In their first official match of the season, the Emmaus wrestlers had a strong showing in the lower weight classes and then hung on for a victory when the upper weight classes hit the mat. The result was a 29-27 win over Freedom to put the Hornets at 1-0 on the season.

After Mac Lawrence picked up a 7-1 win at 152 pounds, Emmaus led 23-3, but things got tougher from there, with Freedom picking up a win by forfeit at 160 and then getting two straight decisions to make it 23-5. Thomas Alcaro picked up a fall at 3:02 of his 195-pound match to give Emmaus a 29-15 and some desperately needed points. After Alcaro's win, Freedom picked up two straight falls to continue the comeback, which came up a little short.

Besides the fall by Alcaro, Lucas Schaf (113 pounds) and Taylor Schaf (126 pounds) each picked up major decisions and Jacob Younger won his 132-pound match by fall. A key win for Emmaus came at 145 where Jansen Grabowski gutted out a 3-2 win to garner some key points for his team.

Coming into the match against Freedom, coach Jeff Arbushites had done some math and saw that the match could go either way, so he needed to employ a little strategy very early on.

"I had it anywhere from a three-point match in our favor to a nine-point match in their favor," said Arbushites. "I'll be honest with you. If you want to talk about key matches, it started right at 113, which was actually the 106 pound match. Once they didn't weigh in with a kid at 106, I used that to my advantage and pushed the lineup up and went with no contest at 106."

The move took points off the board, but allowed Emmaus to shift its whole lineup and Arbushites saw a way that his wrestlers could pull off at least seven wins, which he figured would garner enough team points to win the match.

With their first LVC match of the season completed, Emmaus headed to the Battle at the Beach Tournament in Delaware this past weekend. The meet pits wrestlers from Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia and when Emmaus competed there last season, they came home with a fourth-place finish. This season, Emmaus placed eighth, but had some nice individual showings, including a third-place finish by Alcaro at 195 pounds. Senior Gordan Daichendt placed fourth at 152 pounds, while Lucas Schaf (106), Cole Franklin (138) and Grabowski (145) all finished fourth. Jacob Younger (132) and Mike Montgomery (220) both placed eighth.

Lucas Schaf is off to a big start to his high school wrestling career. The freshman took home a first place finish in the Saucon Valley Invitational to start his season, picked up a big win against Freedom and then pulled off a fourth place finish at the Battle at the Beach.

"I'll tell you what, it's a pleasure [to have Schaf on the team]. He is a true blue-chip freshman," Arbushites said. "Saying that, he's got a lot of work to do and a long way to go at this level. However, I love his attitude, I love his work ethic and I love his motor."

For Schaf, the first place finish at Saucon Valley was a little surprising, but not completely unexpected. After all, Schaf is planning big things for his first season as a high school wrestler.

"I'm hoping to win districts, maybe go to states and do well and wrestle hard there," said Schaf.

When Arbushites learned of Schaf's lofty goals, he didn't see them as being out of reach. In fact, it was pretty much what he would expect from a wrestler of Schaf's caliber.

"That's good. That's what I like to hear from my wrestlers," said Arbushites. "We haven't really talked about postseason, we focus on the next match. But for him to have that goal isn't out of line at all. He could very well do it."

Wrestling at the lowest weight class, Schaf is the leadoff guy for the team, but he doesn't feel any pressure in being the first guy out there.

"I just go out and wrestle my hardest and hope for the best," he said.