A trip to Ocean City, Md. in the middle of January isn’t something you’d think of as a vacation and for Freedom’s wrestling team this weekend’s venture is all business.

The Patriots are making the nearly 3 1/2 drive for the War on the Shore tournament.

Head coach Brandon Hall decided against attending the Virginia Duals this season and has replaced that with this weekend’s trip to Maryland, which will feature teams from across Pennsylvania, Virginia, Delaware and Maryland.

“It’s a new competition and one that we really don’t know what to expect from,” said Hall. “Spring Grove from District 3 will be there, along with a bunch of schools that we would normally see at the Virginia Duals, so we’ll see how things go.”

The Pates (9-6) don’t have any dual meets slated for this week following last week’s 38-22 win over Dieruff.

With this week’s tournament focusing on individual accolades, Hall thinks is the best time for the group to get away as a team.

“For our inexperienced wrestlers, they’ll have a chance to compete and hopefully get some matches under their belt,” said Hall. “For the upper classmen that have bigger goals in mind for this season, they’ll get their shot to come away with medals too.”

More importantly, though, it gives the Pates a road trip to bond as a team.

“I think this team needs to get away a little bit and be together,” he said. “I think our guys can learn to push each other a little bit more and this will give them that opportunity on the road. Sometimes going away like this can be a great thing for the team.”