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Preview: 2018 Northwestern District Wrestling Championships
by: Ted Proctor
1-31-2018

Preview: 2018 Northwestern District Wrestling Championships

Warrenton, VA: As the regular season comes to an end and wrestling teams across the state of Virginia prepare for the post season, wrestlers and coaches have one thing in mind - to qualify for the VHSL State wrestling meet. But to be able to do just that, wrestlers from the Northwestern District Championships must compete at the first level post season event.

Team Fauquier has won 12 District and Conference Championships since 1971 and in the past four-years Fauquier has won three Conferences.

A look back at the 2017-18 wrestling season had team Fauquier finished 6-0 in the district matches and was the NW District Dual Team Champions as those box score results are below. To also note this was the first time since 2012-13 wrestling season that team Fauquier won every district dual match.

Fauquier 66-18 Kettle Run
Fauquier 45-25 James Wood
Fauquier 43-36 Liberty
Fauquier 51-26 Millbrook
Fauquier 51-26 John Handley
Fauquier 45-30 Sherando

With the make-up of seven teams the Northwestern District expected to align wrestlers into an 8-man bracket where each weight class should have a single bye. But if teams lack a wrestler at a weight class then those brackets may have more first round byes. As district teams wrestle through the brackets only the top four wrestlers at each weight class will place and advance onto Regions.

4A vs 3A
The Northwestern District Championship will be held at Liberty HS. In addition to the 4A district teams, expect to see the 3A Northwestern District schools on site as the District event will run two different District tournaments. In addition, currently the schedule has a final round where the 4A finalist will compete against the 3A finalist in a 4A vs. 3A Championship final round.

Not sure if this has ever been done before where two different classifications will wrestle a head-to-head final bout. Clearly, it’s no secret by now that our Northwestern AD’s made these proposals and the principals approved them. I am unsure how the NW district coaches feel about this format but will note that the results of this 4A vs. 3A Championship finals will have no bearing on the advancement to regionals.

Each of the 4A finalist and 3A finalist wrestlers will be the number one seed for their respective Regions the following week. I do not want to get into the pros and the cons of this final round other than to make all aware of this 4A vs 3A District Wrestling Championships finals.

Break Down of District Seed:
As the NW District coaches met on Tuesday evening to seed every wrestler in the 14 weight classes here are the team who earned the top number 1 and number 2 seeds.

NW Teams

1 seeds

2 seeds

Total

Fauquier

4

2

6

Liberty

4

2

6

James Wood

2

2

4

Millbrook

2

2

4

John Handley

1

2

3

Kettle Run

0

3

3

Sherando

1

1

2

As Fauquier and Liberty earn the highest number of one and two seeds with 6 total seeds, James Wood and Millbrook will fill the brackets with the second most number one and two seeds with 4 each.

Do not be surprised to see Fauquier and Liberty once again battling on Saturday to see who can advance the most wrestlers onto the NW District Finals while trying to earn bonus points along the way.

Last season team Fauquier finishes in 2nd place with 183pts behind Liberty with 187pts and advanced 11 wrestlers to Regionals.

Keep an Eye on:
Joe Del Gallo, Sam Fisher and Franco Camarca, and Tyler Raymond all earned the number one seed for the NW District Champions for team Fauquier.

Fisher who currently is 31-3 for the season won the Conference, Regions and the 4A State Championships as a Freshman last year. Fisher is the second rank wrestler in the VAWA All-Division Rankings as he should have a clear path to the NW District finals.

Camarca similar to Fisher and one of the Falcons team leaders has a 26-5 season record who also won the Conference, Regions, and the 4A State Championships as a Junior last year. Camarca currently is the second rank wrestler in the VAWA All-Division Rankings and should be slated to be one of the top wrestler out of the NW District.

Del Gallo was undefeated in his district matches going 6-0 and has a 27-6 season record for the year. In 2017 Del Gallo was a Conference finalist and placed 4th at the 4A State Championships meet last year. He currently is ranked second in the VAWA All-Division Rankings at his weight class.

Raymond is the fourth Falcon to earn a number one seed as he rests with a 29-7 season record. Like Del Gallo, Raymond was a Conference finalist and a 4A State qualifier last season. Raymond currently is ranked ninth in the VAWA All-Division Rankings.

Other notables would be Ethan Jordan and Kyle Budd as they both earn number two seeds.

Budd currently has a season record of 24-9 and he finished 2nd place in the Conferences his freshman year and then won the Conference in 2016 and 2017. He won the 4A State Championships in 2016 and took second place last season. Budd is ranked fifth in the VAWA All-Division Rankings.

Jordan had an overall 5-1 district record and a 19-8 season record. Jordan qualified to the 4A State Championships in 2017.

Questions for Coach Fisher:
Q: Once again the wrestling team participated in many national events, team finished with an overall 18-8 record, any reflections on how the in-season had gone?
Fisher: "I thought the season went by very fast. November seems to drag on a bit because we are just in training mode, but when we started competing, the season seemed to blow right by. We were definitely injury plagued again this year, albeit not as serious injuries as we sustained last year. It was a great opportunity for some of our younger guys to step into a starting role and get some valuable varsity experience which will help them going forward. Our schedule was tough again this year, and I believe it will be the differentiating factor in the post season."

Q: What are your thoughts on the Northwestern District and the new format of the Districts and the 4A vs 3A Championship finals?
Fisher: "I think the 4A vs 3A Championship finals is an intriguing idea in theory. I know our guys are battle tested, so another tough match will only help us in preparation for the State Tournament. I know there is considerable apprehension with some of the 4A schools and many of the 3A schools related to the possibility of injury or the negative mental effect of a possible loss going into the Region tournament."

Q: Fauquier went 6-0 in the district any thoughts on team Fauquier as they get ready for the Northwestern Districts Championships?
Fisher: "I didn’t realize that this is the first time that we won all of our District duals since 2012-2013. That is a fantastic accomplishment for our team. Interestingly, our post season lineup doesn’t look much like the lineups that we used to win those District dual meets. I feel we have been honing our lineup through competition all year. It has evolved and matured in response to tough competition and adversity. I believe our best events are ahead of us in what is left of this season."

The 2018 Northwestern District Championship is scheduled for Saturdays starting at 9AM as the complete schedule is listed below.


REGION QUALIFIERS: Top four wrestlers in each weight class will advance to the 4A Region C Championships on Feb 9th at Sherando High School.

TEAM UPDATE:    Northwestern District Champions > >

LIVE RESULTS:

FACEBOOK EVENT: Tell us if you are going to this event


SCHEDULE-SATURDAY 3RD
7:30AM Weigh-ins
9:00AM Championship Rd 1
11:00AM Consi Rd 1
11:30AM Championship Semi-Finals
1:30AM Consi Semi-Finals
3:00AM Consi Finals & 3/4th 5/6th
5:00AM 4A Championship Finals

Round start times are tentative.

Awards will be presented between final matches

Northwestern District Teams
Brentsville 3A
Culpeper County 3A
Fauquier 4A
Handley 4A
Kettle Run 4A
Liberty (Beal) 4A
Manassas Park 3A
Millbrook 4A
Monroe, William 3A
Sherando 4A
Skyline 3A
Wood, James 4A
Warren County 3A

DISTRICT / CONF. CHAMPIONS: 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 1972 | 1971

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