A few weeks ago, we let it slip that we weren’t overly enthused by the whole team concept at the expense of premier individual matchups in wrestling.

But we can’t help admitting that we did our best flip-flop impression after last week’s killer PIAA Class AAA semifinal between Central Dauphin and Central Mountain. Marshall Peppelman vs. Dylan Alton didn’t happen — it was close — but who cares, I say.

It’s tough to complain or find anything wrong with a 35-34 decision that came down to the last match and had that much drama. It was so good that many wrestling old-timers and enthusiasts called it the best dual meet they had ever seen.

As good as those moments were, it is time to get down to the nitty-gritty of the season. We look forward to the individual postseason, those mano-e-mano tilts with no regard or concern about team points for your friends on the side of the mat.

It’s the season of selfishness, personal gain and personal goals. And it starts today with the District 3 sectional tournaments that are scattered around the midstate.

Can’t wait.

Looking over the alignments and the seeding, you could go on all day about the consistency of Class AAA Section I at Mechanicsburg, which features Cumberland Valley, Big Spring, Mechanicsburg and Chambersburg. If you want star power, look no further than Section II at CD East, where Central Dauphin, Middletown and Cedar Cliff will lock up.

All are a must-see. But after surveying the sectional landscape, the most intriguing of all the fields may rest at Susquenita High School in the Class AA Section III tourney.

No less than six district qualifying teams will converge on the mat. District runner-up Boiling Springs is in the field, as is fourth-place team finisher Juniata. Each has its share of hammers, and there is a smattering of wrestlers from Milton Hershey, Newport and Susquenita — all district team qualifiers — as suitable compliments to the heavy hitters.

What puts this section over all the rest in Class AA is the edition last year of lone wolf Lancaster-Lebanon entry Annville-Cleona, a program that is making an impact on the local wrestling scene.

“It’s different from when we were at Milton Hershey,” A-C coach Mike Miller said. “It’s tough up there [at Susquenita]. Looking top to bottom, I think it is the toughest section.

“Christian Shifflett is 30-3 at 125 and is the fourth seed behind Juniata’s Zach Beitz, Boiling Springs’ Ean Starner and Newport’s Justin Willi. Looking at that weight alone, you have four of the top five guys in the districts according to a lot of rankings.”

Now that’s loaded.

But the Dutchmen made their mark a year ago, when Tony Yohe (103) and Dylan Killian (130) walked out of Blackhawk territory with sectional gold.

Want to know how tough this sectional is? Neither wrestler is the top seed at their new weight. Yohe is seeded No. 2 at 112 behind Milton Hershey’s Nick Lamoreaux, and Killian is No. 2 behind Juniata’s Seth Beitz, brother of Zach Beitz.

That shows the depth and prowess of this sectional. It’s certainly different then when the Dutchmen traveled to the Spartan Center two years ago.

“You would get five or six guys that were really good,” Miller said. “You would kind of lose focus. You would be happy to get fourth, get to Hershey and be two and done.

“But if you can battle your way out of this section, even as a fourth seed, you see better competition than many the other sections. At that point, you have no one else to fear. If you face a No. 1 seed from another section at districts, so what. You just came out of a meat grinder of a section.”

Miller didn’t use to make such statements. In fact, he was just happy to field a team.

There was a time when Annville-Cleona had seven wrestlers on the varsity roster. Forfeits were more common than wins.

And forget about competing. That was an afterthought.

“We had to get things in place at the lower level, and it had to work its way up through,” Miller said. “I have good assistants like Scott Graby [former Palmyra head coach] and that’s helped.

“Right now, we have 15 juniors. They have been around wrestling a long time and do a good job. They are hungry.”

They better be.

Especially if they want to get out of this section and have any chance of making it to states.

“You have a lot of guys that study brackets, but we just try to stay within ourselves and take one match at a time,” Miller said. “We preach that.

“Being in this sectional is tough, but you have to beat someone good somewhere along the line. We will just see what happens.”

CLASS AA

Section I at Bermudian Springs

Preliminaries, 9 a.m.

Finals, 5:30 p.m.

103: 1. Brad Farley, Bermudian Springs; 2. Joseph Byers, Delone Catholic; 3. Johnny Fiorill, Lancaster Catholic; 4. Andrew Toman, York Suburban.

