Since the start of the season, Pennsylvania powerhouses Faith Christian Academy and Wyoming Seminary have been jockeying with each other for the top spot in the high school team rankings. 

Wyoming Seminary started the year ranked #1 in The Flo 40, but Faith Christian finished ahead of the Blue Knights and won Ironman, swapping places in the rankings as a result.

Shortly after Ironman, Faith Christian hosted Wyoming Seminary for a dual between the top two teams in the country. After not having him at Ironman, the Blue Knights welcomed back #7 Vince Bouzakis at 157 pounds. At full strength, Wyoming Sem downed the Lions 32-24 on Dec. 13 and took back the top spot in the Flo 40. 

The Lions bounced back last weekend with another big tournament win when they took home the team title at Beast of the East, strengthening their case for the top team spot. Faith Christian scored 276.5 points to outlast #4 Lake Highland Prep (255.5) and #5 Malvern Prep (236.5)

“The two big tournaments have been amazing and a true testament to the guys and all their hard work, their parents, and their families — they grind all year long and just put a ton of work in,” said Faith Christian coach Ben Clymer in a phone interview on Monday. “It’s a lot of pressure with a lot of nationally ranked guys in seemingly back-to-back weekends that you’re putting it on the line. They handle the pressure with such class and poise. Their ability to control their nerves and just go out and execute is why we were able to come away with two tournament wins there.”

The Lions have been led by brothers Fred and Joe Bachmann. Fred is ranked #1 in the nation at 113 pounds after winning titles at both Ironman and Beast. Joe is ranked #5 at 120 — he won a title Ironman before falling in the Beast of the East final in tiebreakers to Norwin’s #4 Landon Sidun. Fred is a freshman, while Joe is a sophomore.

According to Clymer, most of the credit for the success of the Bachmann brothers falls at the feet of their father, Fred.

“Their dad has disciplined them, their regiments, and their lifestyles. They are very good because of him,” Clymer said. “It’s just awesome having them kick off tournaments because they wrestle with such energy, so that adds a lot of confidence to the team. Getting to see how much they grind — it’s not just our practice — they go home and do other things, so that’s an example to a lot of their teammates that that’s what it takes. These guys are gifted, but they’re much more than gifted. They grind at it.”

Additionally, Clymer credited the fact that the Bachmanns have been wrestling at such a high level since a very young age when discussing their advanced maturity. They both finished as U17 World silver medalists in August.

“I would say that Fred and Joe are taking it all in stride so well because they have been so successful from a young age that every tournament they go to, they’re putting their name and reputation on the line, so that pressure that a lot of other freshmen and sophomores have to battle with, Fred and Joe still battle with it too, but they just have so many reps being in that lifestyle for so many years, so they do a really good job of handling it,” Clymer said. “They really just have a ton of poise and emotional maturity for only being a freshman and a sophomore, so it’s really cool.”

In their dual against Wyoming Sem, the Lions dropped five of the first seven weights and weren’t able to catch up as they won three of the final four, including a pair of tech falls by #1 Jude Correa at 215 and #7 Mark Effendian at heavyweight.

For Clymer, the message to the team after that loss was that they are on the same level as the Blue Knights but need to clean up some things, especially their effort and tenacity.

“I think at this point the guys know that and (have) the expectation that we are THE team,” Clymer said. “The more dominating message was that we got outhustled. They were more physical right off the get-go, and that’s where matches were won and lost. It just came down to them being meaner, so it’s a blessing to have that early in the season. The fact that we got that reminder that we need to compete in the room more and we need to get better at just grinding and hand-fighting and closing the gap.”

After a brutal schedule to start their season, the Lions will be hard at work during the holiday break working on their deficiencies — specifically their hand-fighting.

“We have a lot of guys that their style is a little bit more elusive, and that’s fine, but at the end of the day you need to hand-fight,” Clymer said. “If you want to wrestle at the next level, you can be an elusive wrestler, but you still have to be able to fight in a phone booth. That’ll continue to be a big technical piece that we work on from here to the end of the year.

“We don’t compete over Christmas break and that’s a blessing because we get to go through a little bit of a gauntlet like we did and really tangibly set into place individually like ‘Here’s where there’s a deficiency, and here’s how we’re going to get better at that.’ We really get to pause, work on those techniques, watch the video, and hopefully instill over the next week or two the exact reps that they are going to need to make a habit.”

