Wrestling may be a sport where individuals show off their feats of strength against their opponents, but this year, Freedom’s wrestling team has gotten stronger from top to bottom, making the team a force to be reckoned with.
The wrestling team had one of its most successful seasons in recent memory this year. The team’s home match for the section championships is just the first of many fruits the team has gotten from their success during the season.
Senior Levi Bonzo, who was a Class AA Southwest Regional qualifier last year, thinks that the team’s improved practice habits have helped them to become a deeper team this year.

“In practice, we live wrestle each other in groups separated by both skill and weight class. How hard you and the people you practice with work every day in practice ultimately determines how successful you are going to be in the actual matches,” Bonzo said.

In addition, the team has improved themselves mentally as they are constantly in the mindset that victory is obtainable. One such instance of this is Bonzo recalling Junior Kody Komara saying just before a tournament final that he was going to win by at least 15 points. After saying this, Komara went out and proved that his statement was more than just confidence, as Komara went out and did just what he said he would and won the match easily. This same mentality helped Komara place last year individually at the state level.

“Wrestling is a very mental sport. If you can get your opponent in the wrong mindset during the match and keep your mentality good, that will give you the advantage during the match. Once you break someone mentally, you’ve pretty much won the match,” Bonzo said.

Work ethic has been a large part of the team’s success this year, and it has shown in the team’s 10-1 record and current hold on playoff position. After their victory over Burgettstown on Jan. 20, their first win against Burgettstown under Wrestling Coach Jim Covert, the wrestling team has clinched the first seed for the section championship match which, in turn, brings the match to Freedom. Full coverage and results of the section championship match on Jan. 27 will be available on fhs-press.com the day after the match.

The phrase that the team has rallied around this year came from Freshman Jake Pail, who said the team was “‘bout” it. Wrestlers have repeated this phrase throughout the year and even had shirts made with the saying on it. The bottom line of this year has been that, every wrestler has been doing their best to achieve every victory. The team’s performance this year has indicated that they are indeed “‘bout” it.