HERSHEY – Brody Kline’s move to 285 pounds was nearly a golden decision.
But the Berks Catholic senior came up just short of winning a title Saturday at the PIAA Wrestling Championships at the Giant Center.
Kline suffered a 6-4 loss to returning PIAA Class 2A runner-up Brenan Morgan of Central Valley in the 285-pound championship bout. Kline trailed 5-0 after two periods before scoring a pair of takedowns in the third period to come up two points short of becoming Berks Catholic’s first state champion.
“I gave it all I had,” Kline said. “I’m pretty proud of my accomplishment.”
Kline, a PIAA fifth-place finisher at 215 last season, moved up a weight class after Christmas. His move knocked another 2023 state placewinner, Owen Reber, out of the lineup.
But Kline said he had no choice.
“I was cutting a lot of weight,” Kline said. “I was just not wrestling to the best of my ability. It was a very hard decision.”
Kline’s only other loss since moving up was to Twin Valley’s Ean Winchester, a Class 3A state qualifier, in the ultimate tiebreaker of the BCIAA championship match. Kline, 28-6, had won 22 straight matches at 285 before Morgan ended his gold-medal bid.
Morgan finished the season 43-0.
“I scored some points at the end and made it a pretty good match,” Kline said. “It definitely was a winnable match in my opinion.”
Kline, the Berks Catholic record holder with 126 career wins, now is headed to Franklin & Marshall, where he plans to wrestle at 285.
Berks Catholic junior Carmine Lenzi was the only other Berks County wrestler to win a 2A medal. Lenzi, who reached the semifinals, placed sixth at 172.
He lost by medical forfeit in the bout for fifth place to finish the season 36-9.
Source: Berkshire mont