Penn-Trafford notebook: Wrestlers look ahead to postseason tournaments

By: Paul Schofield
Sunday, January 28, 2024 | 11:01 AM

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After falling to Norwin on Jan. 24 in the regular-season finale, coach Larry Hohman brought the Penn-Trafford wrestling team together and laid out the game plan for the rest of the season.

“It’s all up to them,” Hohman said. “Now they have to get healthy and get ready for individuals. They’ve set goals. Now let’s see if they can accomplish them.”

Penn-Trafford fell, 53-11, to Norwin. It was a match Hohman didn’t feel his team competed well enough in.

“There were things we left out of the mat,” Hohman said. “There were four or five matches that should have been different.”

The Warriors were missing two starters — Hayden Coy and Dylan Clayton.

Coy has missed much of the season with what he described as a foot injury.

“I’ll be ready for individuals,” Coy said. “I came back a week ago and tweaked it in the Mid-Winter Mayhem.”

Coy, Dylan Barrett and Tasso Whipple all qualified for states last year.

P-T skaters stumble

After winning back-to-back games early in January, the Penn-Trafford hockey team dropped three consecutive games.

They fell to Thomas Jefferson (5-1), Fox Chapel (10-7) and South Fayette (4-3 in overtime).

Aiden Drotos scored four goals in the loss to Fox Chapel and Bryce Kropczynski had a goal and three assists.

Drotos has scored five goals in three games.

The Warriors are 6-9 with their next game scheduled for Feb. 1 at South Fayette. They play host to North Hills on Feb. 6.

P-T rifle falls

Penn-Trafford rifle team saw its record fall to 5-4 with consecutive close losses to Butler and Woodland Hills .

The Warriors were scheduled to host Hempfield on Jan. 30 and Mt. Pleasant on Feb. 1.

Norwin for openers

The WPIAL hasn’t announced the new conference or schedules for the 2024 and 2025 football seasons, but it looks likely that Penn-Trafford and Norwin will play in Week Zero.

Norwin and Penn-Trafford were in the same Class 5A conference the past two seasons, but Norwin is one of the teams moving back to Class 6A the next two seasons.

Paul Schofield is a TribLive reporter covering high school and college sports and local golf. He joined the Trib in 1995 after spending 15 years at the Daily Courier in Connellsville, where he served as sports editor for 14 years. He can be reached at pschofield@triblive.com.

Tags: Penn-Trafford