The 2022-23 Northern Garrett Husky Wrestling team finished the Dual season with an impressive 25 wins and one loss record finishing as the 1A runner-up. The State rankings have Northern Garrett as the No 6 team in the entire state including private schools, 4A,3A,2A, and 1A .
Two private schools are at the top, then perennial power South Carroll that beat us for the Dual Championship, and then debatably two of the bigger schools. During the season the Huskies went 5 wins, all by rout, and one loss against the top 20 ranked teams in the state. The team beat a private school, the 4A third place school, the 3A runner up, and absolutely obliterated every local team in the area.
The team won the Manchester Valley dual tournament and the Max Horz Christmas Tournament in Berkeley Springs and placed 4th out of 32 teams all but us from PA in the Bedford Tournament. South Carroll beat us for the State Championship 46 to 30. South Carroll has four seniors with division one scholarships including two to the University of Maryland. They sent 8 kids to the championship round this weekend and won four individual state championships as well so we have nothing to hang our heads over and plan on coming right back at them next year again!
Our team was led by two amazing men as their coaches. They are dedicated, exceptional wrestlers themselves who really know how to connect with the young men and bring the best out of them on the mats and in life. We are truly blessed to have both of them leading the program.
Eight seniors were the backbone of the squad led by all everything Jacob Brenneman. Jacob has accepted a full scholarship to continue his athletic and academic career at Edinboro University in northwest PA. To my knowledge, he is the only athlete to ever receive such a scholarship from a division one school in Northern High history. Jacob won the individual state title making him our only four-time state champ!!! He also finished with multiple other accolades including winning the prestigious Thomas Chevrolet Bedford Tournament twice.
The rest of the senior gang was also unbelievable! Austen Slaybaugh, just a two-year member of the high school and team was the spiritual leader and piled up a lot of wins for the Huskies. Austin Ravenscroft has wrestled for 27 years (ok just 12 ) in the mat club and high school program and collected one giant pile of wins. Jake Beeman also wrestled 26 years (I think 11) and also collected a lot of wins and many very key ones that decided matches earlier in his career. Colby Clark wrestled many years in the club and will be remembered with his key W that led to the 2022 state runner-up team dual result after a big win against Williamsport. Scott Beitzel wrestled for three years with the program and placed in the state tournament twice. An amazing, natural athlete. Jayden and Erick both wrestled two years and both progressed an incredible amount.
I know Coach Kamp would have loved to have these guys in camp as freshmen. No telling the end result. Jayden was a gritty, tough, and strong young man with many match wins and tournament placing and Erick perhaps made the teams biggest sacrifice getting down into the 220 weight class with an entire year of work enabling us to fill out the roster. This group will be tough to replace for sure!
Individually, we had the following state placers:
Champion- Jacob Brenneman
Third place – Nate Wilhelm
Fourth place- Mathew Beitzel, Caleb Brenneman, and Scott Beitzel
Sixth place- Devon Opel
At Bedford
Jacob Brenneman Champion
Placing at Bedford were Nate, Caleb, Austin Ravenscroft, Mathew Beitzel, Jared Graham, and Jake Beeman.
Wrestlers reaching 40 plus wins on the year were Jacob and Nate
Wrestlers reaching 30 or more wins included Mathew, Devon, Austin R, Caleb, Jared, Nick Riley, Jayden , Scott , and Beeman
Having been around the High School for many decades, (I started in 7th grade there in the 70s) this team is certainly in the top tier of all accomplishments considering the competition that Coach Kamp searched out and the final results that were produced by ALL! Individually, Jacob Brenneman has been the hardest-working and most successful athlete ever in my time.
Congratulations to all. An incredible season!!! Already looking forward to next year We have a great nucleus of young men coming back and we are looking for a few more to join this elite squad! Let’s Gooo Husky Grapplers!
In closing Coach Kamp and Wilhelm wanted me to sincerely thank our fan base. At every event, we brought the largest and certainly the most rabid contingent! Tremendous family of fans. We thank you and all of our supporters.
