Evan Kauffman has been wrestling since he was 4-years-old.

But during his final match of junior season, Kauffman may have felt like he had enough. With one second left in his fifth place bout at the PIAA 3A championships, Kauffman had to bow out because of a knee injury. An injury that he battled through his freshman, sophomore and junior years.

It was a dislocated kneecap that kept popping out of place for the wrestling and football star.

"The doctors basically said I was born with it," said Kauffman. "It just kept dislocating. I went through a lot of physical therapy, but I never came back to playing sports until I was ready. After that last match my junior year, I really thought about giving up wrestling and just playing football, but my coaches talked to me about it and I decided to stick with it for one more year."

That one more season ended up being Kauffman's first injury-free campaign of his high school career, where he earned himself a district and regional championship at 220-pounds in wrestling, capped off by a fifth-place finish in Hershey.

The district and regional gold medals were the first ones in Kauffman's career and helped conclude a senior year that saw him lead the football team in tackles again, as the linebacker committed to continue his football career at Lehigh University.

That's why Kauffman has been selected as this year's Athlete of the Year for Freedom.

Kauffman has certainly had his injury struggles early on at Freedom, but finishing strong was always a priority.

"If I have any regrets leaving high school, it's that I wasn't healthier all four years," he said. "It was tough at times to overcome the same injury. It did get me discouraged, but I knew that I always needed to battle through it."

Kauffman battled through a wrestling career with two second place finishes at districts, a silver at regionals his junior year, along with a sixth-place finish at states.

He also started three years at linebacker for the football program, leading the team in tackles the past two seasons, collecting 95 tackles and four sacks his senior year.

He was selected to the Lehigh Valley Conference all-star team the past two seasons in football and now hopes to compete as a freshman on Lehigh's linebacking core.

"I'm looking to get on the field as soon as possible," Kauffman said about his goals at Lehigh. "I put on about twelve-pounds already since I started lifting with them back at the end of May and I feel good. My knee feels great too."

With only one sport to focus on now, Kauffman knows there will be a slight adjustment, but he's welcoming the new change in his life.

"It's going to different not getting on the mat this winter," said Kauffman. "Wrestling really helped me become tougher mentally and helped a lot with my hands, which has been crucial for me as a defender. It's going to be nice to just focus on one sport."

As refreshing that concept may be, nostalgia already has crept in.

"As much as I hated going to wrestling practice," he said. "I'm going to miss it."