High School Wrestling: Tide, Vikings have new head coaches

Curt Woodford takes over has head coach at Williams Valley, beginning his second stint as the Vikings' head man.

Pottsville and Williams Valley will have new men at the helm this season.

Brad Leonard takes over the Crimson Tide wrestling program for Gary Keener, who stepped down after going 160-51 (.758) in 11 seasons as head coach. Keener led Pottsville to seven Schuylkill League Division I championships and seven Schuylkill League Tournament team titles.

“I’m pretty excited,’’ Leonard said at Schuylkill League Wrestling Media Day. “I’ve known them the last 12-13 years as part of the program, so I know everybody wrestling here. We’ve been putting time in in the offseason.

“I think a lot of teams think that Pottsville has fallen off,’’ Leonard added, “that we’re not going to be as good as we’ve been in the previous years. So coming into this season, go out there, have fun and surprise a lot of people.’’

At Williams Valley, Woodford returns to first chair on the bench. He spent eight seasons as the Vikings’ head coach, the last in 2011-12, but has been helping the program between then and now. Woodford teaches business courses at Williams Valley High School.

He takes over for Matt Dietrich, who coached the Vikings for six seasons. Williams Valley went 7-10 overall, 3-2 in Division II last season.

 “I had an itch (to coach),’’ Woodford said at media day. “I was in practices last year, and I’ve been helping out over the years.

“(Athletic Director) Benny (Ancheff) asked me, and I finally decided to say yes, and it was time again,’’ Woodford added. “I enjoy doing it. I enjoy being around the kids.’’

The rest of the league features a mixture of veteran head coaches and younger coaches in the early stages of building their respective programs.

For example, Jim McCabe is entering his 20^th season coaching at Tamaqua, and Dave Boltz begins his 22^nd at Tri-Valley.

Other established coaches include North Schuylkill’s Corey Fetterolf (8^th season) and Schuylkill Haven’s Dave Osatchuck (9^th season).

On the newer side, Pine Grove’s co-head coaches Paul Frantz and Josh Hewes begin their second season sharing coaching duties.

Mahanoy Area’s Nathan Fegley (4^th season) and Blue Mountain’s Alex Gosch and Panther Valley’s Kris Nalesnik (both in 3rd season) have their programs trending up. Jacob Herring opens his second season coaching the Pine Grove girls.

Practices began Nov. 15. The first official playing date is Nov. 29.