Wrestler You Were Most in Awe of in High School
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Whitford grew up in Michigan he was 5 time Fargo Champ , 4 time state champ IL/MI, super 32 champ and ironman champ. He was #4 in the class of 2013 #1 Bo Jordan #2 Adam Coon #3 Zain Retherford #4 Ben Whitford #5 Isaiah Martinez. Whitford gave up a takedown at the buzzer to lose the Zain 7-7 criteria in freestyle. Willie has called him the best HS wrestler he ever saw as well.
Quinton is one top guys I have seen that not many people probably aren't aware of. Maybe not even a top 10 all time for me but he was damn good.
Quinton was 4 time NY champ and 5 time finalist. He placed 6 times. 302-12 record with 8 of those loses coming while he was in Jr high. He was 6th as a 7th grader and won it as a 8th grader. He took 2nd as a freshman and then won the next 3 years with a 174-2 record. He was 3rd and 2nd at Fargo lost in the finals to Bryce Brill. He wrestled 1 year at Indiana then was at Clarion but RS and went 33-5 . School wasn't his thing neither was lifestyle he lived rough
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Troy Sunderland...I know his coaching wasn't very good but boy he was fun to watch. Mount union's best!
My opinion is Steve Williams was probably the best Williams. I grew up in IL and Joe was a year younger than me . I had TJ in my 72lb Jr high bracket when he was a 4th grader and I was in 8th. They were all special
That’s says a lot about Steve. TJ was in the ‘93 Powerade and blew through the bracket. Was in a class of his own.
Could you imagine how quick Cuvo matches would of ended with 3 point takedown.🤨
Local: Biff Walizer, Honorable Mention: Trap McCormick
That I wrestled: Shad Benton, which didn't go very well for me.
That I wrestled: Shad Benton, which didn't go very well for me.
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From the LH, BEN, SV or Keystone school district I would go with 3 time PIAA champ Terry Williams. Upper body (mostly headlocks) galore but a damn good double leg.
For me it was Kolat, but I also remember guys like Chris Kwortnik, Joey Wildasin, and Ty Moore looking absolutely unbeatable.
A little closer to home, I was very impressed by my brother earning 3rd place as a junior (after losing his first match) and winning a state title his senior year.
If you're feeling nostalgic, PA-Wrestling is an awesome resource for perusing through old brackets and remembering some wrestlers you may have forgotten about.
www.pa-wrestling.com
A little closer to home, I was very impressed by my brother earning 3rd place as a junior (after losing his first match) and winning a state title his senior year.
If you're feeling nostalgic, PA-Wrestling is an awesome resource for perusing through old brackets and remembering some wrestlers you may have forgotten about.
PA-Wrestling.com : Your online resource for Pennsylvania Wrestling
www.pa-wrestling.com
I already picked Cuvo and I agree with the additional names on list. I remember Kwornick gave a kid from Northampton the nastiest beating in a final I ever saw. The kids name was Smith who was undefeated and funky. He had a little troll doll he would put in corner before match. If I recall the first half of match was pretty crazy with good action. Smith gets tired and the arm bars started. I think he screamed out twice. It was like MMA submission. I found the video but did not preview it, just going off my memory.
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Kolat was the best I ever saw, besides him my favorites when I was young were the Budman bros(Steve and Greg) from Hughesville, Mike Shingara Line Mountain, Jason Betz Warrior Run, Nick Rockwell from Canton and the Wise Bros from Benton.
Trap McCormick was awesome, Sugar Valleys finest!!!!
For me, it was Matt Horst. His brother Peter had just won states (possibly the first ever from Berks County?) and was redshirting at Penn State, and Matt was dominating people around the county just like his brother, but at a weight 25 lbs heavier where I was going to have to face him.
I was still younger and my dad took me to states back then. The Schalles/Chatman match was the loudest roar I ever heard at an athletic event!
