Daunting openers await PAC threesome
There will be a significant local presence in Hershey this weekend.
Three Pioneer Athletic Conference teams will take the floor at the Giant Center for the 2019 PIAA Duals Tournament, which starts Thursday and runs into Saturday.
The threesome — Spring-Ford, Owen J. Roberts, Boyertown — will comprise the largest stateduals contingent from the area in recent years.
Spring-Ford is making a second straight appearance in the tourney’s Hershey phase, that after finishing as runner-up in the District 1 Class AAA competition last weekend. Boyertown and Owen J. Roberts qualified for the trip to Chocolatetown for the first time since 2017, both by winning preliminary-round matches Monday.
“That was our goal all year, to get back to Hershey,” SF head coach Tim Seislove said following a title-round match with defending district champion Council Rock South.
Boyertown has been a visitor to Hershey four of the five previous years. The Bears (15-8) qualified for states last year, but they fell short of the next level in a pigtailround loss ... a fate they avoided this week by dispatching Archbishop Ryan Monday, 55-16.
“One of our goals was to be among the Top Four in the district,” Boyertown head coach Dave Jones said. “Anything after that is icing on the cake. We want to step on the floor at Hershey.”
Like Boyertown, Owen J. Roberts is back at Hershey for state duals after a year’s absence. The Wildcats (19-3) faced a somewhatidentical scenario as Boyertown, though their third-place finish in districts got them a home pigtail match against Cumberland Valley — one they took by a 40-28 score.
“We know what it’s like, and how special it is to get back to Hershey,” OJR head coach Steve DeRafelo said.
Boyertown goes first Thursday, facing defending champion Bethlehem Catholic at 6 p.m. Owen J. Roberts and Spring-Ford (18-4) will follow at 8 p.m. with respec-