Gotta Love These Bullets

Bullet Wrestlers after the tournament and ready to head home. Great grit, determination and sportsmanship shown by all this weekend. Bullets move forward no matter win or loose. Go Bullets Go.

Sectional Pictures

Some intense expressions in these pictures. We need Bullet Wrestlers to bring this same drive, intensity and motivation to the three weekends of wrestling.  Looking forward to it all.

It's Not About Where You Have Been

A video for and about our 7 District Qualifiers.  Hope it gets everyone excited for great possibilities this weekend.  Enjoy.

Wrestle 'til the End

Sectional Results

 Seven Bullet Wrestlers will be competing at the District 3 Tournament next weekend in Hershey.  There were three Bullet champions today, all right in a row.  Cole Swackhamer at 160 lbs started it off, Pete Renda, at 170 lbs, kept it going and Adam Mackie, at 182 lbs, made it 3 in a row.  Dan Schmeck and Hunter Gimbor took 3rd place and both Lucas Reichard and Collin Conrad took 6th.  Adam Mackie earns Outstanding Wrestler after defeating another undefeated wrestler in finals.  Congratulations to all wrestlers.  There were some close hard fought matches today.

Sectional Champs!

Heading to Districts

Renda Heading to NC State - Take 2

Pete Renda and fellow BHHS senior Nina Klein were recognized today by Channel 69 for their intentions to play Division 1 athletics.  Nina Klein will head to the University of Connecticut to play field hockey.  As for Renda, he will be a Wolfpack member at North Carolina State University wrestling for Coach Popolizio.  Nice representation at the signing by fellow teammates, Coach Lovello, Athletic Director Bobby Kurzweg and Superindendent Handler.  Gotta love the support for Bullet Wrestling.  GBG.

The Man in the Arena

Great quote from Teddy Roosevelt (seen on the Garage Strength facebook page)...

 "It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly...who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who have never known neither victory nor defeat."

 Bullet wrestlers shall not be among the cold and timid souls! GBG

Jr High Wilson Tourney

Some of Our Future State Champs

Wrestling: the art of war

Mark Rappo is a senior wrestling for the University of Penn.  He is currently ranked 20th in the nation at 125 lbs.  His article, Wrestling: the art of War, was published last week in The Daily Pennsylvanian.  Rappo does a great job of describing what motivates him on a daily basis to compete in a grueling and demanding sport he was been doing since he was 5.  Whether or not it portrays the motives of all wrestlers, you can be the judge of that.

Enjoy.

Wrestling: the art of war by Mark Rappo

Thank You Sterners

New photos are available from our match against Governor Mifflin in the County Team Tournament and against Columbia in the last dual of the season. Thanks goes out to Shawn and Kim Sterner. Shawn is an ex-wrestler from Hamburg who now coaches for the Bullet Mat Club where his young sons are now wrestling. Both must have a great eye for a great wrestling pictures. The Bullet fans always like pictures that depict the strength, determination and spirit of our wrestlers. GBG.

Future Film Makers Document Bullet Wrestling

Alli Sterner and Olivia Schmeck have produced their first documentary highlighting a few of our Bullet Wrestlers and their aspirations for the post season wrestling.  Alli and Olivia are no strangers to wrestling, both coming from  "wrestling-centric" families.  Bullet Wrestling has some great fans and we are grateful that these two chose Bullet Wrestling as the subject of their documentary.  Keep up the good work.  We look forward to their next edition.

Laudation for Lovello

Nice article in the Reading Eagle recognizing our very own Coach Lovello!  Please check it out.

Sam Lovello: More than a Coach

The Mat Slap for a Reason

Well, this isn't called The Bullet Mat Slap for nothing!  According to the statistics kept at NWCAONLINE.com, our Bullet wrestlers earned a total of 118 pins during the dual meet season.  Given we only have 14 wrestlers on the team, that is very pretty impressive.  The pack is lead by Renda (21 falls), Schmeck (20 falls) and Mackie (18).  Second-year wrestler Chris Langston and freshman Hunter Gimbor also had an impressive 10 pins each.  Keep it going slappers!

Langston gets the pin.

Show Your Support!