Bob Latessa was head coach of Blair and tended bar part time at the Dublin House in Blairstown .Drinking age was 18😏. He knew I liked wrestling and told me to come and watch a match. He said he had a really great wrestler that was going to Iowa. I went to a match and saw Rico Chiperelli put a show on. Looking back Nolf had similar style. Latessa thought Rico would be multi year NCAA champ. He won 1 his senior year.
Latessa would become Lehigh coach for a couple of years. The last I knew he went to an Ohio Prep School.
Latessa would become Lehigh coach for a couple of years. The last I knew he went to an Ohio Prep School.
Locally and age era Jay Hockenbroch was fun to watch. Skipped school during his senior year and went to states where he bested Brian Hills in the final seconds. Always thought Andy Zook from Newport was fun to watch as well.
Andy Matter might have impressed me most during my trips to states. Probably didn’t impress Mike Evan’s, but to each his own!
Andy Matter might have impressed me most during my trips to states. Probably didn’t impress Mike Evan’s, but to each his own!
Andy Matter. Back in the day we had no idea how dominant a national-level elite wrestler could be until he walked on the mat and showed you the distance between himself and your team captain, that everyone in the room thought was really, really good.
You would have to search long and hard to find a nicer guy than Kevin Darkus. I wrestled him once and only lost 7-2. He coasted.
I was always in awe of @PSUAllTheWay. He could cradle you from anywhere at any time.
The most incredible move I think, ever... I think it's actually a tie between the original, by Schalles, and the sequel, by Nickal 😂
His coaching was pretty good too. Maybe didn't reach elite but his guys were tough.
My senior year in HS, there were two wrestlers that left a big impression on me. One of them you guys all know about. The other, I doubt if any of you ever heard of him.
When I saw Andy Matter win the state title at 154 his senior year in HS, I knew right there he was going to be a future NCAA champion. In the finals, he wrestled a guy from Bedford who had pinned almost every guy he wrestled that season including his semi finals opponent. Matter destroyed him in the finals. I think the score was something like 14-2 in the 3rd period when Matter pinned him. I'll never forget that match.
The other guy wrestled for a prep school in Delaware so most of you never heard of him. His name was Jim Kraft. The first time I ever saw him walk onto a mat, my jaw almost dropped. He looked like a junior version of Conan. I went to a prep school too, so I saw him compete at the national prep school tournament. He was at Hwy of course, and he totally destroyed every guy he wrestled. His record after the finals was something like 115-2 with 97 pins! And he wasn't just winning by overpowering guys. His wrestling technique was very good. For a heavyweight at that time, he was really quick and nimble. I thought he would be an NCAA champion in college, but he was also a good football player so he went to Alabama to play for The Bear.
When I saw Andy Matter win the state title at 154 his senior year in HS, I knew right there he was going to be a future NCAA champion. In the finals, he wrestled a guy from Bedford who had pinned almost every guy he wrestled that season including his semi finals opponent. Matter destroyed him in the finals. I think the score was something like 14-2 in the 3rd period when Matter pinned him. I'll never forget that match.
The other guy wrestled for a prep school in Delaware so most of you never heard of him. His name was Jim Kraft. The first time I ever saw him walk onto a mat, my jaw almost dropped. He looked like a junior version of Conan. I went to a prep school too, so I saw him compete at the national prep school tournament. He was at Hwy of course, and he totally destroyed every guy he wrestled. His record after the finals was something like 115-2 with 97 pins! And he wasn't just winning by overpowering guys. His wrestling technique was very good. For a heavyweight at that time, he was really quick and nimble. I thought he would be an NCAA champion in college, but he was also a good football player so he went to Alabama to play for The Bear.
Tim Cochran.
One time before a match he said he was going to try for the school record for fastest pin. Whistle blows, he just grabs the guy and throws him to his back. F - 0:06.
One time before a match he said he was going to try for the school record for fastest pin. Whistle blows, he just grabs the guy and throws him to his back. F - 0:06.
