For senior Patrick Snoke, wrestling at the state championships was a dream finally fulfilled.

“My grandfather told me when I was 5 or 6 years old, we came out here for a Hershey Bears game and he goes, ‘This is where you’re going to be wrestling one day.’ I never believed him. Last year I came out here as a spectator,” he said. “I told myself and I told my father, ‘I will be out here next year, no matter what.’ And I accomplished my goal after 13 seasons of wrestling, being a state medalist.”

Snoke claimed 6th place in the 126-pound weight class after entering the season with only a single varsity match under his belt. His postseason run began after wrestling a total of four varsity matches.

He dropped a 5-2 decision to the West’s second place qualifier, Luke Simcox of Central Mountain in the quarterfinals. He then beat Matthew Repos of Central Dauphin 2-1 to advance to the consolation semifinals. An 8-3 loss to Dominic Findora of Downingtown West sent him to the 5th place bout where he fell to Simcox once again.

Seth Lisa appraised Snoke.

“Just an unreal performance by this kid for us all year long,” Lisa said. “It’s hard for these guys with high hopes of being in our lineup and going to these large events. A lot of kids decide that they don’t think wrestling’s that important, because it’s tough to be a JV wrestler. And for a kid like Patrick to continue to come back, get his shot, and take sixth in the state of Pennsylvania, I’m just through the roof for this guy.”

After graduation Snoke plans to pursue a welding/engineering degree at Pennsylvania College of Technology and will also wrestle there. After his performance this season, it would not be surprising to see those plans change with offers of wrestling scholarships to other schools.