'99-00 SCHEDULE

Dec. 4 -- at Mountaineer Tournament    16 -- Jamestown    18 -- at Lewistown Tournament    21 -- Hickory    Dec. 29-30 -- Manheim Invitational Jan. 6 -- at Grove City    7-8 -- Tool City, Meadville    11 -- at Sharpsville    13 -- Mercer    18 -- Comm Perry    20 -- Greenville    22 -- Ultimate Duals, Brookville (Northern Lehigh, Ridgway)    25 -- Sharon    27 -- at Erie Prep Feb. 1 -- at Kennedy Christian

By The Herald Sports Staff

In the last two years Reynolds won a Class AA state team title and finished third last year. That's a tough act to follow for most schools, but the Raiders thrive on the tradition of "passing the baton" to the next group.

"We lost some top-notch individuals," said coach Brian Hills, "but we have a good nucleus returning. We're filling in holes with guys who are coming back."

There are some big holes to fill. Jason Nestor and Steve Popovitch, a pair of two-time state place-winners, won 137 and 133 matches respectively over four years for the Raiders. Doug Woods, Chris Reynolds and Jon Hollobaugh also played key roles in the outstanding season that saw the Raiders repeat as Section 3-A, District 10 and Northwest Regional champions.

But back are state place-winners Jerry Kendall, a junior, and Justin Nestor, a sophomore. In only two years Nestor has a 73-10 record and is on pace to break the Mercer County all-time career victory record of 143 set by Grove City's two-time state champ Tom Tomeo. Also back is regional runner-up Justin Hollobaugh, a sophomore, and regional qualifier Rocky Habel, junior who went to state in 1998.

As they say, at Reynolds they don't rebuild ‹ they reload! The Raiders will be loading up with several young matmen who had success on the junior level.

"We're looking real good," said Hills. "Some kids really improved over last year and we had some kids come back out that weren't out (for the team) last year. We're going to shape up as we go."

The Raiders will open at 103 with sophomore Chris White, who's being challenged by freshman Channing Burnett and sophomore Willie Saviolli. At 112 is Kendall, who's backed by sophomores Mike Emmett and Tom Saviolli and junior Rob Sennett.

Josh Cilas, junior letterman, will fill the 119 slot, while senior letterman Matt Jordan is at 125. Justin Hollobaugh will be at 130, backed by senior Kevin Thomas. At 135, there's a lot of competition between junior Dylan Middleton and sophomores Mike Goodmote, Ryan Kimmy and Tyler Middleton.

Habel will be at 140, pushed by sophomore John Svirbly. Junior letterman David May, a district qualifier last season, will be at 145, pushed by freshman Joel Davis. Junior letterman Willie Allison is slotted at 152.

Justin Nestor will start the season at 160, backed by sophomore Nick Muscarella and senior Josh McCloskey. Junior Nate Kimmy has the inside track at 171, but he's being challenged by freshman Michael Hills (coach's son), sophomore Nate Lucas and senior Louis Isenberg. Senior Chad Geiger is at 189, with senior letterman Mike Jones and senior Jim Woods vying for the 275 role.

"We have better balance than some years," said Hills. "All the kids are in-between weights, so we can move guys around.

"We don't have as many great individuals as some years, but I'm confident with this group. They can be as good as they want to be.

"We're real short on seniors, but we have a good nucleus of sophomores and juniors. I'm pretty enthused."

One of the goals of Hills is to win the Mercer County Athletic Conference title again and get a spot in the PIAA State Dual Meet Championships. The Raiders didn't fare as well as Hills would have liked in the tournament's initial year, losing out to Fort LeBouef for the D-10 title and missing inter-district action.

As far as the PIAA state individual tournament, Hills said, "Wyalusing (defending champ) is loaded, but we've got some kids who can make some noise."

Again the Raiders wrestle a rugged tournament schedule at Lewistown, Manheim and Tool City (Meadville) plus will return to the Ultimate Duals in Brookville where they're slated to meet Northern Lehigh and Ridgway.

Assisting Hills with the varsity are coaches John Tofani, Casey Taylor and Brian Nestor, while junior high coaches are Aaron Armer, Bill Foore and Bob Habel. Elementary mentors are Rick Stoyer, Ron Beckman, Keith Dawes, Matt Nestor, Paul Kulka, Scott Nottingham, Frank D'Urso and others.