Penn Hills wrestlers set sights on longer postseason runs

By: Josh Rizzo
Saturday, December 2, 2023 | 11:01 AM

The Penn Hills wrestling program will be in a year of transition.

The Indians bring back four wrestlers — Cameron Patterson (139 pounds), Julian Lavender (133), Daemon Phipps (114) and Levi Smith (127) — who saw significant time last season.

All four finished with double-digit wins, but none escaped the section to qualify for the WPIAL Class 3A tournament. Indians coach Jeremy Packer would like to find the right formula to see more guys go deeper into the postseason.

“I’m hoping we can get some WPIAL qualifiers,” Packer said. “Last year was the first time we didn’t have anyone make it out of sections.”

Penn Hills had chosen to refrain from competing in duel meets due to a lack of numbers for the current two-year enrollment cycle, which started last season. The Indians have 14 wrestlers out of the program this season.

The Indians lost Dominic Frollo, who led the team with a 17-9 record last season, to graduation. Getting the rest of the team ready, Packer said, required reconfiguring the schedule.

On the boys side, Packer said several wrestlers with experience who weren’t with the team last season have returned: Jaequann Polk, Jacen Wright and Darnell Jackson.

Penn Hills was scheduled to open this season at the Southwest Kickoff Classic at Valley High School on Dec. 1.

“We changed some of our tournaments,” Packer said. “We wanted to get better competition and beef things up to better prepare for the section tournament.”

Packer knows that getting good work in doesn’t have to wait until the season starts. Packer felt Phipps was able to get in good competition during a scrimmage with Chartiers Valley.

Phipps went 14-11 last season and won eight matches via fall.

“We want him to be more dominant on his feet,” Packer said. “We went to Chartiers Valley, and he had a good scrimmage against outside competition. It was good to see him against other good wrestlers. We want him to raise his level and wrestle more confidently.”

Penn Hills’ girls program, which is in its first season, will have a middle school team. The Indians had a few freshman girls who were wrestling but Packer chose to keep them at the junior high level.

“We have the option to keep them at junior high and we decided to do that instead of splitting them up,” Packer said. “We wanted to keep the team together.”

Tags: Penn Hills