By Noah Radio
Editor’s Note: Noah Radio is a senior at State College Area High School. Radio was selected to receive the Press Forward PA Wilds scholarship to cover high school wrestling events.
STATE COLLEGE — On Jan. 22, the Chambersburg Trojans made the long, snowy journey to State College for a wrestling match with the Little Lions and lost, 45-22.
The Little Lions came out fired up after last year’s 34-31 loss to the Trojans.
“Anytime you go up against a Mid-Penn Conference opponent, you’re going to face some tough wrestlers,” State College Head Coach Jason Nickal said. “Last year, we went up to their place, and we lost a close one. It was kind of a heartbreaker, so we were kind of carrying that one in our hip pocket and wanted a little revenge tonight, and we got it.”
State High’s Camden Fletcher and Chambersburg’s Hunter Johnson kicked off the night at 107 pounds. Johnson methodically dominated the match and secured a big reversal at the beginning of the second period en route to a fall with 33 seconds left in the third.
State College was undeterred by the early loss and answered by ripping off five straight victories from 114 to 139 pounds. Noah Young and Luke Young began the run by each pinning their opponents in under a minute. Kael Davis and Jon Whitbred then picked up tech falls, winning 17-1 and 16-0, respectively.
Whitbred’s dominant performance came in his first match back from a hand injury.
“It was a little different to wrestle through it, but I managed to adjust in certain scenarios and come out on top,” Whitbred said.
Nickal was also pleased with his junior’s return to the mat.
“He was aggressive; he didn’t let the injury hold him back at all,” Nickal said. “He went out there and wrestled his match and controlled the tempo of the match. It was dominant from the beginning, so I was very happy to see Jon back on the mat; that was a big boost for us.”
Mason Sanderson capped off the streak with the most competitive match of the night, a 1-0 victory over Chambersburg’s Nathan Chambers.
The Little Lions briefly faltered with a loss at 145 pounds, but got right back on track at 160 when Penn State commit James Whitbred pinned Chambersburg’s Yaziel Valentin in just over three minutes.
Whitbred is a defending District VI champion and took 6th in the state at 152 pounds last season.
The junior also recently took fourth place in the prestigious Powerade Tournament.
A pair of State College freshmen followed Whitbred at 172 and 189 pounds. First, Teag Sanderson picked up a tech fall, 21-5, then Noah Williams went the distance with Chamberburg’s Jaccob Stoner and won, 8-3.
“Noah [Williams] had one of their better wrestlers, an upperclassman, and that’s tough,” Nickal said. “When we have freshman Teag Sanderson and freshman Noah Williams wrestling against juniors and seniors, they’ve got to be very strategic and very tactical, because you’re wrestling an experienced opponent, and Noah [Williams] did a great job of controlling the positions and winning those close battles, and that was the difference in his match.
State High had its final two wrestlers pinned, but it wasn’t nearly enough to mount a comeback for Chambersburg, and the Little Lions walked away with a 45-22 victory.