Another standout who won titles at both Ironman and Beast of the East for the Lions is #3 Adam Waters at 190 pounds. He’s a perfect 13-0 on the year so far.

“Adam’s been just an absolute stud, and what I’ve really appreciated about him this year is he’s always been a student of the sport. He goes to different clubs and different RTCs and has different coaches — at that point he’s constantly wrestling and constantly grinding,” Clymer said. “What’s been really unique to see about him this year is just how much he’s bought into being a leader and a captain at Faith Christian Academy. Adam has been a real blessing this year with how much he buys into what the coaches are telling him, leading by example, and bringing a ton of energy to that specific practice. It can be a dumb insignificant sprint at the beginning of the practice as a warmup, and that guy is hauling out.”

According to Clymer, something that they try to emphasize at Faith Christian is that wrestling is not what defines them — it’s their deep faith in Jesus that really defines them.

“We’re followers of Christ. A big part of the piece between now and the end of the year is also making sure that wrestling doesn’t identify us,” Clymer said. “I think that one of the things that a program like ours can get caught up in is that there are so many ranking swings, and what people think about you or say about you, and that’s never going to change. 

“We’re taking the time to really make sure that we’re going to church together, we’re hitting the word together, and we’re trying to memorize the scripture that reminds us where our identity should be. Those components really help sharpen our minds and allow us to compete with joy and not this crazy pressure of every single weekend and every single year what a ranking says about us.”

As for the other teams at Beast of the East, runner-up Lake Highland Prep had the most individual champions in the field with three — #8 Zeno Moore at 144, #6 Claudio Torres at 165 and #7 Jacob Levy at heavyweight.

Finishing third was Malvern Prep, which put nine on the podium, led by 106-pound champion #7 Justin Farnsworth.

Bishop McCort Wins Hall Of Fame Dual Classic

Ranked #3 in the country behind Wyoming Sem and Faith Christian, Bishop McCort navigated a stacked field at the Hall of Fame Dual Classic, going 5-0 overall while winning the championship dual 37-28 over #6 Delbarton out of New Jersey. Massillon Perry High School finished third with an upset win over #7 Stillwater. Ranked #14, Edmond North beat #19 Sunnyside 41-31 for fifth place. 

Beyond the usual suspects — #1 Jax Forrest (5-0 at 132) and #1 Bo Bassett (5-0 at 144) —  McCort also saw undefeated performances out of Eli Herring (4-0 at 113), #8 Sam Herring (5-0 at 138), #8 Devon Magro (4-0 at 157), and #3 Melvin Miller (5-0 at 165).

Delbarton was led by #2 Jayden James, who went 5-0 at 150 pounds.

St. John Bosco Dominates Reno TOC

With six individual champions, #11 St. John Bosco won the Reno Tournament of Champions with 306 team points. Ranked 12th, Poway finished second with 256.5 points, while Layton took third with 201. Tenth-ranked Gilroy finished fourth with 192.5 points.

St. John Bosco had six individual champs and 12 total placers, while Poway had one champion in #3 Angelo Posada at 215 pounds. An Ironman champion, Posada avenged a loss at Who’s Number One to #4 Cade Ziola of Skutt Catholic with a 5-4 decision in the Reno final. Poway had the most podium finishers with 13. 

Layton had seven placers but no champs, while Gilroy had two champions in #1 Daniel Zepeda at 150 and #5 Moses Mendoza at 132.

Southeast Polk Impressive In Battle Of Waterloo Duals

At the Battle of Waterloo Duals, #24 Southeast Polk was dominant as the Rams went 6-0 and weren’t really challenged. They won their dual against runner-up Alburnett 50-12. Their toughest dual was a 55-24 win over #38 Don Bosco. 

In pool competition, Southeast Polk won their three duals in Bracket D 83-0, 67-3 and 70-4.

St. Michael-Albertville Wins Minnesota Christmas Tourney

In a commanding performance, #25 St. Michael-Albertville won the MatBoss Minnesota Christmas Tournament by more than 100 points, finishing with 382 points to runner-up Mounds View’s 277.5 points. 

STMA had four individual champions and nine placers, led by #2 Landon Robideau winning a title at 160 pounds with all his wins coming with bonus points.