Emmaus High School wrestling is looking to build upon last year’s 14-6 overall record and 7-3 mark in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference. Head coach Jim Best has a mixture of experienced and inexperienced wrestlers on his roster heading into the year.

“We have a very varied mix of experience levels on the team, some wrestlers going through their first season, and some that have wrestled for several years and wrestle year-round,” said Best. “Strengths include a collective positive attitude across the team. They work extremely hard in the weight room and the practice room. They are open to suggestion from coaches. They encourage and support each other in and out of the wrestling room, and they have bought in to our process.

“With our less-experienced wrestlers, they need mat time in competitive situations to learn the strategies in wrestling that increase an individual wrestling IQ. We continue to search for balance in regard to experience levels in our line-up. For me, the greatest strength the team has this season is the assistant coaches (Jake Beitler, Omar Haddad, Lee Todora), a supportive school administration and a very supportive parent base.”

Juniors Jesse Scott and Chance Henry are returning grapplers that won matches at individual districts last year. Scott earned a spot in the quarterfinal round of the 152-pound class and Henry won a first-round match at 133. The Green Hornets reached the quarterfinal round of team districts before falling to eventual runner-up Nazareth.

The projected lineup is as follows: 107-Emilio Albanese, 114-Jackson Max/Logan Maher, 121-Teagan Caciolo/Bryce Kleinle, 127-Teagan Caciolo/Aiden Bayard, 133-Aiden Bayard/Tommy Fallstich, 139-Shawn Guidicelli, 145-Logan Armstrong/Chance Henry, 152-Xayden Sallit/Henry, 160-Jesse Scott, 172-Sam Rainford/Scott Furniss, 189-Massimo Tranguch/Phoenix Zatar-Hanson, 215-Massimo Tranguch/Logan Roth and 285-Ashir Choudhry.

Best feels like this team is ready to advance further and is working hard to achieve its goals.

“On almost a daily basis, the coaching staff discusses what a pleasure it is to work with this team,” Best said. “They work hard. They listen to and implement our instruction, and they show gratitude towards us (coaches) and each other.

“We have a relatively young team with only three seniors and given the varied levels of experience with our varsity line-up, our dual meet success will depend on our experienced wrestlers picking up bonus-point wins, and our less experienced wrestlers need to find ways to minimize bonus point losses. Between the youth and inexperience on the team, I foresee this being a season of measurable growth from start to end. A very competitive schedule, by design, will test the perseverance and durability of our wrestlers. As a coaching staff, our competitive goals for this group of wrestlers include building a competitive dual meet team and preparing our experienced wrestlers to be in peak form in late February/early March.”

Emmaus begins its season this weekend as it competes in the two-day Top Hat Tour at Williamsport High School. The EPC and home opener is set for next Thursday, December 7th, against Pocono Mountain East.