It’s not always easy being the little brother in the family, even though you’re over 6 feet tall and weigh 220 pounds.

For Freedom’s Evan Callahan, memories of scrapping with his older brother, John, in the wrestling room last season came to mind when he reflected on winning his first District 11 AAA wrestling championship over the weekend.

Callahan’s 4-3 decision over Pleasant Valley’s Trent Thomas in Saturday’s 220-pound finale stamped his own mark, as well as highlighting the Callahan family, giving the Freedom program their last two district champions in consecutive seasons.

“I feel like I finally got what I was looking for after working so hard for this all season long,” said Callahan. “There was a lot of pressure on me with my brother being a district champ last year. I knew I had to get it done. I put the pressure on myself, but we’re a pretty competitive family.”

While speed, quickness and cardio helped push Thomas (28-4), the top-seed in the weight class, to his first finals berth against Callahan (24-3), size won out in this battle of upper weights.

Callahan outweighed Thomas by nearly 20 pounds and was six inches taller than his counterpart, parlaying his size for a first period ankle pick that caught Thomas off guard, which would ultimately become the deciding takedown in the bout.

Thomas trailed 4-2 heading into the third period when Callahan showed another part of his repertoire that Thomas will need to adjust to at regionals - riding.

Callahan’s long legs and arms wrapped around Thomas like a boa constrictor for the better part of the final period, before he was able to eventually escape late in the period.

By then it was too little, too late.

“I knew that he was shorter than me and that I was going to have good chances at low shots,” said Callahan. “It was really all about taking what he was giving me.”

And Callahan took what the sport was offering him this season after dedicating himself this season.

“He put a lot of work in the offseason and it shows by putting on 40 pounds in the weight room,” said Freedom head coach Brandon Hall. “He’s really matured this year. He’s embraced the leadership role and I’m really proud of him. We told him if he does things the right way, he’ll get rewarded. These are the fruits of his labor.”

Hall told Callahan after his runner-up finish at this season’s Bethlehem Holiday Wrestling Classic that he had two months to correct his mistakes.

Based on the gold medal that Callahan has, those areas of concern were corrected.

“One of things we say all the time, ‘It’s not about what you did, but what you’re going to do about what you did,” said Hall. “He said ‘Coach, I’m all in and I’ll do whatever it takes to be here.’ We’re all real proud of what he was able to accomplish.”

Callahan was the lone finalist for the Patriots, as they advance four wrestlers to the Northeast Regional Tournament this weekend back at Liberty.

Dylan Brown (120, 4th), Ben Huber (126, 5th) and Ryan DeLoach (170, 5th) also moved on from districts.