After doing well at playoffs and sections, seven wrestlers were given the chance to compete at WPIALS Feb. 24 and 25. The WPIAL competition took place at Chartiers Valley High School, where wrestlers Boe Bonzo, Tyler Cousins, Kurt Kitzman, Matt Pavlick, Heath Nye and Zeke Stroupe competed for the first through seventh places necessary to move on to the regional competition. With more than 15 schools competing at WPIALs, the following Freedom wrestlers took their place at WPIALs: Bonzo placed second, Stroupe placed third and Cousins placed seventh. These wrestlers all qualified for the regional competition at Johnstown High School. Stroupe and Bonzo made it to states and competed in Hershey, PA. All the wrestlers aspired to do well, but one in particular, Cousins, exceeded his goal. Cousins’ initial goal was to win at least one match at WPIALs since he didn’t have any wins last year. To his delight, he won two matches, took seventh place and made it to the regional wrestling competition. “As a team we raised the bar again, winning the co-section and being section runner-ups. Also as a team, it was the first time in a while we have had kids ranked in the state,” three-time WPIAL competitor, Stroupe said. A unique occurrence happened this past wrestling season when Sophomore Matt Pavlick was in a match against an opponent, losing 10-4. The funny thing was that Pavlick thought he was winning with a six-point cushion, so he decided to stall time. Consequently, Pavlick lost that particular match, but was able to redeem himself when he faced with the same opponent at WPIALs. “Yeah, that was not my finest hour,” Pavlick, who had strep throat and pink eye days before the match, said, “but I rebounded.”