HS wrestling notebook: P-O names new coach; BEA’s Grace Stem just misses Super 32 title as 6 others compete
Philipsburg-Osceola knew late this summer that it was going to have to find a new high school wrestling coach, as former coach Brad Pataky resigned from his post.
The Mounties didn’t have to look too far for Pataky’s replacement.
The school board officially voted to hire 1997 P-O graduate Justin Fye on Oct. 12 at an annual salary of $5,727.15, according to school board documents.
Fye is in his second year as the principal of Philipsburg Elementary. As Fye is an administrator in the school district, some concerns was raised over whether that would present a conflict of interest. But after meeting with the school board, superintendent and athletic director, the concerns were ironed out and Fye is now ready to lead his alma mater’s program.
“When I went to P-O, I wasn’t looking to coach anything,” Fye said. “I’m extremely excited to get back into coaching, but of course to coach at my alma mater. I wrestled for coach (Dave) Caslow and the P-O program has a rich history of wrestling and rich history of coaches. I’m extremely honored to just be another coach within that program, and keep the tradition moving forward into the future.”
Mountaineer fans may remember Fye not only as a wrestler but also as a baseball player. He wrestled under then-coach Dave Caslow, but after graduating, Fye went on to play baseball at the collegiate level at Greensboro College and Penn State Altoona.
Fye began his professional career path in 2003 in Maryland, before returning back to the area in 2007. He started teaching in the Moshannon Valley School District in 2007 and worked his way up to becoming a principal.
When Fye made the return to the area 14 years ago, he started his coaching career. Fye was helping out then-Mounties’ wrestling coach Tim McCamley in 2008. In 2008, Fye became the baseball coach for Moshannon Valley. He held that spot until 2014.
Fye’s wrestling coaching career began in 2011 for the Knights. With his advancement in his profession — becoming the assistant principal for the entire Moshannon Valley School District — Fye had to give up being the wrestling coach in 2017.
“Growing up with baseball and wrestling, I’ve always loved playing baseball,” Fye said. “Baseball is my favorite sport I grew up with. Coaching-wise, wrestling has always been my favorite sport. I feel like you can see immediate growth in a student-athlete in the sport of wrestling compared to other sports.”
During his six-year stint at Moshannon Valley, Fye and his staff amassed a 91-39 record. They earned a District 6 team title, made the district duals every year, and even made it to the PIAA dual tournament.
Fye helped coach three PIAA placewinners, and had 10 state qualifiers. He also had a pair of wrestlers continue wrestling at the collegiate level at West Virginia and Lock Haven.
Fye said he is all about a “we” approach. When it comes what he plans to bring to the P-O program, he had a simple statement.
“Family is extremely important to me. This is one of things that I’ve stressed to the wrestlers and to the parents, is our family mentality,” Fye said. “I think you can do some amazing things when you can build a trust within a group of people, organization or community. By being a family, we can move forward together and building together, so that’s really important. As for the wrestling aspect, I try to bring a different variety of styles to the wrestlers.
“Not every wrestler wrestles the same way. I have a pretty big coaching staff coming in with me. I said this to the guys when I met with them at school about a week ago, ‘I wrestled heavyweight during my wrestling career in high school, so I wouldn’t shoot a low single. I wouldn’t hit a granby roll, unless it was at practice.’ Every wrestler has a different style that is going to help them be successful.”
In all, Fye plans to have 13 coaches with him. Some of the coaches who were with the Mounties last year are staying with the program. Fye is bringing one of his assistants he had while at Moshannon Valley, and he’s also having a few recent P-O graduates helping.
Fye said that having all of these coaches will help to prepare wrestlers at all the different weights in the lineup. He said he’s impressed with how the Mounties’ returning wrestlers are responding to the new coaching at the couple of open mat practices they’ve had.
Fye said when he first met the guys he told them three things: “We are going to have fun, we are going to work hard and we are going to be great.” Fye went on to say he loves having fun, and one way he does that is by wearing crazy suits and colors.
When Fye isn’t having fun in the wrestling room, he’s taking in other sports with his wife, Sarah. They live in Ramey and have a a dog named Rookie and a cat named Bella.
Stem comes up shy of Super 32 title
Bald Eagle Area’s Grace Stem has had quite the offseason. She claimed a spot on the United States’ Cadet World Team in May, and competed in Budapest, Hungary, in July.
The senior continued to add to her accolades on Sunday by finishing as runner-up in the prestigious Super 32 Challenge in Greensboro, North Carolina. Stem, the No. 2 seed, took on No. 1 seed Skylar Hattendorf, of New Hampshire, in the 139-pound finals.
Hattendorf jumped out to the lead late in the first period when she threw Stem to her back with 44 seconds remaining. However, Stem rebounded nicely.
Stem took Hattendorf down, rolled her over with a gut wrench and back exposure points. Stem and Hattendorf were tied at 4-4 after one.
Early in the second period, Hattendorf again took Stem straight to her back to claim an 8-4 lead. This time, however, Stem was unable to get off her back, and was pinned by Hattendorf.
Stem showed why she was that No. 2 seed from the start. She cruised to the finals with three straight technical falls. She outscored her opponents 30-0. Stem wrestled just 6:04 to make the finals.
6 other county wrestlers compete at Super 32
Stem wasn’t the lone wrestler from Centre County to head to North Carolina.
Her teammate Coen Bainey, along with Bellefonte’s Aidan O’Shea and Jude Swisher, and State College’s Hayden Cunningham, Pierson Manville and Nick Pavlechko hit the mat for the illustrious tournament.
Some weight classes had brackets so large that the wrestling began in a Round of 256. All that wrestling and talent makes Super 32 one of the toughest tournaments in the country. It was so tough that none of the Centre County wrestlers in the boys divisions came home with hardware.
Bainey, O’Shea and Cunningham all competed at 120 pounds. O’Shea and Bainey both went 2-2 in the tournament. Bainey was able to earn a major decision in one of his victories.
Cunningham, who missed all of his sophomore season recovering from an injury, was 3-2 for the tournament. He opened with two falls, and wrestled just 2:49 in his first two matches of the tournament.
Swisher and Manville each competed at 145 pounds, but never faced off against one another, as they did plenty of times last season.
Swisher, who recently committed to the University of Pennsylvania, suffered a tough 5-3 loss to open his tournament. He responded nicely with five straight wins, one coming by way of the fall. He ultimately suffered another loss and had his tournament end with a 5-2 mark.
Manville, like Swisher, finished with a 5-2 record, however he made it the furthest of all the county athletes in the winner’s bracket. The No. 7 seed made it to the round of 16 thanks to two pins and a decision.
After dropping into the consolation bracket, Manville picked up his two other wins — a fall and decision, but then got eliminated by fellow Pennsylvania wrestler Dylan Evans.
Pavlechko, who had a stellar start to his high school wrestling career cut short due to an injury, was 1-2 for his tournament at 220 pounds. His lone win was a pin in 1:52.
PSU commit, M2 team member Haines finishes second
Penn State commit and M2 team member Levi Haines also competed in the Super 32 tournament over the weekend.
Haines, who wore a singlet of Pavlechko’s, was the No. 1 seed at 160 pounds and reached the finals, where he took on the No. 2 seed in California’s MJ Gaitan. Haines held a 3-0 lead with just over a minute left in the second period, but Gaitan was able to tie the bout up before the end of the period.
Gaitan was able to score three more unanswered points to hold off Haines for the 6-4 win.
This story was originally published October 24, 2021 at 8:40 PM.
