Northampton Area High School junior Gabe Ballard was driven to return to the Giant Center this week to capture his first PIAA Class 3A state wrestling championship after losing in last year’s final to Bethlehem Catholic’s Keanu Dillard.
But it wasn’t going to be at 127 pounds where Dillard prevailed 8-2 for his third straight state championship.
“During Christmas (last year), I went up to 135, and I had no idea that I was going to grow an inch-and-a-half,” Ballard recalled. “So, I was continually just being up in the 140s trying to get back down to 129. It was not really good. I definitely was a little slow last year in the finals because we weighed in at 131 that morning, and I was already 146, 147 (by match time)…