Tough to achieve wrestling parity in central PA

by Harlan Berger

Posted on March 1, 2008

Tom Fox's Feb. 23 story and a previous piece about scheduling difficulties surrounding the Central Mountain wrestling program stir the juices.

CM has had a fine year, and next year promises the same. So the question is, if the reverse were true would we be asking to upgrade the competition? Fox wrote, "CM can't (compete); neither can Centre County powers Bald Eagle Area and Bellefonte."

He meant that CM and the other schools must wrestle strong competition throughout the year to succeed at the states.

Note that State College this year does not fall into Tom's "Centre County powers" classification. Tom says that "CM can't skate through a mandated regular season (of fish) and hope to compete with the Central Dauphins, Cumberland Valleys, Erie Preps, Eastons and Northamptons."

These are all perennial state wrestling powers. But they must also face uneven competition and learn to keep their edge. Life is cyclical. In a year or two, State College or Bald Eagle may do the whopping and not us.

Scheduling is largely based on geography. We live in a part of the state once spoken of as "impossible to get to." It's not impossible, but travel to the far corners of the state — Erie and Easton — is extensive and expensive.

It's special to bask in the luster of CM's wrestling team. But if it got to this high level gaffing so many fish, why suddenly must we strain to boat those that might eat us.

Get used to uneven competition. If wrestling room wrestle-offs create better skills than match play with other schools, enjoy the local quality. We seem to be asking for impossible parity as a way to hone skills.

Not long ago it was CM's turn to get thrashed, and thrashings are part of the game. Let's enjoy the winning while it lasts. Counting coup is always more fun when you're the counter.

I thought we exhibited more scheduling flexibility in sports such as tennis and swimming. If so, what's the problem with adjusting the wrestling schedule?

Fox asks Mountain League representatives and coaches to "bring resources to the table, and make an educated, well-informed decision." He also says the league may need us more than we need them. Is a winning team automatically worth more than another? And part of the decision-making equation is retaining neighborhood competition with Penns Valley or State College. Relatives deserve a shot at spectating.

I'd like to see what would happen if Central Mountain now on the up tick were to next year wrestle Central Dauphin, Cumberland Valley, Erie Prep, Easton and Northampton. We'd have an absolute gauge of progress, even if we wrestled only one of those teams annually.

Perhaps we ought to have a state "super league," even if that smacks of elitism. What a media frenzy that would be if elite teams met on a home-and-away basis.

Then the lesser lights would be left to scrap among themselves. But they'd never improve, would they, if better competition automatically makes you better.

Let's honor competitors no matter their skill level. Let's not take away from them the opportunity for an upset.

Upsets are the fun of sports. The late Elmer Gross, coach of 1950s NCAA Penn State basketball teams, said you don't count wins over those you should beat. You only count wins over better teams. He knew. One of his teams was more successful than any of the past 50years — the second did well, too — and they had less firepower than many opponents.

Winning at states is a laudable goal, and we owe Coach Buckwalter and his staff thanks for bringing us to that point. But we also must honor the many dedicated wrestlers who may not win in wrestle offs. Send them often against weaker teams.

Penn State coach Troy Sunderland recently sent some subs against outmanned LHU. And we've not heard complaints.

I'd like to hear former Penn State wrestler Norman Palovcsik, principal of Central Mountain Middle School, on this matter. Another authority is Andy Matter. Andy would turn his opponents' faces bright red as he rubbed them into Rec Hall mats. His aura was such that opponents often stayed flat to keep from being pinned.

Andy was an NCAA champ in 1971 and '72 at 167 and later and very quickly a gifted handball player. He gave great joy when losing to hobblers twice his age.

Those two as well as former Penn State coach Rich Lorenzo might suggest we should enjoy life's uneven competition. Lack of parity is fun when we're winning.

[ return to previous page ]