Penn Hills wrestlers make strides during nontraditional season

By: Josh Rizzo
Sunday, February 19, 2023 | 11:01 AM

Penn Hills wrestling coach Jeremy Packer enjoyed having a different type of schedule this season. Due to what the Indians thought were going to be low numbers, Penn Hills focused on competing in individual tournaments and building up the skills of wrestlers in a program filled with inexperienced grapplers.

Entering the WPIAL Class 3A East section qualifiers Feb. 25, Packer believes he has a handful of wrestlers who will be ready to punch their tickets to the district championships March 3-4 at Canon-McMillan.

“We liked it,” Packer said. “We enjoyed it. It prepared the kids for what we’re about to face at the section tournament. We had five guys medal at West Mifflin. For Julian Lavender, Kelsey Hundley and Levi Smith, it was the first medal they’ve ever won in wrestling.”

Penn Hills only wrestled five dual meets this season and didn’t take part in section competition. The Indians’ lone dual victory was a 33-24 win over Yough on Feb. 8 on senior night.

One wrestler who has started to establish himself as a threat for the future is freshman Daemon Phipps.

Phipps, who competes primarily at 114 pounds but also bumped up to 121 pounds to help get matches when potentially facing a forfeit, has compiled a 14-9 record.

“He’s probably our most experienced wrestler,” Packer said. “We had expectations for him in the preseason, but wanted to temper them to see how he does. We didn’t want to set him up for failure. We took a wait-and-see approach and were pleasantly surprised.”

Phipps has won eight matches by pin and one by technical fall. Packer believes he has plenty of room to grow.

“He’s best on his feet,” Packer said. “He has a lot of quickness and moves well laterally. He doesn’t look to ride on top. He looks to score.”

Penn Hills had four wrestlers finish the regular season with double-digit wins. Senior Dominic Frollo led the team with a 15-7 record. Kelsey Hundley (12-10), Julian Lavender (12-16) and Phipps also won 10 matches.

“We have three freshmen we kept on the junior high team,” Packer said. “We’re looking to return 10 kids to the varsity next year. We are optimistic.”

Packer is hoping to see Frollo go out with a berth in the WPIAL tournament. Frollo can set a personal-best for wins in a season by winning one more match. Last season, Frollo finished 15-8.

“He’s worked hard,” Packer said. “I think that would be icing on the cake for his senior year.”

Tags: Penn Hills