112: 1. Trevor Hernandez, Biglerville; 2. Colby Starner, Bermudian Springs; 3. Raul Gonzalez, Lancaster Catholic; 4. Evan Goshert, Eastern York.

119: 1. Tanner Coyle, Bermudian Springs; 2. Nick Leiphart, Biglerville; 3. Clay Kocsis, Fairfield; 4. Kayle Fry, York Suburban.

125: 1. Laike Gardner, Biglerville; 2. Tyler Small, Delone Catholic; 3. Wes Marshall, Bermudian Springs; 4. Donald Minnier, Lancaster Catholic.

130: 1. Joshua Ruppert, Delone Catholic; 2. John Markley, Columbia; 3. Kyle Arnold, York Suburban; 4. Andy Keeney, Fairfield.

135: 1. Joey Ronca, Columbia; 2. Noah Blasone, Bermudian Springs; 3. Jesse Gardner, Biglerville; 4. Andre Leyna, Littlestown.

140: 1. Dalton Anthony, Bermudian Springs; 2. Sergio DeLaCruz, York Suburban; 3. Jordan Halter, Columbia; 4. Steven Laughman, Hanover.

145: 1. Eric Meszaros, Bermudian Springs; 2. Aaron Law, Lancaster Catholic; 3. Kyle Bobo, Biglerville; 4. Kevin Tamayo, Hanover.

152: 1. Kyle Flohr, Fairfield; 2. Jordan Knaub, York Suburban; 3. Zack Martin, Hanover; 4. Johnny Vazquez, Columbia.

160: 1. Nate Warner, Columbia; 2. Tyler Fitzkee, Bermudian Springs; 3. Aaron Rooney, Delone Catholic; 4. Jamie Bloss, York Suburban.

171: 1. Ricardo Plummer, York Suburban; 2. Robert Aaron Mackley, Eastern York; 3. Derek Wolford, Hanover; 4. Ryan Vaughn, Littlestown.

189: 1. Philip Landis, Eastern York; 2. Matt Wolf, Bermudian Springs; 3. Tyler Yohe, Hanover; 4. Dan Thomas, Biglerville.

215: 1. Dylan Ferguson, Fairfield; 2. Brandon Felus, Columbia; 3. Stan Williams, York Suburban; 4. Joseph Kreiner, Delone Catholic.

285: 1. Nicholas Lucchesi, York Suburban; 2. Noe Aguilar, Biglerville; 3. Jake Sentz, Columbia; 4. Raul, Leyva, Littlestown.

Section II at Hamburg

Preliminaries, 9 a.m.

Finals, 5:30 p.m.

103: 1. Robert Ritschard, Oley Valley; 2. Ryan Griffiths, Schuylkill Valley; 3. Alex Gracia, Fleetwood; 4. Jaquan Gordon, Wyomissing.

112: 1. Nate Giorgio, Schuylkill Valley; 2. Mason Smith, Wyomissing; 3. Jeremy Weidner, Hamburg; 4. Cody Kelley, Oley Valley.

119: 1. Peter Renda, Brandywine Heights; 2. Austin Haas, Fleetwood; 3. Wayne Resh, Hamburg; 4. Shawn Phillips, Oley Valley.

125: 1. Mark Maloney, Brandywine Heights; 2. Marco Pangrazi, Oley Valley; 3. John Korpics, Schuylkill Valley; 4. Greg Brown, Wyomissing.

130: 1. Derek Goodwin, Hamburg; 2. Tyler Herman, Brandywine Heights; 3. Dakota Davis, Schuylkill Valley; 4. Kyle Christianson, Kutztown.

135: 1. Nick Hodgkins, Wyomissing; 2. Mike Giorgio, Schuylkill Valley; 3. Bryan Weidenhammer, Hamburg; 4. Sean Emrich, Kutztown.

140: 1. Colin Shober, Schuylkill Valley; 2. Elisha Gaylor, Wyomissing; 3. Adam Mackie, Brandywine Heights; 4. Zeb Sheaman, Tulpehocken.

145: 1. Jackson Stabile, Hamburg; 2. Noah Horst, Schuylkill Valley; 3. Austin Helm, Wyomissing; 4. Nick Delong, Brandywine Heights.

152: 1. Phil Calafati, Brandywine Heights; 2. Guliano Caloiero, Schuylkill Valley; 3. Ryan Ball, Pequea Valley; 4. Samuel Daub, Oley Valley.

