Easton Area High School, PA, begins their 50th year of scholastic wrestling this season as defending 1996 WUSA National Public School Champions (ranked #2 to Walsh Jesuit OH) as well as WUSA pre-season #1 this season.
Coached by Steve Powell, Easton wrestles in the Lehigh Valley, one of the most competitive, sports-loving areas in this nation. Easton is a blue-collar town. The Lehigh Valley has produced many great athletes. One notable is former Easton wrestler and World Heavyweight Boxing Champion, Larry Holmes.
Easton's rivals in the valley include Northampton, coached by former Clarion NCAA Champion Don Rohn. The "Koncrete Kids" won 2 High School National Championships in the 90s. Coach Ray Nunamaker's Nazareth team ranked #5 last season. Wrestling powers Blair Academy and Phillipsburg are just across the Delaware River in New Jersey. East-on's big rival is Phillipsburg. That traditional dual meet is held before 4500 fans at Lafayette College. Easton is also home to household names, "Cray-ola Crayons" and "Dixie Cups".
Located where Easton is, Coach Powell, who is a real student of the sport, tells me that he has benefited by learning from other area coaches such as Penn State head coach John Fritz, who is from nearby Bethlehem. There are former Lehigh head coaches Tom Hutchinson and Thad Turner--as well as Lehigh assistant Sergei Belgloz, six-time World Champion, two-time Olympic Gold Medalist. And there is current Lehigh head coach and Olympic coach Greg Strobel.
Coach Powell is assisted by Barry Snyder, former Penn State captain, and Ed Ferraro, who wrestled for Gray Simons at Indiana-Terre Haute. Powell himself had successful wrestling careers both at W. Chester PA High School and at W. Chester College (126 lb).
The Red Rovers return all but two of their best kids from last season, when Easton won the prestigious Reno Tournament of Champions as well as the Pennsylvania State Tournament. Steve Powell, in his 13th year as Easton head coach, believes his team this season could be Easton's all-time greatest.
Predicting that this could be Easton's best team is a mouthful, since Easton ranks sixth all-time in wins in Pennsylvania, as well as having the all-time 2nd best winning percentage (79%) in the state. The Red Rovers have had four previous big-school state championship teams and one runner-up.
Many experts believe that Pennsylvania is overall THE best wrestling state in the USA, although Oklahoma can make a strong claim. That possible fact has been obscured because Pennsylvania wrestlers are spread throughout the country historically. Also there are so many Division I wrestling powers in the state that even the kids who stay home are spread out. Witness Penn State, Penn, Lehigh, Lock Haven, Blooms-burg, Clarion, Edinboro, Pitts-burgh and E. Stroudsburg all competing for the same talent!
Nineteen individual kids have been state champs for Easton, 12 have been runners-up. Jack Cuvo of E. Stroudsburg was two-time NCAA Champ, Bob Ferraro of Indiana-Terre Haute was runner-up. Third placer Bobby Weaver of Lehigh went on to become an Olympic Gold Medal winner in 1984 at 105.5 lb. The Red Rovers wrestle in brutal District 11-it takes its toll on who gets to State.
Realize that in Pennsylvania there are 261 schools in each of only two classes. Compare that to Okl-homa, where there are four classes, with only 35 teams each. You don't have to be a math major to understand from these numbers just how tough it is to become a state champion in Pennsylvania.
So, we have established that there is tradition at Easton. What else goes into the "championship equation"? Easton has an excellent "feeder" system, starting with the Midget program for kids in third through 6th grades. The Junior High is in expert hands, coached by Gene Smith who has been there 27 years, and Dan Coon, who has been there 22 years. Impressive! Easton has a coed enrollment of about 1500 in grades 10-12. There are only about 30-35 boys in the wrestling room, so even Easton has no abundance of numbers.
Coach Powell tells me that from Northampton's success this decade, he has put more emphasis on weight-training. During the season the kids lift 2-3 nights after practice. There are two wrestling rooms side-by-side. The 145 pounders and lower in one room, the heavier weights in the other. The day before a match the kids are separated by "Varsity" and "Junior Varsity" in order that the coaches can do nothing but drilling with the Varsity, while the Junior Varsity can receive more basic instruction.
Easton's practices are normally about two hours. Practice begins with jumping rope, wind sprints, and stretching. Eighty percent of the time is spent drilling on their feet, which may surprise people who think all Penn-sylvania wrestlers prefer to be on the mat. Coach Powell believes that his kids need to work on their feet to be able to get the takedown needed to win a tight match. Here, Easton is looking for single-legs and high crotches. On the mat, Easton looks for arm-bars, cradles, and most anything with legs. Easton does mostly "situational" drilling in their room.
I would be remiss were I to move on without giving "due credit" to a move that all the Lehigh Valley teams spring on unwary opponents, much to their chagrin. Don Rohn instituted it at Northampton and it has spread to everyone else in the Lehigh Valley. It is the fabled "cement mixer" or "cement job".
Off the opponents leg/crotch shot, the Easton wrestler will use the opponent's own momentum to flip the opponent over the Easton boy. A key for the Easton boy is to be able to get his leg between the opponent's legs, as a fulcrum. The Easton kid will grasp the opponent with an underhook and a chinlock, such that when the opponent is flipped on his back, he is pinned instantly.
But Easton is a lot more than "cement jobs". If you have seen their Junior National All-American Jamarr Billman (140) and their Ironman Champ Bryan Snyder (135), you know that the Red Rovers are skilled in all phases and mentally tough. Nowhere was that more evident than at Reno last January. The first day, Friday, was possibly the single most brutal one day of wrestling in high school history. Four championship rounds were wrestled on Friday, after teams flew in the previous day or night from all over the nation. It was no place for the timid!
Easton won Reno by surviving Friday, placing four wrestlers in the finals to Walsh Jesuit's three. Although only one finalist, Billman, won--the damage had been done. Easton also had two third-placers, a fifth, and a sixth. Easton defeated one of the best Walsh Jesuit teams, 188 1/2 to 183 1/2 points.
Long-time successful Cleveland St. Joseph Coach John Story once said
"The cream will rise to the top." RENO proved that true and will prove
it again this season, as will the IRONMAN. Easton may well be sipping cream
again.
