It seems like only yesterday that Justin Petersen was walking off the mat at the Giant Center in Hershey, ending his Palmerton High School wrestling career at the PIAA Championships.

Petersen, who came back to his alma mater as an assistant after graduating from the University of Albany, was hired as head coach this fall when Dave Lavin decided to resign to accept a job in private industry. And despite low numbers, Petersen hopes to see some of his wrestlers walk off the mat at Hershey to end their careers like he did."At first it seemed like an easy decision," Petersen said when asked about taking over. "Then I stepped back and thought about it a little bit and looked at the pros and cons. I really enjoyed being an assistant here and being an assistant here in football and wrestling, it turned out to be an easy choice."It was a quick turnaround; I didn't know what to expect right away, but once I got my feet underneath me and got going, I really like it a lot."Petersen sees some potential state qualifiers on this year's roster in Zack Christman, who saw his seasons end a couple of weeks before districts last year with a torn ACL. Zack was 23-5 at the time and had all eyes set on Hershey.Another is Zach Graver, also a senior, who wants to return to states after qualifying as a sophomore.Last year's state qualifier, Josh Evans, is now wrestling at Eastern Michigan."We had 13 kids on the varsity roster, and we're going to have two freshmen go down to junior high, so we're going to end up with 11," Petersen said when talking about the turnout. "I'm happy with the 11 we do have. We're going to give up forfeits in the lightweights, but we have a solid core of kids. I think we can be a solid individual tournament team, and we'll compete in dual meets because we have some kids who will get us some bonus points."Looking at the roster, the Bombers won't have anyone until the 132-pound weight class, so they'll have to give up four forfeits. Petersen is hopeful there will be some guys who will be dropping down and filling some of those spots.Dan Russo will be the team's 132-pounder, who Petersen has as one of the captains this year, along with Christman and Graver. Russo finished .500 last year, took sixth at districts, and with the extra spot at districts, Petersen feels he is a good candidate to get to regionals.At 138 is another senior in Brandon Trauger, who wrestled at 120 last year and has gotten a little bigger and stronger.Right now, Andrew Ringler is at 145 and has gotten a little bigger and stronger. Ringler had a disappointing end to the season last year with a concussion but was showing a lot of promise. Ringer, a sophomore, took third at Junior High Districts two years ago as an eighth-grader.At 152, Matt Wolfe will fill the bill. Wolfe, who was at 182 last year, lost a lot of weight over the summer, and Petersen said he looks good.At 160, the Bombers have Mike Christenson right now. Christensen is out for the first time as a senior and comes off the football field to joint squad. He's inexperienced, but Petersen is anxious to see him compete.At 170, is Christman, who Petersen feels can do a lot of damage with his style. Christmas made it to regionals as a sophomore, so big things are expected from him.Graver moves in at 182 pounds and is another senior. He had a short end to the season last year and had some tough matchups in the postseason, but has been itching to get back to states.At 195, Jared Mooney will be there. He's another tough kid who had double-digit wins as a freshman.Sophomore John Iles is at 220 pounds and is getting stronger and more experience. Petersen sees improvement in him every day.Heavyweight is newcomer Jericho Berger, who is pushing 285 and will have to lose a few pounds, but Petersen says he has good feet and is a good athlete for his size."As a team, I don't want to give up on the dual meet season," Petersen said. "I don't want our kids to go into the year thinking I'm only doing this for myself. I still preach the team aspect. The last three years, we made it to district duals. That's something that was unheard of here before. And I'd like to keep that going."