160: 1. Ryan Maurer, Schuylkill Valley; 2. Jake Wood, Hamburg; 3. Cody Breiner, Fleetwood; 4. Mitchell Ball, Pequea Valley.

171: 1. Glenn Miller, Hamburg; 2. Jeff Mohn, Schuylkill Valley; 3. Julio Arredondo, Wyomissing; 4. Alex Schmale, Brandywine Heights.

189: 1. Dylan Scheidt, Schuylkill Valley; 2. Robert Lee, Hamburg; 3. Drew Eisenhower, Oley Valley; 4. Zach Weil, Kutztown.

215: 1. Tyler Rank, Wyomissing; 2. Mitch Moll, Schuylkill Valley; 3. Joseph Feeg, Oley Valley; 4. Mike Russell, Hamburg.

285: 1. Zach Greene, Schuylkill Valley; 2. Dan Hendley, Brandywine Heights; 3. Darren Kline, Fleetwood; 4. Dakota Hoagland, Hamburg.

Section III at Susquenita

Preliminaries, 9 a.m.

Finals, 6 p.m.

103: 1. Bryan Varra, Milton Hershey; 2. Jacob White, Juniata; 3. Richie Koontz, Upper Dauphin; 4. Andrew Fabo, Boiling Springs.

112: 1. Nick Lamoreaux, Milton Hershey; 2. Tony Yohe, Annville-Cleona; 3. Mark Lentz, Boiling Springs; 4. Cody Albright, Susquenita.

119: 1. Arty Walsh, Juniata; 2. Chase Carroll, Susquenita; 3. Victorino Gonzalez, Milton Hershey; 4. Tim Renninger, Annville-Cleona.

125: 1. Zach Beitz, Juniata; 2. Ean Starner, Boiling Springs; 3. Justin Willi, Newport; 4. Christian Shifflett, Annville-Cleona.

130: 1. Joe Spisak, Boiling Springs; 2. Eric Kemble, Newport; 3. Shane Cook, Juniata; 4. Jake Wolfe, Upper Dauphin.

135: 1. Tyler Thumma, Boiling Springs; 2. Brandon Rowles, Juniata; 3. Robbie Moretz, Halifax; 4. David Martinez, Camp Hill.

140: 1. Seth Beitz, Juniata; 2. Dylan Killian, Annville-Cleona; 3. Sam Rhoads, Boiling Springs; 4. Shawn Danner, Susquenita.

145: 1. Harley Mabius, Susquenita; 2. Jon Sharp, Bishop McDevitt; 3. Trent Bond, Boiling Springs; 4. Cody Miller, Juniata.

152: 1. Angel Escarraman, Milton Hershey; 2. John Riddle, Boiling Springs; 3. Derek Kreiser-Shifflett, Annville-Cleona; 4. Josh Shoop, Juniata.

160: 1. Logan Murphy, Boiling Springs; 2. Dylan Treaster, Juniata; 3. Ian Clay, Newport; 4. Eric Crawford, Bishop McDevitt.

171: 1. Taniq Spence, Bishop McDevitt; 2. Allan Kaufman, Halifax; 3. Jake Grove, Boiling Springs; 4. Brock Snyder, Upper Dauphin.

189: 1. Joshua Jackson, Upper Dauphin; 2. Alex Deroba, Boiling Springs; 3. Nate Ressler, Susquenita; 4. Bill Campbell, Juniata.

215: 1. Chris Forney, Upper Dauphin; 2. Sam Matter, Boiling Springs; 3. Zach Howell, Susquenita; 4. Jakob Pittman.

285: 1. Dan Fultz, Juniata; 2. Chris Ramirez, Milton Hershey; 3. Tyler Unger, Boiling Springs; 4. Steven Mosey, Bishop McDevitt.

Elco won three weight classes and had a wrestler finish in the top three of either other classes on the way to claiming its sixth consecutive Lebanon County wrestling championship in its home gym on Saturday afternoon.

The Raiders finished with 240 team points. Palmyra was second with 214 and Annville-Cleona was third with 208.

“We always have a chance,” Elco head coach Chad Miller said. “We have good wrestlers. I don’t think we were the favorites coming in, but I’m not surprised."

Heading into the last rotation, when Elco met with A-C and Palmyra grappled with Cedar Crest, the team title was still in doubt. Elco was ahead with 200 team points to A-C’s 189 and Palmyra’s 178.

