The sports break during the COVID pandemic impacted many athletes in many different ways.

For high school wrestlers, especially those with ideas of winning 100 matches in their career, missing nearly all of the 2021 season put them way behind schedule.

Parkland’s Blake Dergham was one of them.

Dergham made the Trojans’ varsity line up as a freshman during that shortened season. He wrestled just nine matches and picked up seven wins.

But that just inspired Dergham to work harder over the next three seasons. He went 30-12 as a sophomore and added 34 more wins the next season.

This year he’s got 30 wins and 101 for his career, to go with just 35 losses. He crossed the milestone at last weekend’s PIAA Northeast Regional Championships with a decisive 15-0 win by technical fall over Father Judge’s Rickie Melendez.

“Felt really good, really good,” said Dergham, a young man of few words who lets his wrestling do the talking.

Parkland head coach Eddie Keichel has plenty to say about the first 100-win wrestler of his head coaching career and 28th in the history of the Parkland program.

“To only have that amount of wins freshman year then to rattle off 30-something, 30-something and 30-something the next three years is pretty impressive,” said Keichel. “He’s wrestled for Parkland since he was in kindergarten or first grade. Quiet, hardworking kid who keeps his nose to the grindstone and never complains, never gripes about anything and does what he’s supposed to do.

“Excels in the classroom. He was just LCTI Student of the Month. Was all-state for academics as a sophomore and a junior and will be as a senior.”

Dergham has done so well at LCTI that he is already working in his field as an HVAC technician for Deiter Brothers Fuel Company.

He spends one day each week in classes and works the other four days. While his teammates are in school, he’s out on the job before heading to practice.

“It’s a little tough to keep up with but once you figure it out it’s easier,” said Dergham.

During wrestling season he cut his hours from eight per day to five.

“As hardworking as you want,” Keichel said of Dergham. “He’s not sitting in a classroom all day. He’s out grinding and learning life skills and then coming in and wrestling.”

The 100-win milestone was just one career goal Dergham reached at regionals. He also qualified for his first state tournament, which gets underway Thursday in Hershey and culminates Saturday.

“Compete and see how close we get to the podium,” said Keichel. “That’s the goal – to be there Saturday evening standing on the podium. Take everything one match at a time.”