Now that most PA teams are done with invitationals, I’m going to make my predictions for regionals this year. The regions are set in chronological order.
B:
Southeast: 1. Strath Haven, 2. Bala Cynywd, 3. Welsh Valley, 4. Stetson, 5. Chichester. Since Southeast has so many teams, I pick five for them. In reality, I don’t see the top three changing, although Welsh Valley has a realistic chance at breaking the top two. I just don’t think Bala will relinquish that quite yet. Stetson and Chichester have a history of doing well and have invitational experience, so they are two of the most likely teams to take 4th and 5th.
Northwest: 1. Park Forest, 2. Mount Nittany, 3. North East. Park Forest and Mount Nittany are back after one year in NE, and that essentially makes this a two-team race, barring a huge surprise. Park Forest has as good a chance as any team to break the stronghold of the top three. North East, which finished a respectable 20th at states last year, could challenge the top two if things fall right.
Northeast: 1. Stroudsburg, 2. J.T. Lambert, 3. Abington Heights. The departure of Park Forest and Mount Nittany and the return of Wyoming Area make this a hard region to predict. I just think Stroudsburg won by a large enough margin last year that they remain the favorites, and should be motivated to hold off the rest of the region. J.T. Lambert will have to continue working if they want to finish above Abington and Wayne Highlands, which also performed well at Comet. Wyoming Area seems to be struggling to recover from their tough one-year hiatus.
Southwest: 1. Shady Side, 2. Franklin Regional, 3. Huston. Despite a strong 10th place showing at states last year, Franklin Regional’s chances of catching Shady Side are slim to none. They should be able to hold up in the region, however, unless they were absolutely decimated by graduation.
Central East: 1. Whitehall-Coplay, 2. Fleetwood, 3. East Hills. Whitehall-Coplay placed very well at Rustin, so they seem like the favorite. However, either of the other two, plus Kutztown and Exeter, could come away with the title. Central East always has schools that place solidly at states, and Whitehall is another team that, under the right circumstances, could get third or even higher at states, and they proved that by being the fourth place school at Rustin, with the top three all expecting to qualify for nationals.
Central: 1. Allen, 2. Hershey, 3. Spring Grove. Allen looks like one of the strongest teams from Central in recent years that may improve on its already-impressive 6th last year. They are another team knocking on the door of the top three. However, they may find it hard to deal with an incredibly late regional (more on this later). The others are consistent but haven’t shown the power of Allen.
C:
Southeast: 1. Harriton, 2. Penncrest, 3. Rustin, 4. Strath Haven, 5. Conestoga. The fact that I ranked the second-place team at the Battle of Valley Forge, Strath Haven, fourth tells you all you need to know about this region. It’s consistently the toughest in the state and consequently one of the toughest to predict. I always feel like I’m doing 5th place a disservice, but it’s the nature of the beast. I think Penncrest, which always takes regionals seriously, will do enough to take revenge on Rustin and set up a showdown at states.
Northwest: 1. Wilmington, 2. Laurel, 3. North East. This is another very tough region to predict, but for different reasons. There is no clear front-runner since State College left, so predicting a top team is hard enough, much less top three. Wilmington won by enough last year that they should be the favorite, though I wouldn’t be surprised to see another team work hard enough to knock them off.
Northeast: 1. Athens, 2. North Pocono, 3. Wyoming Area. Now this is easier! I fully expect Athens to post another sub-50 score and obliterate the rest of the region. After that, though, it gets interesting with Wyoming Area coming back to try to prove they can go back to finishing second every year. However, North Pocono looks like a rising team, especially after doing well at Tiger, and I can see them placing second. Stroudsburg, Lehighton, and East Stroudsburg South could also conceivably contend for second or third, even though ES South has to overcome the loss of several seniors and a lack of invitational experience this year, and Lehighton seemed to struggle at Tiger after a decent showing at Athens. Keep an eye on Dallas, which has placed seventh for the past two years and may be hungry to finally make states. Of course, if the region sends seven to states this year, then that becomes less of an issue.
Yes, I know the most about Northeast than any other region, why do you ask?
Southwest: 1. Shady Side, 2. Allderdice, 3. Montour. Now THIS was interesting. Shady Side, thought to be the prohibitive favorite, not only lost at regionals last year, but placed fourth. However, they redeemed themselves at states and I expect them to continue that. Although, with a feeder school like that, I should expect that regardless.
Central East: 1. Perkiomen Valley, 2. Kutztown, 3. Fleetwood. Allentown Central Catholic won last year, but then somewhat fell flat at states, so I’m not sure what to make of them. However, Perkiomen Valley and Kutztown stepped up their game at states, so I predict that they’ll carry it over to this year. I could really have picked anyone of Fleetwood, ACC, Whitehall, and NW Lehigh for third place, because that’s how wide open this region is, but I’ll go with Fleetwood as a respect to their Berks County win.
ACC, Whitehall, Parkland, and Emmaus are among the contenders that will be competing at Northampton Community College next Friday, as well as Stroudsburg, ES South, and Lehighton from Northeast, so the results from that may lead to more insight.
Central: 1. State College, 2. Hershey, 3. Spring Grove. State College was a small disappointment last year. All three teams performed well at states so this could finish in any order, realistically. But about that date, this is a ridiculously late date to hold a regional. Most of the states have finished by then. This only gives them, what, less than three weeks to prepare for states? This is over a month after the first regional, and it really puts pressure on these teams. I know they have to work around college schedules, but it’s the only regional on a Saturday, so isn’t there some way you can avoid putting these guys in a pressure cooker? Even one extra week would be much better. Hopefully the state finds a way to avoid this next year, because this can’t make the competition fair for all teams.
Well, that's it. I don't expect this to be the same as everyone else's; in fact, some of them are probably very different. That's part of the fun of it.
