It was a memorable weekend for South Fayette's Carr family at the Eastern Area Wrestling Tournament, which took place Dec. 11-12 at Gateway High School.

Nick Carr, a junior, won the 152-pound title with a convincing 12-5 win against Penn-Trafford's Jake Matthews. His younger brother, Seth, a freshman, made his varsity debut with a fourth-place finish at 103 pounds.

"It's different having him on the team with me," said Nick Carr, after accepting his gold medal. "I've watched Seth for years at youth tournaments. Now he's on the varsity team with me."

Carr had some words of wisdom for his younger brother.

"I told him that these kids are going to be stronger and that he has to keep good positioning," he said. "I told him not to force anything and wait for your opponent to make mistakes."

Seth Carr posted a 2-2 record in the 103-pound weight class. His losses were to the eventual champion, Penn-Trafford's Willie Bohince, and Erie McDowell's Paul Deitz.

"Seth has a lot to learn, but did a great job in his debut," South Fayette coach Michael Ladick said. "Having Nick as a mentor has really helped. He has a bright future ahead of him."

Nick Carr posted a 4-0 record in the 152-pound weight class and advanced to the finals for the second year in a row.

"Nick lost to Kiski Area's Mike McCutcheon in last year's finals," Ladick said. "He redeemed himself in this year's finals."

Nick Carr dominated the title match.

"It was nice to see Nick come in and wrestle his best match of the weekend in the finals," Ladick said. "It was a tough bracket. There were six seeds and Nick came out on top. He did a really good job. Nick has really matured since last year at this time."

Nick Carr had last year's match with McCutcheon in mind as he wrestled Matthews in the title match.

"I made a mistake last year and it cost me," he said. "I loosened up for a second and he caught me and pinned me.

He recorded six takedowns against Matthews.

"I knew [Matthews] was good on the bottom so I just kept letting him up. My strength is in the neutral position, so I felt more comfortable on my feet. I kept letting him up because I didn't want to make the same mistake I made last year."

Nick Carr got stronger as the match went on.

"He got frustrated and started pressing," Carr said. "That allowed me to take shots more easily. I just lowered my level, shot and took him down. I did that six times. They were easy takedowns."

Nick Carr made his varsity debut as a 135-pound freshman, while wrestling for Chartiers Valley. He placed second in his section and sixth in the WPIAL Class AAA tournament en route to a 17-5 record.

Last season, South Fayette ended its co-op agreement with Chartiers Valley and restarted its program. Carr turned in an impressive sophomore season by placing second in Section 2-AA, first in the WPIAL, fourth in the Southwest Region, and fifth in the PIAA. He finished with a 38-8 record and entered this season with a 55-13 career record.

"I may not be strong enough at the 152-pound weight class, so I may drop to 147," said Carr, referring to the 145-pound weight class and reflecting the 2-pound weight allowance all wrestlers receive on Jan. 15. "I'm currently weighing in at 150, so I'm only 3 pounds from making weight."

Carr is one of eight returing champions at the Southmoreland Christmas tournament, which will take place Tuesday and Wednesday.

"I'm really looking forward to the Southmoreland tournament," Carr said. "My goal is to win another title."

The only other returning champions from the WPIAL is Norwin's duo of Josh Freidhof and John Pezze.

Other WPIAL teams entered in the Southmoreland tournament are: Avella, Avonworth, Baldwin, Bentworth, Charleroi, Chartiers Valley, Gateway, Greensburg Salem, Indiana, Jeannette, Jefferson-Morgan, Norwin, Riverview, Southmoreland, Uniontown, Valley and Woodland Hills.

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