After eight weight classes, the Dutchmen were beginning to gain ground by outscoring  Elco 19-15. But the Raiders won the last six weight classes to finish with a 40-19 advantage.

Meanwhile, Palmyra picked up 36 team points against the Falcons. That was enough to jump the Dutchmen for second place.

It was a measure of redemption for the Raiders to defeat the Dutchmen. A-C beat Elco 40-30 on Jan. 16th, a decision that essentially won the Lancaster-Lebanon League Section III title.

Although scheduled like a round-robin dual meet, the tournament was actually more of an individual round-robin tourney in which each wrestler stayed in the same weight class all day. No team records were changed by Saturday’s results, nor were team-vs.-team scores used to determine the champion. Instead, the points each wrestler earned were added to the team‘s total for the whole day.

“Every team has some success, and it’s been that way the last couple of years,” Miller said. “That’s why we don’t set it up as a dual meet. Everyone has something to look forward to.”

Perhaps the biggest beneficiary of the format was Lebanon’s Chris Ahnert. He won all five of his matches by fall, totaling just 5:33 to accomplish that sweep in 189. In a dual meet, the short-handed Cedars might have had incentive to move Ahnert around the weight classes without an individual gold medal to aim for.

But for the team chase, Elco won the title by having the most balance at the top of the standings in each weight class. Palmyra and Cedar Crest also had three champions, but the Raiders had four silver medalist and four bronze medalists.

“We didn’t have one bad match,” Miller said. “It helps to have balance. Everyone on our team won matches.”

Dylan Hickernell won the 160 title for Elco in what was his first appearance for the Raiders after recovering from a football injury.

Dakota Black won at 103 and Tom Prince claimed 140 for the Raiders.

Elco was strong at the heavy weights as well, taking second in the last three weight classes with Tony Griffin (189), Zach Hickernell (215) and Steve Kahler (285). The other Raider silver medalist was Colton Dunkle at 152.

Palmyra’s three titlists were Mitch Bell at 130, Jesse Swank at 171, and Ben Martin at 215.

Swank was the only champion who did not go 5-0 on the day. He was 4-1, but defeated second-place Keith Witmer of Lebanon head-to-head to claim the gold.

Taking weight classes for Cedar Crest were Sean Hughes at 112, Cody Lloyd at 135 and Noah Gerdes at 145.

A-C and Northern Lebanon had two champions each.

For the Dutchmen, T.J. Renninger won at 119 and Christian Shifflet won at 125.

Ryan Daub claimed 152 and Mason Dechert claimed 285 for the Vikings.

SUNRISE, Fla. (Jan. 31, 2010) – Nick Diaz (21-7) of Stockton, Calif., won his sixth straight and the first-ever STRIKEFORCE welterweight championship with a 4:38, first-round TKO over Marius Zaromskis (13-4) of London, England, and the first and only STRIKEFORCE Female lightweight champion, Cris Cyborg (9-1) of Curitiba, Brazil, successfully defended her 145-title for the initial time with a third-round TKO over Marloes Coenen (17-4) of Deventer, Holland, in the co-featured matches of an action-packed mixed martial arts card before 8,156 at BankAtlantic Center Saturday on SHOWTIME®.

In other results on the main portion of Strikeforce’s first event in 2010, former pro and college football superstar Herschel Walker of San Jose, Calif., made his pro MMA debut at age 47 a winning one, registering a third-round TKO (2:17) over Hungarian-born Greg Nagy (1-2) of Phoenix, Ariz., former two-time world champion “Ruthless’’ Robbie Lawler (17-5, 1 NC) of Granite City, Ill., rallied from the brink of defeat to score a spectacular 3:33, first-round knockout (punches) over Melvin Manhoef (24-7-1) of Amsterdam and unbeaten Bobby Lashley of Coconut Creek, Fla., won his Strikeforce debut and improved to 5-0 with a 2:06, first-round TKO over Wes Sims (22-13-1, 2 NC) of Lancaster, Ohio.

The event, presented by SHOWTIME and STRIKEFORCE, aired live simultaneously on SHOWTIME® and on the Web (Strikeforce: All Access) at http://strikeforce.sho.com. The SHOWTIME telecast began at 10 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the west coast); the Strikeforce: All Access webcast went at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT.

In a fight streamed live on EA SPORTS™ MMA website (www.easportsmma.com), Jay Heiron (19-4) of Las Vegas took a unanimous three-round decision over Joe Riggs (32-11) of Phoenix to put him in position to possibly fight for the Strikeforce welterweight title.

