Burns makes his return tonight

by Harold Raker

Posted on December 5, 2008

He has waited a long time to resume his wrestling career and tonight, Line Mountain senior Ryan Burns will take to the mat in the Top Hat Tournament in Williamsport High School.


Among the family members who will join Burns' teammates and friends in watching the newest Eagle compete this weekend will be his brother, Mike.

Mike, coordinator of baseball operations for the Houston Astros, and a former Shamokin wrestling standout, made the trip home from Texas to watch his younger brother in action.

Ryan was ineligible to compete last year because he transferred to Line Mountain. He lost two appeals to the PIAA and was limited to working out with his new teammates and cheering them on from the side.

TOURNAMENT TIME? Now that the Heartland Athletic Conference and its three divisions are off the ground, Selinsgrove coach Todd Myers would like to see the powers that be take the new league one step further.

Myer said the addition of Midd-West and Williamsport to the HAC-Division I should only make the wrestling stronger. "It only makes sense to have Williamsport in the league since they are in our district," he said.

But, he added, "The only thing the league should do now is add an all-division varsity league tournament. It would be a heck of a tournament with the teams we have in the three divisions of the league."

The Schuylkill League, also a three-division league until this year, has been running an all-league tournament for years.

COMING BACK: Longtime wrestling fans will remember the days when Williamsport, coached by Dick Conner and later by Tom Best, were a power in the sport. The Millionaires were always a tough out for the Braves and the two battled most years for District 4 Class AAA honors. The program has gone through a number of coaches in the last decade, and the newest head coach, Joe Eaton, believes he and his staff can turn things around.

Eaton was also the head coach in 1999-2000 before leaving to take an assistant position at Lycoming College. He spent two years there before becoming a part-time assistant at his alma mater, Lock Haven University.

"I look forward to this season. The kids are working very hard in these early weeks learning a new wrestling system," Eaton said.

The Millionaires will get their first test tonight when they host the Top Hat Tournament.

"There are still quite a few guys on the roster that are making this season their debut into the sport, so there will be somewhat of a learning curve for those athletes," said Eaton, who noted the team has a full lineup for the first time in several years.

VETERANS ON PARADE: Hughesville coach Mike Snyder has reason to believe his Spartans will improve upon last year's 12-13 dual-meet record. He returns 11 starters from that lineup, including six district qualifiers. Snyder is also looking forward to the challenge of the new HAC-Division II. He says Shamokin should be the class of the division, but he believes a few teams will give them a challenge.

MORE PRAISE: Count Montoursville coach Jamie Yonkin among those who believe in the HAC. Yonkin, whose Warriors might have challenged Shikellamy for the Central Susquehanna Conference Division I again this season, finds his team in Division II of the new league.

"We are excited for the new league as it will give us the opportunity to wrestle several great teams that we have not had the opportunity to compete with over the past few years," Yonkin said. "There is no doubt the league is going to be tough. (The) bottom line, it is District 4 wrestling."


Mount Carmel coach Randy Reidler also likes the league and noted that many of the teams in the HAC-II were already on his schedule. They included Shamokin, Warrior Run, Bloomsburg and Lewisburg. They also met wrestlers from Montoursville in a tournament.

The Red Tornadoes will find out something about themselves and the new league quite early as they meet Montoursville on Thursday and Warrior Run one week later.

"You want your schedule to pick up, with tougher competition, and that's what we did over the years," Reidler said. "Joining this league just added a couple of teams to it."

The Red Tornadoes will also continue to compete in the Schuylkill League.

Warrior Run also gets into the new league early, with Bloomsburg and Hughesville next week, and Midd-West and Mount Carmel the following week.

THE OTHER SIDE: While he is not opposed to the new league per se, Shikellamy coach Brett Michaels also points out a down side. With the PIAA reducing the competition points a team is allowed to accumulate in a season, the alignment of the new league created scheduling problems.

"It caused us to have to lose a couple of dual meets with some teams I really wanted to compete against in that second division," Michaels said. "There are a couple of teams who have real quality kids and it would have been nice to keep them on our schedule."

Specifically, Michaels was disappointed to lose both Montoursville and Shamokin from his schedule, the result of the new league and the addition of Hollidaysburg to the Big Seven League.

Michael said the Braves have dropped their annual Jefferson, W.Va., tournament in favor of the King of the Mountain Tournament in Lock Haven "to replace some of the teams we are losing."


THE NEXT STEP: Muncy has been a team on the rise and coach Denny Harer is ready to take the Indians up a notch.

Muncy will look to continue its dominance on the mat, although it will be faced with replacing Josh Strickland who accounted for 96 wins over his career and Josh Gochnauer, who won more than 20 matches in the last three seasons. The biggest hole to fill will be Matt Johnson who placed eighth in states last season. Although Muncy will be forced to replace three impact seniors, it does have some firepower returning. Josh's brother, Zach Strickland, finished his freshman season with a record of 27-6 and looks to improve. Also, Ryan Hembury, who collected 22 wins in his freshman campaign, will look to anchor the young team. The strongest spot for Muncy will be Aarron Fry who placed fourth in the northeast regional last season and won 37 matches.

"We have a lot of goals entering the season," Harer said. "One is to go further that the top eight in team districts. We have several kids who could compete at the state level."

Loyalsock will also look to get back into the swing of the season with a full roster. Due mainly to the Lancers deep state playoff run in football last season, the wrestling team was forced to start the season without a full roster.

"We had a lot of potential we weren't able to reach," Loyalsock coach Ben Hepburn said. "Football season really took a toll on some of the kids. There were a lot of injuries and some of the kids were just tired after the long football season."


One aspect of high school sports the Lancers were able to avoid was the hole that graduating seniors can leave. Although many players didn't start the season, Loyalsock didn't have any seniors and continued to build its team with young wrestlers.

"It's nice this season because now we have some seniors," said Hepburn. "The seniors give me more time to work with the younger guys. After being in the program for this long they know what to do and what is expected of them."

Seniors Pat Green and Derek Hicks were limited to only 20 combined matches through last season and will be looking forward to getting back in the gym on time this year.

"It will be better preparing this season," said Hepburn. "We were able to give some of the kids time off and get them back in the gym for the second week of practice. It gives us more time to get them in shape and take care of any injuries from football."

Drew Reed, who qualified for states two seasons ago, will be expected to anchor the team and provide much of the leadership. Helping with the leadership role will be Alex Eggerton.

DEALING WITH FOOTBALL: Hepburn's problem last year is similar to what Selinsgrove coach Myers has been dealt this year. The Seals' football team has advance one step further than any previous Selinsgrove football team, competing tonight in the PIAA Class AAA semifinals.

"Although we are excited for the football team, it has set us back a little as we had to adjust our schedule and change some of our events," he said.

Myers can't complain too much. His son, the team's top returning wrestler, is a starting defensive end for the football team.

Mount Carmel's Reidler is also behind a bit because the Red Tornadoes football team advanced to the state semifinals before losing last weekend.

Reidler said he usually gives the football players two weeks off and said that standout Sean McCollum might not see action on the mat until after the New Year.

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