Anybody want to add to their Bullet Wrestling spirit wear?  We have a few sweatshirts for sale for $25.  Please email locoparentis1225@aol.com and let them know you want to be dressed for success at the State tournament!  Go Bullets Go.

Road to Hershey

Now that the Bullet dual season is over, the wrestlers’ focus shifts to the pursuit for an individual state title in Hershey. For our fans new to wrestling, here is a summary of how wrestlers move on at each step.

PA is divided into 4 regions.  We are in the South East region which is comprised of District 1, 3, and 11.  We are in District 3. District 1 is close to Philly and District 11 is the Lehigh Valley area.   Geographically speaking, District 3 covers Berks County west toward Harrisburg and south toward the Maryland border.  There are 26 AA schools in District 3.  District 3 is split into 2 Sections, 13 schools in each.

This year the Sectional Tournament will be held at Hamburg High School on February 16.  BHHS will be joined by Hamburg, Kutztown, SV, Tulpy, Wyo, Annville-Cleona, Columbia. ELCO, Lancaster Catholic, Northern Lebanon, Pequa Valley and Bishop McDevitt high schools.  It’s a one day tournament and session 1 starts at 10:30am.  The top 6 wrestlers in each weight class advance to the District 3 tourney.

The District 3 tournament is always held in Hershey at the Old Arena.  Wrestling will start at 10am on Friday, February 22 and the champions are crowned on day 2, February 23.  All 16 District 3 schools that had wrestlers qualify will be represented.  It is a two day tournament with the top 5 wrestlers moving to the Regional Tournament. 

The Regional Tournament will be held at Wilson High School in Reading on March 1 and 2nd.  All qualifying wrestlers from District 1, 3 and 11 will be represented at the tournament.  The top 5 wrestlers from each weight class get to move on to the State Tournament in Hershey.  The size and the number of schools in the region determines how many wrestlers get to advance to the State tournament.  The South East Region gets to send the top 5 wrestlers from each weight class.

What a road but well worth the time to travel it.  GBG.

Thank You Alumni

Just a quick thanks to all the Alumni who came out for today's match against Columbia.  It looks like we had 52 Wrestling Alumni and Coaches attend the event.  We had 3 former wrestlers, Tom Weller, Nevin Behm and Jack Koehler, who all wrestled on the first team, before it was sanctioned by PIAA.  All decades were well represented however, the decades with the most wrestlers present was 1960 and 2000, each with 10 wrestlers present.  Given that nearly 400 wrestlers have come through the program, everyone needs to bring at least one more alumni wrestler to the festivities next year!  

Get connected.  Stay connected.  Cheers to 50 more years of Bullet Wrestling.

50 Years of Wrestling and Friendships

Today the Bullet Wrestling community celebrated 50 years of wrestling.  Back in 1962, wrestling was sanctioned by the PIAA as an official varsity sport.  The coach of the 1962 team, Carmine Panella, along with 50 Alumni and coaches were present for today's match against Columbia.  As the alumni were escorted in by some of of our youngest wrestlers from the BMC, each alumni's name was read.  Later on during the reception, individuals were recognized for being in the Hall of Fame, winning a State medal or being in the 100 wins club.  Brandywine holds the record with 31 former wrestlers with 100 plus wins!  Great friendships  were celebrated today.  Many victories were re-lived.

Coach Sam Lovello's 500th win earlier this year was recognized at the match when Athletic Director, Bobby Kurzweg awarded Coach Lovello a beautiful plaque commemorating the milestone.  Coach Lovello's son, also an Alumni, made a special award to his father.  The fans, including the Alumni, gave Coach a standing ovation.

The Bullets easily beat today's opponent ending the season with a 12-7 record.  (Wednesday's match against Governor Mifflin was cancelled.)  The team will now start preparing for the long road to the State Tournament in Hershey on March 7, 8, and 9th.  Starting Saturday, February 16, the Bullets will be wrestling every Saturday until the State Championships.  Check back often for updates.

Betty Gerlach was instrumental in bringing wrestling to
BHHS in 1960.

Hall of Famers
George Cherrie '78, Rick Hillegass '67, Robert Van Syckle '64, Sam Lovello, and Bruce Herman '80.

Previous State Medalists