Penn Hills wrestling coach Jeremy Packer would like to see Daemon Phipps stay on the gas. The Indians 114-pound senior wrestler broke through and qualified for the WPIAL Class 3A tournament last season.
Phipps went 1-2, picking up a win over Moon’s Karsten Kirchner in the consolation bracket. He will be ready to try and take things a step forward this season.
Phipps, who placed fourth in sections and is 64-31 in his career, equaled a career high by winning 25 matches last season.
“He has to finish matches,” Packer said. “He’ll get the first takedown and he’ll get caught and give it away on the bottom. He needs to work on being stronger on the bottom and finishing matches.”
Penn Hills, which finished 5-8 overall and 0-3 in section last season, will feature a young lineup this season. Packer said the Indians have 14 wrestlers out for the team.
Packer said Penn Hills’ plan is to try and get the younger wrestlers more experience.
“We’re going to have a lot of the first-year wrestlers competing in JV tournaments,” Packer said. “We want to make sure we are getting them the right matches. We only have three seniors, so we are hoping to plan to bring 11 strong wrestlers back.”
Sophomores Denairo Price (285 pounds) and Armani Carpenter (127) are expected to contribute. Price started out hot last season, securing pins in his first two varsity matches, but ended up finishing 6-6 and missed time due to sickness.
Xavier Nicholas (127), Tony Gay-Scott (172) and Zakariyaa Lahujjiddin (215) also return for the Indians.
Penn Hills will host a holiday tournament for the second year on Dec. 29. Packer said the first year of the event went well.
Phipps was the Indians’ lone champion at the event. Darnell Jackson and Levi Smith also made the finals.
“We did get a lot of interest,” Packer said. “A lot of the community came to check it out. We have a few more teams this year. A lot of the teams that reached out are ones that used to go to the West Mifflin tournament.”
Packer said Penn Hills has been focused on building interest. He is encouraged by the numbers at the younger level.
Packer said that middle school coach Courtney Clayborn said the Indians have 50 wrestlers signed up across several grades.
“That’s what we’ve been focusing on,” Packer said. “They practice right after we do and there is always a mess of kids running around.”
Packer said that Penn Hills’ girls team will have four or five wrestlers this season. Rena Clark is the lone returning wrestler from last season.