Three years after nearly having the plug pulled on the wrestling program, Tulpehocken appears to have a clean bill of health for years to come.
The Trojans completed the revival from a winless team with just one wrestler to Berks IV champions Wednesday night with a 64-6 win over defending division champion Brandywine Heights at New Schaefferstown.
“I feel very grateful we were able to pull it off,” sophomore Abramm Schaffer said. “I’m just so lucky that I’m part of a team that’s good. Tulpy has been known to be bad in the past. I’m really happy I’m a part of it.”
Schaffer received one of six forfeits as the Trojans (3-0, 10-2) wrapped up the first division title in school history by downing the Bullets (1-2, 3-3).
Schaffer made history Saturday by becoming the first Tulpehocken wrestler in more than two decades to win an individual county championship when he won the BCIAA 107-pound crown. The Trojans finished fourth in the 16-team county tournament, their highest finish ever.
“In the beginning when I started coaching here, it was to make sure that the school still had a program,” sixth-year head coach Madison Winchester said. “There were rumors swirling that they were going to drop the program. I thought ‘I can’t let that happen.’”
It nearly happened in the COVID season of 2020-21 when the Trojans spent the entire campaign with just one wrestler, Nick Kephart. After going 0-8 that season, Tulpehocken started to show signs of life despite going just 1-9 the following year.
Last year, Tulpehocken went 13-10 and had a shot to win its first division title, but came up short in a 35-29 loss to Brandywine Heights in Mertztown. On Wednesday, the Trojans left no doubt.
Alex Klonis scored a 13-second fall and Francisco Dietrich also scored a fall for the Trojans. Tulpehocken outscored its three division opponents by an average of 53 points to earn the title.
“It’s a long time coming,” Winchester said. “I’m thankful that these kids get to experience this.”
But there could be much more ahead. The Trojans entered the night fourth in the District 3 2A power rankings. If that ranking holds, Tulpehocken would receive a bye into the quarterfinals.
That’s a long way from struggling just to put a team on the mat.
“We tried to make it a little bit more fun, we started winning and other people wanted to be a part of that,” Winchester said. “We were able to bridge that gap that we were constantly losing wrestlers from the youth program, to junior high to senior high.”
Tulpehocken won’t be losing much after this season either. On Senior Night, only two wrestlers were honored. Winchester said the core of the team is six juniors – Mark Forry, Seth Karpulk, Klonis, Gavin Messersmith, Jonathan McQuillen and Landon Youse – who have formed a foundation for the program.
“We encouraged those six to go out in the hallways, to tell the kids to come out and wrestle, and they did,” Winchester said. “It generated a lot of motivation and interest in the team.”
The success has sparked more enthusiasm throughout the team and changed the mindset of the program. Winchester expects the division title will only add fuel to a team that has a burning desire to continue to get better.
“Everything has changed,” Winchester said. “I tried to cancel one practice to try to give them some rest and they ended up talking me into not canceling it. They wanted to come in to wrestle. That’s great to see that.”
Source: Berkshire mont
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