Head coach – Jim Best (2nd year)
Assistants – Jake Beitler, Omar Haddad, Lee Todora
Last year – 14-6 overall
Losses to graduation – Marco Albanese (29-9/145/Binghmaton), Alex Issa (8-13/121), Jake Gross (29-11/215/Ursinus), Billy Tigar (4-3/160/Pitt-Bradford), EJ Boney (16-15/285)
Returnees – Soph. Jackson Max (15-14/114), Soph. Aiden Bayard (8-17/127), Soph. Logan Armstrong (17-14/139), Jr. Chance Henry (4-13/145), Soph. Xayden Sallit (15-13/152), Jr. Jesse Scott (23-11/160), Jr. Massimo Tranguch (4-6/189), Sr. Sam Rainford (1-9/172), Jr. Phoenix Zatar-Hanson (1-2/172)
Newcomers – Fresh. Emilio Albanese (107/Jr. High champ), Fr. Teagan Caciolo (121/2x Jr. High champ), Fr. Tommy Fallstich (133), Sr. Scott Furniss (172), Soph. Logan Roth (215), Jr. Ashir Choudhry (285), Fr. Logan Maher (114/Jr. High champ), Soph. Ben Strauss (152/160),
Season starts – Fri., Dec. 1 @ Top Hat Tournament, Williamsport
Follow the team on social media – Twitter (@Emmauswrestling, @Emmaussports), Facebook (Emmaus wrestling)
Coach Best – “What I’m most excited about for this year is just the day-to-day preparation. It’s fun to coach this group. We don’t have to talk to them about working harder. They come in every day and work hard and do anything that we ask them to do. They still need to learn certain techniques and clean up certain things but that’s all coachable things. Every one of our kids has a strong work ethic.”
“I think this team could surprise some this season, especially as the year goes on and some of our freshmen get a little bit of experience under their belt and our new wrestlers get some experience. By January this may be a team where some opposing coaches are saying ‘you know what, we might have a little bit more of a battle on our hands than we thought back in December when we saw Emmaus’ lineup.”
“December is going to be a tough month for us. We have the Top Hat Tournament in Williamsport this weekend followed by Pocono Mountain East and then Northampton and Easton. That’s a tough stretch. Then we roll into the Bethlehem Holiday Classic, so that will certainly test the durability of our younger kids, for sure.”