Fitch’s Pankewicz enjoying his senior season

The Fitch wrestler is one win away from reaching the state tournament.

By ERIC HAMILTON

VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT

MASSILLON — During his high school athletic career, Fitch High’s Josh Pankewicz has never really considered himself a wrestler. But now that he needs just one more victory to advance to next week’s state tournament, he’s starting to reconsider.

A four-year letterman in football, Pankewicz took a winter off last year to concentrate on hitting the weights for his senior football season. He had wrestled his freshman and sophomore years, mainly just to stay in shape for football.

But when Fitch’s 2007 football season didn’t go as well as he had hoped, Pankewicz decided to hit the wrestling room for one more go-around. That turned out to be a rewarding decision.

“I didn’t know I was going to wrestle this year,” Pankewicz said. “But after football had a bad season, I didn’t want to go out like that, so I decided to try to have a successful wrestling season. I knew with the kids we had in the room and good coaches to push me, I had a chance to do well.

“Not having wrestled last year, I don’t feel the pressure to do something great. My goal, just like every wrestler, was to go to state, but I really wanted to be part of something successful. And our team is really unbelievable. We’ve really worked each other hard.”

Pankewicz, who never made it out of sectionals his first two seasons, has made the most of his last chance.

Competing in the wide open 160-pound weight class at Massillon Perry on Friday, he put himself in great position to advance to state. He advanced to the semifinals with two victories and now must win just one of two bouts today to move on.

“It feels great,” Pankewicz said. “At the beginning of the season, it felt like it was far away, but right now it’s within my reach. I need to win my next match and I’m set. After taking a year off, I guess I got lucky and fell into the right weight class.”

Pankewicz comes from a wrestling family, as his three brothers – J.J., Chris and Nick – all wrestled in high school. If he makes it to state, he’d be the fourth one to achieve that milestone. J.J. made it to Columbus for Fitch, while Chris and Nick qualified for Canfield.

Josh is hoping to become the second of the four to place in Columbus, after Nick finished fourth in 1996. He says there isn’t much a sibling rivalry because Nick is rooting for him.

“I just want him to be proud of me,” Josh said. “He’s a coach so he really pushes me and tries to get me to do the best I can.”

Nick, an assistant wrestling coach under Fitch mentor Brett Powell, has seen his kid brother succeed this season and is loving every minute of it.

“I’m really proud of him,” Nick said. “We tried to get him to wrestle last year, but his heart just wasn’t in it. This year, we left it up to him and we weren’t sure, but first day of practice he was there with his shoes on and ready to go. I’m glad he decided to do it.

“We always knew he had the potential to be a great wrestler. He really deserves to be successful because he’s worked hard. To see him go to state would be fantastic and it would be a great way to end his high school career.”

Josh’s athletic career in college is still up in the air, but he’s open to the opportunity of playing football at the Division III level. In the meantime, he’s focused on finishing high school on a positive note.

“Football is my favorite sport, but I want to finish wrestling strong,” he said. Who knows, maybe if wrestling goes real well, I might wrestle somewhere, too.”