Southpaw Diaz, a talented, Cesar Gracie Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt, mostly outclassed Zaromskis in the match for the vacant world title. Diaz decisively defeated the Dutchman at his own game: striking.

“I’ll fight anybody,’’ said Diaz, who has been victorious in seven of his last eight and hasn’t lost in more than two years. I felt real good fighting again at 170. But the guy I really want is Gegard Mousasi.’’

Cyborg had to work hard to defeat the courageous Coenen, who at no point seemed intimidated by the powerful Brazilian bomber and fought like it. She certainly wasn’t totally overwhelmed and presented Cyborg with more problems than the vast majority of Cyborg’s opponents.

In the end, Cyborg was too tough and rough. “I’m very happy to win this fight,’’ said Cyborg shortly the heated scrap was stopped at 3:40 of the third. “It was a good fight. I think I could have done more but she was the toughest fighter I’ve faced and has a great heart. I admire her a lot.’’

Coenen, a strikingly attractive submission whiz who couldn’t take down Cyborg, wanted the fight to continue. “This is extremely disappointing to say the least,’’ she said. “This was for a world title. It should have been allowed to go a little longer. I wanted to fight.’’

A native of Wrightsville, Ga., Walker was satisfied with his performance in his highly-anticipated, much-publicized debut. Endurance-wise, he didn’t fight like a man his age. He was still breathing easily during the post-fight interview.

“I feel good but I didn’t do many things right and I still have a lot to learn,’’ said Walker, the 1982 Heisman Trophy winner and a two-time Pro Bowl competitor. “The experience itself was exciting and I thank my opponent for fighting me. It’s tough to fight an old man. This is the hardest thing I’ve ever done.

“I thought I’d be more nervous. I’m an MMA fighter now. I earned a little bit of a stripe tonight. This is one of my biggest athletic achievements ever.’’

Nothing was going right for the left-handed Lawler for more than three minutes as the highly regarded Manhoef had his way. But a savage overhand right rocked Manhoef and a left that caught him on the way down ended matters almost immediately.

“I knew this guy was really a killer, but I knew I would catch him,’’ Lawler said. “When he looks to finish, he really loads up. I just lured him in and got him.

“He was chopping and chopping and he was really hurting me with the leg kicks. When I felt the first one land, I knew I could get one more in and finish, and that’s what I did.’’

Lashley, who wants to fight for a world title, said Saturday’s exercise against the 6-foot-10-inch Sims was an excellent learning experience.

“Anytime you win and learn something, it’s a good night,’’ he said. “Sims is a tall guy who came in with nothing to lose, almost like he didn’t care, and those are the guys that are usually the hardest to fight.

“I want to continue to step up.’’

Hieron outpointed Riggs by the scores of 30-27 twice and 29-28: “I wanted to beat Joe and show that I am a top fighter,’’ Heiron said. “I want to fight the winner of Diaz-Zaromskis. Actually, I hope it is Diaz but I don’t care.’’

STRIKEFORCE: Miami will be available On Demand beginning Wednesday, Feb. 3.

Mauro Ranallo called the action on SHOWTIME with MMA expert Stephen Quadros and MMA superstar Frank Shamrock serving as expert analysts.

In Saturday’s non-televised results: Pablo “The Hurricane’’ Alfonso (5-1), Jacksonville Fla., submitted (armbar) Marcos “Parrumpinha” DeMatta (8-1), Coconut Creek, Fla., at 1:47 in the first round (140 pounds); Hayder Hasan (3-1), Coconut Creek, KO 2 (2:42, punches) over Ryan Keenan (3-1), Orlando, Fla., at 170 pounds; John Kelly (4-0), Miami, submitted (rear naked choke) Sabah Homasi (2-0), West Palm Beach, Fla., at 2;48 of the second round (170 pounds); Michael Byrnes (1-2), Port Saint Lucie, Fla., won a majority decision (30-27 twice and 29-29) over David Zitnik (4-7), Sunrise, at 155 pounds; David Gomez (1-2), Miami, won a unanimous decision (30-27 three times) over Craig Oxley (0-3), Miami (145 pounds); ad Joe Ray (1-0), Miami, TKO 1 (3:14, strikes) over John Clarke (0-1), Hollywood, Fla. (170 pounds).