By ERIC KNOPSNYDER
HERSHEY — The area is certainly a heavyweight when it comes to lightweights.
North Star’s Nick Roberts won the 103-pound title at the PIAA Wrestling Championships on Saturday afternoon, beating Penn Cambria’s Evan Link for the title.
Josh Polacek of Westmont Hilltop won his consolation-final bout, giving the area the top three spots at the weight class.
“We had the best 103 region in the state,” Roberts said after his 4-1 victory over Link. “I knew it was going to be the top three in the state.”
Roberts took a 1-0 lead over Link with a second-period escape and then padded it with three backpoints early in the third period. Link sat out and tried to reach back for Roberts’ head, but the North Star freshman chinned him back for the nearfall points.
“He likes to do the sit-out, so I knew it was coming,” Roberts said. “I was thinking of something in my head, and it just came to me, and I hit it. It worked out perfectly.”
Link escaped with 32 seconds left, but couldn’t come close to erasing the deficit.
The Penn Cambria sophomore said he tightened up under the pressure of the finals, which are broadcast live on television and in front of a crowd of several thousand at the Giant Center.
“I stayed back, and my nerves got to me again,” Link said.
“I didn’t wrestle my best, and he deserves to win.”
North Star coach Pat Berzonski was confident Roberts could have pulled out the victory even if he didn’t score the three backpoints.
“Nick has a tendency to wear people down,” Berzonski said.
“Even if the escape comes there, Nick has a tendency to just keep plugging away.”
Roberts finished his freshman season with a 32-6 record, winning District 5 and Southwest Regional titles before adding the PIAA championship. He became the first North Star wrestler to capture a state title since another 103-pounder, Kyle Szewczyk, did it in 1997.
Roberts will have a chance to repeat as a sophomore, and he plans to be at 103 pounds again.
After winning national titles in freestyle and Greco-Roman as an 84-pounder in the summer, Roberts didn’t really expect to add a PIAA championship to his collection.
“I thought I was a little too small to wrestle the weight,” he said.
“But after I started getting rolling in the postseason, I thought it was a good possibility I could do it.”
Link said he expects to move up to 112 pounds next season, but for now the local wrestlers reign supreme at 103.
“It shows that we’re the best in the state,” Polacek said. “It’s kind of hard to take that in, that I’ve been wrestling these guys since I was 10 years old and we’re the best in the state.”