1988 HS Graduate (Chief Logan) - having a state champ in your school was thrilling (Joe Daubert HWT)
My list would have over 3 dozen kids on it --- I got the never ending itch in 1983 watching 2x champ Phil Mary getting stuck by Don Peters --- the roof blew off the Hersheypark Arena ...
Shameless plug - I converted all of my VHS tapes from the 80s/90s PA Finals - they are uploaded on youtube if you haven't seen them
My list would have over 3 dozen kids on it --- I got the never ending itch in 1983 watching 2x champ Phil Mary getting stuck by Don Peters --- the roof blew off the Hersheypark Arena ...
Shameless plug - I converted all of my VHS tapes from the 80s/90s PA Finals - they are uploaded on youtube if you haven't seen them
Allentown Dieruff's George Atiyeh. Freaking unbelievable physique with the power and athletic prowess. Went to LSU to play football and at the time LSU had a wrestling program. I know he wrestled at least 1 year.
I grew up wrestling on NY. Randy Payne (Sidney NY) was the finest NYS wrestler in the late 1960s (yes, I'm that old). Finished his HS career at 107-1 and went on to wrestle at Pitt. While at Pitt, he finished as NCAA finalist/runner-up (126 lbs.) in his freshman year, falling to Dwayne Keller. If I'm not mistaken, 1970 was the first year that freshman could compete in the NCAA tourney. Not sure why, but he seemed to fall off the wrestling landscape after his remarkable year at Pitt.
When I read your headline, before opening to the post, my thought was the same: Joey Wildasin. Our HS was pretty mediocre, even for SCPA (only a few ever advanced to regionals & districts and a very rare few ever even got to states), so I wasn't seeing (in person, while in HS), most of the big names I'm reading here. But I saw Wildasin, who I think was prob a SO when I was a SR, and it was an experience.
Actually, I think that experience is the one we're all remembering here, right? And one of the many things we love about this sport: when we see the physical manifestation of the phrase There's Levels to This. We're already at a tourney, we already are watching a bunch of badasses. But then we see the Badassest!
It's so thrilling.
Hijacking this and giving the obvious Minnesota answers, Mark Hall and Gable Steveson. It’s hard to overstate the level of dominance Apple Valley used to have over the rest of MN high school wrestling and these two were no exception. I’ll never forget being like four rows up when Gable had the 10 second pin to backflip in the state finals, or when Mark Hall won his record breaking title #6.
I enjoy the hell out of those videos! There’s gotta be more people with those VHS tapes who could get them uploaded somewhere. I’d love to rewatch the finals from where you left off (~2005 IIRC) up through the late 2010’s when Flo took over.
HAH. Flattery will get you nowhere! But I don't ever recall having any success cradling you.You would have to search long and hard to find a nicer guy than Kevin Darkus. I wrestled him once and only lost 7-2. He coasted.
I was always in awe of @PSUAllTheWay. He could cradle you from anywhere at any time.
But I did pin a few with cradles from the bottom position. That is probably the hardest place to lock them up from.
Even if not, friendship bonding over a white claw or two.
Back in 80s Johnstown wasn't a strong area for wrestling like it is now. Some of the names back then that were highly thought of, Eric Bowser from Richland. Westmont had the Beaujons and I believe Brad Stramanak won a title. There was a small school (Rockwood) out in somerset county that had the Philippi brothers. North Star had Steve Kaltenbaugh. Cambria Heights with Dave Yahner. Of course there was Haselrig. Anyone else out there that can remember good wrestlers from the johnstown area during that era?
Yeah, saw Andy Matter wrestle in junior high school, and then at Upper Darby. He just kept getting better, reached the state finals as a junior in 1967 where he lost 7-0 to Clyde Frantz.
By his senior year, Matter was dominant, beat previously undefeated Allen Walker of Mt. Lebanon in the state semi-finals and pinned in the finals. And of course had a terrific career at Penn State.
