For almost all freshmen wrestlers in the WPIAL, hopes of a perfect career record disappear in a matter of days. <\/p>\n
History shows that a flawless four-year stretch is nearly impossible. But every once in a while there's an exception. <\/p>\n
With the WPIAL individual postseason set to begin Saturday, Kittanning sophomore 120-pounder and defending Class AA state champion Jason Nolf remains unbeaten with a 75-0 career record. His success serves as a reminder of those who never lost and those who came close. <\/p>\n
\"I haven't really thought about (the streak),\" said Nolf, who will wrestle in the Section 3-AA tournament next weekend. \"I don't really talk to anybody about it. I just go with it.\" <\/p>\n
Nolf is ranked No. 3 in the nation in his weight class by InterMat. Not surprisingly, he has a few gems on his resume. <\/p>\n
During a 44-0 freshman season, Nolf, wrestling at 103 pounds, defeated Bethlehem Catholic sophomore Darian Cruz, 2-1, in the ultimate rideout period of their PIAA semifinal match. Cruz was ranked the top 103-pounder in the country by USA Wrestling and InterMat earlier that season. <\/p>\n
In December, in the finals of Central Mountain High School's King of the Mountain tournament and the Southmoreland Holiday Classic, respectively, Nolf beat defending PIAA champions: Council Rock South senior Billy Rappo (103-pound title winner in Class AAA) and North Star senior Nick Roberts (112-pound winner in Class AA). Nolf defeated Rappo, 3-2, and prevailed, 11-6, in overtime against Roberts, a two-time state champion who, based on InterMat rankings, entered the match as the country's top-ranked 120-pounder. <\/p>\n
\"I really wasn't thinking about anything (long-term) because my dad was always telling me how tough it'd be,\" Nolf said, \"so I didn't know what it was going to be like.\" <\/p>\n
Between 1940 and 1961, three wrestlers went undefeated en route to four state titles -- the first was 1943 Waynesburg graduate Jim Conklin. None of the three wrestled more than 84 matches in their career, though. <\/p>\n
The standard for high school perfection in Pennsylvania went to another level in the early 1990s, when Jefferson-Morgan graduate Cary Kolat finished his career 137-0. He had 80 pins and 36 technical falls. According to a Sports Illustrated story on the four-time Class AA state champion, Kolat allowed just five reversals and never surrendered back points. <\/p>\n
\"The fans always went crazy if somebody was within three points,\" he said. \"You'd have thought I'd lost out there.\" <\/p>\n
Kolat, who wrestled in the 119-, 125-, 130- and 135-pound weight classes, won PIAA titles in 1989 through 1992 and was named Outstanding Wrestler each time. <\/p>\n
\"I didn't just want to be a great wrestler; I wanted to be the best,\" said Kolat, who remains the state's most recent undefeated four-time champion. \"And to be the best, you had to knock off some records along the way. If somebody won four titles, you had to win four titles in a more dominating fashion. ... I probably didn't focus on (the streak) as much as people would think. It didn't consume me.\" <\/p>\n
Before Kolat, the undefeated streak buzz belonged to North Allegheny's Ty Moore. <\/p>\n
Moore, who started as a 98-pound freshman in 1987, became the first wrestler in state history to win his first 100 matches. <\/p>\n
The streak lasted through his sophomore season, when he claimed a PIAA title at 105 pounds. But in the 112-pound finals of the 1989 WPIAL Class AAA tournament, Moore, a junior, finally lost, as his 105th bout went to Connellsville's Jeff Stepanic, who won, 4-3, after trailing by two with 30 seconds left. <\/p>\n
\"At that moment, I wasn't thinking it would be a positive,\" said Moore, who considered Stepanic a friend. \"It kind of got the monkey off my back, though.\" <\/p>\n
Moore finished with record of 146-1 and won four state titles. <\/p>\n
\"For me, at least, (the loss) happened at the right time,\" he said. \"I don't know if I would've won the state title if I hadn't lost in the WPIAL finals. It was a good smack in the head that made me realize that if you take care of the small details, everything else will work out.\" <\/p>\n
McGuffey's Jeff Breese joined the ranks of the elite when he went 41-0 on the way to a PIAA title as a 103-pound freshman in 1999. But, during the fall of his sophomore year, he tore his right ACL while playing soccer, and the dream of a perfect record began to derail. <\/p>\n
Breese decided to rehabilitate his knee rather than undergo surgery. He headed into the season opener against Keystone Oaks with a brace. <\/p>\n
\"I just needed to know,\" Breese said. \"I'd gone through all of practice up to the first dual of the year fine. The doctor basically told me it was a 50-50 shot.\" <\/p>\n
Breese had a comfortable lead over Keystone Oaks' Jim Regan when his knee gave out. The pain was too much to bear. Breese lost by injury default and sat out the rest of the season. He finished his career with two PIAA championships and a 103-9 record. <\/p>\n
\"There's a lot of luck that goes with being good,\" Breese said. \"No matter how hard you work at something, there's no guarantee that just because you did everything right, you're going to get what you want. The other guy is trying, too, and probably has done everything right, too.\" <\/p>\n
There's no way to predict Nolf's fate. As Moore, Breese and others know, the path toward perfection twists and turns. But Kolat isn't sure why his accomplishment remains so rare. <\/p>\n
\"I kind of thought someone would've come along and duplicated it by now,\" Kolat said. \"It's probably only a matter of time before it's broken.\" <\/p>\n
More Leader Times Sports headlines<\/p>\n
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\nKittanning sophomore faces difficult path to immortality<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"