\\\/atvn\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/11\\\/Chris-Michael-Sports-Talk-Shop-Author-Image1.jpg\",\"url\":\"\\\/atvn\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/11\\\/Chris-Michael-Sports-Talk-Shop-Author-Image1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"\\\/atvn\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/11\\\/Chris-Michael-Sports-Talk-Shop-Author-Image1.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Chris Michael\"},\"description\":\"Chris handles play-by-play for RCN sports events, including baseball, football &amp; basketball games and produces\\\/hosts the station\u2019s 60-minute live call-in show. Among Chris\u2019s other responsibilities include reporting on local news &amp; sports stories, conducting \u201cTake 5\u201d interviews with community and political leaders, producing commercials, voiceovers and promos; and generating blog entries and videos on the internet. Click here to listen to the weekly Sports Talk podcast.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/author\\\/rcntvchris\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The SportsTalk Shop: Three Wrestling Season Surprises - ATVN","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The SportsTalk Shop: Three Wrestling Season Surprises - ATVN","og_description":"While many things unfolded the way most Lehigh Valley HS wrestling experts thought the season would, there were still several big surprises during this year\u2019s District XI team wrestling season.\u00a0 Here are a few of the highlights: Becahi\u2019s Level of Dominance The fact that the Golden Hawks ran through its 3A district competitors in this,...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/sportstalk-shop-three-wrestling-season-surprises\/","og_site_name":"ATVN","article_published_time":"2015-02-04T13:44:08+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-02-17T22:27:17+00:00","author":"Chris Michael","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Chris Michael","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/sportstalk-shop-three-wrestling-season-surprises\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/sportstalk-shop-three-wrestling-season-surprises\/"},"author":{"name":"Chris Michael","@id":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/#\/schema\/person\/6aba8df7f74bf50b72426776afd0067a"},"headline":"The SportsTalk Shop: Three Wrestling Season Surprises","datePublished":"2015-02-04T13:44:08+00:00","dateModified":"2023-02-17T22:27:17+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/sportstalk-shop-three-wrestling-season-surprises\/"},"wordCount":694,"commentCount":0,"keywords":["District XI","High School Wrestling"],"articleSection":["Featured","Sports","The SportsTalk Shop"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/sportstalk-shop-three-wrestling-season-surprises\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/sportstalk-shop-three-wrestling-season-surprises\/","url":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/sportstalk-shop-three-wrestling-season-surprises\/","name":"The SportsTalk Shop: Three Wrestling Season Surprises - ATVN","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-02-04T13:44:08+00:00","dateModified":"2023-02-17T22:27:17+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/#\/schema\/person\/6aba8df7f74bf50b72426776afd0067a"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/sportstalk-shop-three-wrestling-season-surprises\/"]}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/","name":"ATVN","description":"Local Programming &amp; Astound Digital Cable, Internet &amp; Phone Services","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/#\/schema\/person\/6aba8df7f74bf50b72426776afd0067a","name":"Chris Michael","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"\/atvn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Chris-Michael-Sports-Talk-Shop-Author-Image1.jpg","url":"\/atvn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Chris-Michael-Sports-Talk-Shop-Author-Image1.jpg","contentUrl":"\/atvn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Chris-Michael-Sports-Talk-Shop-Author-Image1.jpg","caption":"Chris Michael"},"description":"Chris handles play-by-play for RCN sports events, including baseball, football &amp; basketball games and produces\/hosts the station\u2019s 60-minute live call-in show. Among Chris\u2019s other responsibilities include reporting on local news &amp; sports stories, conducting \u201cTake 5\u201d interviews with community and political leaders, producing commercials, voiceovers and promos; and generating blog entries and videos on the internet. Click here to listen to the weekly Sports Talk podcast.","url":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/author\/rcntvchris\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76385"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76385\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":76387,"href":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76385\/revisions\/76387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}