Denairo Price hardly had to break a sweat during his first varsity wrestling match. Thankfully, the Penn Hills freshman heavyweight doubled up on his matches during a triangular with Woodland Hills and Riverview on Dec. 4.
Price, who transferred to Penn Hills from Kiski Area, claimed two pins to open his varsity career.
“The first match, I didn’t do much,” Price said. “In the second match, I did more moves and was releasing more.”
Price qualified for the junior high state tournament in eighth grade and placed seventh. He is a longtime wrestler, having started the sport when his mom put him in the youth program at age 6.
Indians coach Jeremy Packer said he has been impressed with Price’s technique.
“He came from a good program. You can tell,” Packer said. “He has more technique than your average freshman. He’s a lot more technical than most freshmen, even those from junior high.”
Price considers himself a physical and fast wrestler but didn’t need to engage in too much mat wrestling to open the season. Both of his matches ended quickly.
As a team, Penn Hills was able to open with a pair of wins over Woodland Hills and Riverview. There were a lot of forfeits, as the Wolverines and Raiders don’t have full rosters. However, Packer was able to get a lot of inexperienced wrestlers an opportunity to get out on the mat.
While Price has plenty of experience from the youth level, he is eager to build on the foundation. As he progresses through the varsity season, Price wants to pick up the pace and challenge opponents with a variety of attacks.
“I want to improve on my motion,” Price said. “I want to shoot more and do more moves. I want to do more technical moves.”
Packer said he believes if Price wants to add more to his arsenal, he has the capability to make big improvements.
“I think his ceiling is unknown,” Packer said. “I don’t want to put a ceiling on him because he has the potential to break it. He can break through anything. His potential is how hard he wants to work and how bad he wants it.”
Price said he would like to qualify for the WPIAL Class 2A championships this season. Wrestling well during junior high lit a fire under him for high school.
“You have to keep working and stay focused in practice,” Price said. “There can’t be any distractions. I just want to keep working.”