He’s back!

After taking the last five years off, Jim McCabe is back at the helm of the Tamaqua wrestling program. McCabe initially started coaching the Raiders in 2001.

“Wrestling has always been my passion,” McCabe said. “Five years ago, my daughters were growing up too fast … I felt like I was short-changing my kids and short-changing the program. It was a hard decision, but probably one of the best I ever made. I spent those five years with my kids growing up.”

But things are different now than they were 16 years ago when McCabe started his first stint with the program.

“When I first took over the program back in 2001, there were some great wrestlers, but the numbers were low,” he said. “It took a while to bring things around, but this is a little bit different of a situation. There are good leaders and hard workers that are both young and old. That’s a good equation to have when you take over a program. The nucleolus is a positive attitude. They want to get better, and they have a feeling they have a good team.”

McCabe’s numbers are up, but he’ll have a ton of youth on his side.

Freshmen Michael Shlanta (106 pounds), Randy Steigerwalt (113), Caron Krell (152/160), and Nathan Wickersham (160) will all see action this season.

“Decent numbers and wrestlers can produce victories,” said McCabe. “And that’s what our goal is.”

Sophomores Caleb Sell and Pierce Demetriades (both 120/126 or 132) will both be in the mix. There are position battles at 170 and 182, which could be won by a host of different Raiders.

As for penciled-in upperclassmen, junior Khalid Holland (145) and senior Brandon Mader (138) will start and provide leadership.

“He’s extremely strong and has really good hips,” said McCabe of Holland. “If he can pole vault close to 13 feet, he has the core strength that a wrestler needs. The key to him is how to use all of the strength he has to be more efficient.”

The heavyweight spot belongs to Bronson Strouse (sophomore), who had an excellent season as a freshman.

“I’ve watched him wrestle at the regional tournament last year where he lost in the round to place by a point,” said McCabe. “He was in a situation to win the match, and a simple freshman mistake cost him the match; he was literally 10 seconds away. We worked on the mistake immediately. He’s a workhorse; he’s a 220-pounder that wrestles like he’s 126.”

McCabe’s numbers are up and he explained that everyone in the program is buying in. This could be a big season of valuable experience for the talented young Raiders, now that they finally have the bodies to fill each weight class.

“The whole thing is everyone in the room wants to ask questions and get better. That’s the key.”