This Faith Christian freshman is named best in Bucks County area boys wrestling
He backed up all of the hype in style.
Entering his freshman season at Faith Christian, Joey Bachmann had already accomplished plenty.
He'd won a gold medal at the under-17 Pan-American Games last summer and then placed third at the World Championships in Turkey shortly thereafter.
Then came his first season in Pennsylvania and the 107-pounder made the most of it.
All Bachmann did was go undefeated, winning every big tournament you can name (Beast of the East, Walsh Ironman, Escape The Rock) before capping things off with a dynamic performance in his first trip to Hershey.
More: We name the best of the Bucks County area with our boys all-star wrestling team
Faith Christian's Bachmann soars in Hershey
At the PIAA Class 2A Championships, he picked up two technical falls en route to the finals and then handed Chestnut Ridge's Dominic Deputy his first loss of the season in 50 matches to claim the gold medal.
It all added up to Bachmann being named the Courier Times/Intelligencer Wrestler of the Year.
"Joey was as good as advertised," Faith Christian head coach Ben Clymer said.
Bucks County's best off to Hershey: Big group of Bucks County wrestlers punch ticket to PIAA state tournament in Hershey
"Everyone expected him to come in and dominate because of what he'd already done before high school and that's what he did."
Big shoes to fill: Council Rock South's Trey Balasco is our Bucks County area wrestling Coach of the Year
Big numbers for Faith Christian's Bachmann
Bachmann finished 38-0 with eight pins, 15 technical falls and five major decisions. And, he's looking for more.
Some changes needed to PIAA tournament: PIAA wrestling: Bucks County girls part of history, but some changes need to be made
Back-to-back for Faith Christian: We have a familiar name winning Bucks County area wrestling Team of the Year. See who it is
"One of my goals is to win four (PIAA) championships," Bachmann said. "That won't be easy because there are a lot of really good wrestlers (in the state), but that's what I'm going to try to do.
"I just love wrestling and I wrestle all the time and always try to get better."
Drew Markol: dmarkol@theintell.com; @dmarkol
This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: This freshman who won PIAA title is Bucks County area Wrestler of Year
