It wasn't talked about outside of Freedom's wrestling circles during the season, but with the PIAA championships wrapping up over the weekend in Hershey, Jake Young can finally rest.

Freedom head coach Brandon Hall kept Young's injuries quiet. The sophomore himself wasn't about to make excuses either, but dealing with a torn meniscus in his right knee and an injured shoulder would have shut down most wrestler's seasons.

Not for Young however.

Young (170) proceeded nearly the entire second half of the season and all the way through districts, regionals and states with a hampered body and was still good enough to medal in Hershey.

The Patriots sophomore, along with senior teammate Evan Kauffman (220), both returned from the Giant Center with medals to round out the only place-winners from Bethlehem in the 3A bracket.

Liberty's Grimaldi Gonzalez (120) and Jake Gunning (220) both failed to bring back any silverware for the Hurricanes. If it wasn't for Bethlehem Catholic's team title in the 2A contingent, along with having three finalists and one state champion, last weekend's three-day trek to Chocolatetown would have given Freedom the sweetest return ride home.

But Hall wasn't worried about that. Seeing his two qualifiers return with medals was all he wanted. It's also what he's envisioned for the program, which saw it's first multiple medalist contingent from the PIAA tournament since the mid-90's.

"It's been a long time since we've had two guys medal in Hershey," said Hall. "I don't know exactly when, but I want to say, maybe '94? This is what we want from the program. We want to have multiple guys come out here and win. This is what we want Freedom wrestling to be all about."

Young (32-9) ended his season with a splash, winning his consolation round bout over Chartiers Valley's Noah Wilps by an 11-5 decision to take home a fifth place finish. Young was taken down by Wilps in the first period, which usually doesn't bode in your favor during a shortened consolation round bout, but Young scored a big throw late in the second period to nearly pin Wilps. More importantly, it put him in the drivers seat with a 7-2 lead heading into the third period for the eventual victory.

"Pretty much coach was telling me to look out for the big move because of how he [Wilps] was working the under hooks," Young said. "It means a lot to come out here and only be a sophomore and get a medal. It's just going to motivate me to come out here next year and do even better."

Kauffman (38-3) ended his senior season with district and regional gold, but came away from Hershey with a fifth place finish after downing Zach DeLuca of Central Catholic 7-5.

Kauffman reached the semifinals, but lost to eventual state champion Thomas Haines of Solanco 9-1.

He then lost to Council Rock North's Tyler Callender 8-1 in his next consolation bout to pit him into the fifth place consolation.

"Evan's had a great career at Freedom and he's really been a great example for our kids in the program," Hall said. "He deserves everything he's worked for and we're going to miss having him around."

On the other side of the street, Liberty head coach Jody Karam came home from Hershey disappointed to say the least.

The Hurricanes had two entrants, with Gonzalez having state title aspirations, and they came home empty-handed.

Gonzalez (33-4) was the biggest shocker of the tournament for local entrants, as he bounced after two straight losses on opening day.

He fell to eventual state runner-up Dalton Macri of Canon-McMillan 7-1 in his opener and then lost to Pennridge's Southeast Regional champion Ben Ross 5-4 in the first round of consolations.

Gunning (31-9) won his opening bout, but dropped his next two to be eliminated on the second day of competition.

"We're definitely going home too early," Karam said. "Grim just couldn't get things going. Nothing really worked for him out here. Sometimes you're the bug and sometimes you're the windshield."