CENTRAL CAMBRIA
 WRESTLING HISTORY

     A brief look at the history of Central Cambria wrestling:.
     In 1968, Mike, "Huff", Williams, then an assistant football coach at Central Cambria, received permission to start a wrestling program at the school. Coach Williams began the initial season combining Junior Varsity and Varsity matches, and the sport immediately spurred the interest of the local community.  Some of the wrestlers on that initial team included the likes of Jim Fagan, Jim Bobenage, George Gerber, and "Winnie" Scanlon.

Coach Mike, "Huff" Williams
     1969-70 was the first full Varsity season and the Red Devil grapplers responded quite well, compiling a 7-5 record. That year, Rich Vetock was added to the staff and George Gerber won the school's first "Outstanding Wrestler" award.
     The 1970-71 season showed a tremendous improvement as the CC grapplers attained a record of 11 wins and 2 losses. Fred Mazzarella was the recipient of the "Outstanding Wrestler" award. Mazzarella and Dan Novak each recorded 10 falls, and the Devils garnered first place in the Tri-County League Christmas Tournament, and also won the Tri-County- League Championship.
     The 1971-72 season saw a change in the coaching staff as Coach Williams accepted a position at Manheim Central High School, his alma mater, and his assistant, Rich Vetock, took over the reins of the team. The team had 2 Sectional Champs that season in Ron Holm and Scott, "Zippy", Rice.  Holm became the first wrestler in Central Cambria history to win a match in the District 6 tournament as he pinned Johnstown Vo-Tech's Al Mangus.

Coach Rich Vetock

     Rich Vetock coached until the 1976-77 season, registering a career mark of 36 wins, 38 losses and 2 ties.  Three of his wrestlers qualified for the state tournament. 

     Since retiring from the coaching ranks, he has kept active with the sport by serving as a District 6 statistician, public address announcer for District 6, scorekeeper for the PIAA State Wrestling Championships, and presently serves as the Web Site Editor for the PIAA State Championships. 

     He was also the publisher of the Pennsylvania Football News, the first and only weekly newspaper dedicated to high school football in Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania Football News since has switched to an on-line site dedicated to high school football in the Keystone State.      Vetock is presently the webmaster of the Pennsylvania Scholastic Football Coaches Association web site and developed the Central Cambria web site, one of the first high school website in the Keystone State, one that he still maintains to this day.

Coach Tom Vaux

The 1977-78 season saw the advent of the longest tenure of any Central Cambria wrestling coach, as Tom Vaux, former head coach at Saint Francis College was hired to supplant Rich Vetock as coach of the Devils. Coach Vaux retained Pat Stock as his assistant, and his tenure lasted until 1997. Coach Vaux compiled a record of 199 wins and 113 losses and 4 ties while coaching the Devils for 20 years. Coach Vaux produced 8 District 6 Champions, 3 Regional Champions, and 10 State Qualifiers, with Mark Brothers advancing 3 times to the state tourney. He compiled an overall record of 305 wins, 180 losses, and 8 ties during tenures at Warwick High School, St. Francis College and Central Cambria High School. On March 7, 1998, Coach Vaux was inducted into the Pennsylvania Wrestling Hall of Fame.

Coach Barry Gresh

The 1997-1998, season saw, yet another change as former UPJ All-American, Barry Gresh, took over the reins as the Red Devil mentor. It was a rebuilding year for Coach Gresh and his assistant, Bob Nikolishen, a former Central Cambria wrestler, as the Devils finished with a record of  7 wins and 10 losses. He coached from1997 to 2003 and compiled a record of 38 wins and 54 losses.

Coach John Strittmatter

     John Strittmatter, former Cambria Heights High School, Pitt-Johnstown All-American and National Champion took over the helm for the Red Devils in 2003. 

     He finished his first season with a record of 16-4 and topped it off with a District Six championship, edging Forest Hills by a half of a point.  It was the first District Six championship in school history! He had his first District champion in Stoney Dugan and qualified 8 wrestlers to the Southwest Regional Tournament.

     Coach Strittmatter's overall record after his fourth year was 50-17. He recently retired from coaching to dedicate more time helping his brother, Jody, with the Young Guns Wrestling Club.

Head Coach Mike George

Coach, Mike George, took over for Mike Marshall who resigned toward the end of the year. He is a  1994 graduate of Central Cambria where he wrestled for Coach TomVaux.

     Coach George attended California University of Pennsylvania and received a Masters of Science degree from Robert Morris University.

     He has coached wrestling in the past at the Central Cambria Middle School in 2002.

 

Head Coach Bob Nikolishen

     New Head Coach, Bob Nikolishen, takes over the helm at Central Cambria and is definitely looking ahead to the 2008-2009 season.

    Coach "Nik" Is a former Red Devil wrestler who wrestled for Coach Tom Vaux and was an assistant to Vaux from 1996 to 1999.  He started his wrestling career in the 4th grade and wrestled through his senior year at CCHS.

     He is a 1990 graduate of Central Cambria High School and a 1994 graduate of Indiana University of Pennsylvania where he attained a BS in Health and Physical Education. He is presently employed as a Health and Physical Education instructor in the Central Cambria School District

    Nikolishen is married to the former Jeannine Clawson. The couple have one son, Alek, age four.

    Coach Nikolishen, being a new head coach, hopes to contribute unity to his team, first and foremost.  He says,

"Central Cambria has a good wrestling tradition. They have always have a good group of coaches, fans, and parents. The program is on solid ground, and I just want to help to keep the program going strong.