After sustaining a season-ending foot injury during football, Mike Weaver has spent the first month of the wrestling season working to get back into condition.
The Panther Valley junior 160-pounder is showing signs of rounding back into form, flattening Upper Dauphin's James Lesh Wednesday night to put the exclamation point on the host Panthers' 39-24 victory over the Trojans in the Schuylkill League Division II opener for both teams.
With four-time division champion Mount Carmel now a member of the Heartland Conference, the Schuylkill II race is wide open. The Panthers (5-8 overall) are off to a good start in the chase after capturing eighth bouts to get the best of the Trojans (3-3), who were wrestling away from their Elizabethville home for the first time this season.
The Panthers picked up five falls in the process. The Trojans' only bonus points came from a pair of forfeits, as PV was missing heavyweight Nick German to go with a regular vacancy at 119.
The lightweights have been the Panthers' strength, and from 103-130 they won four of five bouts to turn a 9-9 deadlock into a 30-15 advantage.
Freshmen Len Ogozalek (10-6) started the run when he used an arm bar to toss Brandon Herb (4-6) onto his back en route to the mat slap at 1:07.
"That was a big win for us," said Panther Valley coach Tim Robb. "Lenny's at 103 but he on