The District 11 team wrestling championships will take place this week, starting with Thursday’s opening round at four sites. Matches in 3A and 2A will begin Thursday at Bethlehem Catholic, Catasauqua, Nazareth and Pottsville before all wrestling heads to Freedom on Saturday.

Preliminary bouts are scheduled for 6 p.m. on Thursday with quarterfinals to follow at 7:30 p.m.

In 3A, Pottsville earned the top-seed over nationally ranked Bethlehem Catholic with a better power point rating to steal the top-seed as they’ll open Thursday night (7:30 p.m.) against either eighth-seeded Emmaus or ninth-seeded Freedom (6 p.m.).

The top half of the bracket also features Nazareth as the fourth-seed, as they’ll most likely take on fifth-seeded Liberty (7:30 p.m.). The Hurricanes open the action at Nazareth (6 p.m.) against 12th-seeded Bangor.

In the bottom half of the bracket, the road to the district title will go through Bethlehem Catholic, as the Hawks (7:30 p.m.) will face the winner of the Blue Mountain (10th seed)-Stroudsburg (7th seed) match (6 p.m.).

Third-seeded Easton will be at Catasauqua (7:30 p.m.) and await the winner of the Parkland (6th seed)-Northampton (11th seed) match (6 p.m.).

In 2A, Saucon Valley is the top-seed and will face either eighth-seeded North Schuylkill or ninth-seeded Schuylkill Haven at 7:30 p.m. at Bethlehem Catholic.

The other combatants in the top half of the 2A bracket kick off at 6 p.m. in Pottsville with fifth-seeded Northern Lehigh taking on 12th-seeded Pine Grove.

The winner meets fourth-seeded Northwestern at 7:30 p.m.

Pen Argyl spearheads the bottom bracket as the second-seed at Catasauqua and wrestles at 7:30 p.m. against the winner of Panther Valley (7th seed) and Williams Valley (10th seed) from 6 p.m.

In Nazareth, thirdseeded Lehighton (7:30 p.m.) will either get six-seeded Palisades or 11th-seeded Notre Dame-Green Pond (6 p.m.).

Wrestling shifts to Freedom Saturday for both classes starting at 9 a.m. with consolation bouts.

Semifinals will take place at 10:45 a.m., consolation semifinals are slated for 12:30 p.m. and championship and consolation finals will be at 4:30 p.m.

The “ultimate qualifier” bouts, if necessary, will take place at 6:30 p.m.