NTL WRESTLING: WYALUSING FINDS SUCCESS IN UNCERTAIN SEASON (2021-04-01)

Northern Tier Sports Report
It was a solid, if abbreviated season, for the Wyalusing wrestling team. 

They won nine of the 12 dual meet matches they were able to get on the mat, at one point wrestling five matches in six days at the end of the year.

Their dual highlight was beating Towanda (47-12) to take back the Standing Stone Trophy. They also boasted big wins over Tunkhannock (48-20) and Troy (52-18) as their only league loss was to Athens (40-25), though they weren’t able to wrestle Canton.

“The coaches at Wyalusing are extremely proud of how our guys handled the adversity this season,” said coach Michael Earle. “It was really tough to get that first week in, and then shut down and have to resume with only five practices before our first event. The team handled it really well, and simply adjusted throughout the season to things out of our control. The weather did not help us towards the end of the season where we ended up having five straight days of competition, excluding Sunday, and over a week and a half without any practice time at the end of our dual meet season.”

At the North Section Championship they got a small measure of revenge against Athens by edging them out for third as Nick Woodruff (152), Clayton Carr (106), Hunter Manahan (126), Skyler Manahan (138) and Zach Shaffer (189) all qualified for districts.

“Going into the postseason, the five guys that advanced to districts were once again hampered by not being able to get into the wrestling room as a team, and prepare like we normally would,” said Earle. “Once again, the team just focused on what they could control, and we are very proud of their attitudes, flexibility, and performance on the season.”

Woodruff would get the furthest, qualifying for the Northeast Regional Tournament out of districts.

“We are already looking forward to next season, and hopefully returning to a normal atmosphere for wrestling, and all sports, school and extra-curricular activities,” said Earle.