Rebuilding season for Hamburg Hawks

It was a season to remember. The Hamburg Area High School wrestling team made it all the way to the PIAA State Class AA semifinals before losing to Bethlehem Catholic and Burrell to finish fourth in the state. How are they going to top that. The answer is – they probably won’t. They lost a lot of quality wrestlers to graduation which means the 2014-15 season will be a rebuilding one.

Most coaches don’t like the work ‘ rebuilding’, but what else do you call it when 12 of the 14 weight classes will be filled by underclassmen. It will be a young and inexperienced team that will have to grow up quickly if they are to repeat last year’s 6-0 Berks League season.

Of course, that doesn’t mean there is no talent on the team. They do return a few quality wrestlers, including senior Sean Stanish, who was 43-12 last season and a state qualifier. Stanish has won three varsity letters for the Hawks in his career, and has a 98-12 career record. He is slated for the 120 pound weight class.

Also coming back is junior Mike Eicher, who was a district qualifier last year despite his 4-25 record.

Junior Matt James will be back after going 43-12 last year. Wrestling at 152 pounds, James sports a career record of 98-32 and will be countedon heavily this year. He has the potential to go far in post-season tournaments.

So does junior Tyler Herber, a junior who will most likelyt wrestler at 170 pounds. He’s coming off a sophomore season in which he went 18-24. He will be another wrestler who will be counted on for a lot of wins if the team is going to do well.

Ron Lavigne is a senior who will come back to get his second varsity letter. He was 18-19 last year and will slated to wrestle at the 160 pound mark.

Romeo Eaddy (16-24 record last year) and Dylan Miller (2-2 last year) will also be back this season. Eaddy is a sophomore and Miller is a junior.

Derek Sola will be back, for his sixth season coaching the Hamburg Area High School wrestling team. He sports a 92-24 record at Hamburg.

The Hawks will begin the season with the Avon Grove Tournament on Dec. 6. The first dual meet action will be a home match against Kutztown on Dec. 10 at 6:30 p.m. On Dec. 12 and 13, the Hawks will participate in the King of the Mountain Tournament. On Dec. 27 and 27, Hamburg will participate in the Conestoga Valley Tournament at Conestoga Valley High School.