Second-year coach Ed Labatch is well on his way to bringing the Southern Lehigh wrestling team to success. This year more wrestlers came out for the team than in years past and they are beginning to face more competitive programs throughout the year.

There are currently twenty-one wrestlers on the team. A total of six football players have decided to come out for the team this season, four of whom are seniors. This helps Coach Labatch’s program go in the right direction.

“Coach definitely knows how to make a strong bond between himself and the team in order to help us out in the best way possible,” senior Anthony Colasurdo said. “As well as knowing his stuff about the sport, he loves to joke around with the rest of us.”

Since Coach Labatch arrived, he has offered off-season open mat sessions during the summer and fall in order to maximize the level the team plays at.

“I think that the team has improved because we have some returning upperclassmen who are coming back this year, such as myself, Alex Baca, and Tony Colasurdo,” senior Wyatt Noone said. “I think that with the new seniors that we got this year, [they] will help us with the heavier weight classes and complete our lineup.”

This season the team competed in the Battle in Bethlehem Duals, where they faced Freedom, Stroudsburg, East Stroudsburg South, Neshaminy, and La Salle College High School.

“Our goal as a program is [to] continually improve, [and] wrestling against tough competition is one way our program will be able to achieve our goals,” Coach Labatch said. “This competition level will prepare our wrestlers for competition at the end of the season, the District 11 tournament,”

During the Christmas break, the team earned second place in the Jim Thorpe Holiday Tournament, behind Williams Valley. Noone (170) and fellow senior Josh Mohr (195), along with sophomore Nathan Derby (132), won individual titles for the Spartans. The program is currently 5-10, winning over LaSalle College High School (43-42), Salisbury (66-12), Palmerton (48-27), and East Penn Conference opponents Central Catholic (51-30) and Whitehall (37-36).

“Increasing numbers is a positive sign that we as a team and program are doing the right things,” Coach Labatch said. “The more student-athletes that decide to join the wrestling program, the more successful our team can be.”