Matt Frame won’t have to wonder about what might have been.

After a year away, Frame returned to the wrestling room for Northern Lehigh this winter and put together the finest season of his career.

The senior punched his ticket to states with a fifth-place finish at the Southeast Regional Tournament this past weekend. It’s an experience Frame doesn’t take for granted.

“It’s definitely fun. It’s something that I missed when I didn’t wrestle,” said Frame. “The bond you create with your teammates during wrestling season is different than any other sport. You go through everything together. It’s a very tough sport to do.”

A fixture on the football field for Northern Lehigh during his career, Frame was a key component in the Bulldogs’ run to a district title, and ultimately the state semifinals in the fall.

Playing into December meant a later start for Frame on the mat, who didn’t settle into his spot at 215 pounds in the Bulldogs lineup until Jan. 8.

Frame’s dedication never wavered.

“It’s an amazing feeling,” said Northern Lehigh head coach Scott Snyder. “Matty, he’s already committed to play football at East Stroudsburg University. He could have easily, with not wrestling last year, he could have said, ‘I’m a senior, I have my immediate future lined up for me, I don’t have to wrestle. I don’t have to do this.’

“But he chose, on his own to say, ‘I want to go and see where this takes me. I want to find out how far I can go. I don’t want to sit back later in life and think what if? I want to go out and wrestle, and see where it takes me.’”

Where it’s taken Frame is Hershey.

It should come as no surprise that Frame has thrived in the biggest moments during the postseason.

Frame bounced back after his quarterfinal round loss at regionals - a 10-0 defeat to eventual champion Brad Morrison of West Perry at 215 pounds.

The senior pinned Belmont Charter’s Laminakil Long-McKenzie in 0:51 in his second round consolation match.

A 4-3 decision in the ultimate tiebreaker over Central Catholic’s Mitchell Miller in the third round of consolations secured Frame’s spot in the top six. The senior posted an 8-2 decision over Miller for third place at last week’s district tournament.

“He keeps getting better each week,” said Snyder. “Practice gets better, his matches are getting better. Last weekend at the district tournament, he had a pretty good tournament. But he had a darn good tournament this weekend.

“I feel like he’s starting to peak, and it’s at the perfect time.”

Frame trailed Saucon Valley’s Dante Mahaffey 5-4 in the consolation semis Saturday, but Mahaffey held on for a 7-4 decision. Mahaffey claimed the district title a week ago.

Frame finished with a 7-1 victory over Bishop McDevitt’s Michael Gontis in his fifth-place match.

With Sam Frame occupying the heavyweight spot in the lineup, Matt worked to drop into the 215-pound slot. It wasn’t an easy move, but it’s one that’s paid off.

“I knew that coming down to 215 was going to be tougher, and it involved ways of cutting weight and competition,” said Matt. “I felt heavyweight, I felt if I wrestled up there I’d have a speed advantage on a lot of guys. But coming down, there are a lot of quick guys, so they’re able to match and even be quicker than I am. I know I have strength over a lot of the guys, but their experience and their quickness is usually what I struggle with.

“Knowing that coming into the season, I had to get comfortable in different spots.”

Frame’s playing weight during the football season was 236 pounds, and he’s worked to find a balance to maintain his wrestling weight with proper nutrition and training.

He was a constant at the running back position for the Bulldogs throughout his career, finishing with the fourth most single-season rushing yards in a season for Northern Lehigh.

Frame finished the season with 1,692 rushing yards and 28 touchdowns. He is also fourth all-time in career rushing yards for the Bulldogs.

It’s another sport, and another remarkable postseason run.

“I think I kind of expected myself to get out here,” said Frame. “I did not expect to do this well at this tournament. But as the season went on, my confidence went up, and I made the goal to make it to Hershey, and here we are. So it worked out.”

Frame’s evolution as a wrestler has been undeniable.

“A lot of people don’t realize this, but Matty didn’t start wrestling until eighth grade,” said Snyder. “So he wrestled eight grade, ninth grade, 10th grade, sat out last year, and then he came back his fourth season, and here we are.

“His mat sense has really improved. He doesn’t give up escapes with 10 seconds left and things like that. He’s starting to ride more; he’s starting to ride people out of bounds rather than cutting them loose. He’s starting to get a little more urgency, scoring early rather than later. He’s developed a lot of his angles on shots. A lot of different things, a huge variety of things. He’s just overall really started to come together as a wrestler.”

Regardless of the sport, Frame sets a good example to follow.

“He had a lot of teammates out watching him this weekend in the bleachers supporting him,” said Snyder. “They’re young guys, a lot of sophomores, and that’s a group of kids that maybe they’ll be a little motivated, and think, ‘Wow, this is awesome. Look at how great he’s doing against these guys. He’s only been wrestling four years, and I still have two years left.’

“That could be a big motivator for some of our younger underclassmen, and Matty’s a great role model for them. He quietly leads by example.”

Carrying the torch to Hershey is another milestone in an already decorated career. And it might not be the last one before his high school career is over.

“It’s been a fun year,” said Frame. “Going to the state tournament for football, and now I get to do it for wrestling. Maybe I’ll get to do it in track. It’s definitely been a fun year.”

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THE SCHEDULE

... The tournament opens Thursday at the Giant Center with Class 2A Preliminaries and First Round matches at 9 a.m. The First Round Consolations will take place at 1:15 p.m. On Friday, the 2A Quarterfinals and Second Round Consolations will take place at 9 a.m., followed by Third Round Consolations at 11:45 a.m. The 2A wrestlers return Friday night for Semifinals and Fourth Round Consolations at 7:30 p.m. The Fifth Round Consolations will take place at 9:30 p.m. On Saturday, the PWCA “AA Coach of the Year” will be held at 1:40 p.m., followed by the Parade of Champions at 1:45. The Finals, 3rd, 5th, and 7th-Place Consolations for 2A will take place at 2 p.m.

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THE MATCHES

... All four area wrestlers competing in the 2A tournament will open with preliminary matches. Lehighton sophomore Aidan Gruber (34-9), who was fifth at the Southeast Regional Tournament, will face Brock Holderbaum (26-9), fourth at the Southwest Regional, at 113 pounds. Northwestern sophomore Dalton Clymer (24-10), fifth at the SE Regional, will wrestle Eisenhower’s Gannon Jaquay (35-8), fourth at the Northwest Regional, at 152 pounds. Clymer’s teammate, Lucas Miller (27-14), who was also sixth at the regional tournament, will wrestle Bald Eagle Area’s Caleb Close (37-11), fourth at the Southwest Regional, at 172 pounds. Northern Lehigh’s Matt Frame (19-8), fifth at the SE Regional, will face Southmoreland’s Anthony Govern (37-8), fourth at the Southwest Regional, at 215 pounds.

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LAST YEAR ... Tamaqua’s Nate Wickersham closed out his career in style, pinning Bermudian Springs’ Savauri Shelton for third-place at 215 pounds in the Class 2A bracket. With only eight wrestlers competing in each bracket, Wickersham was guaranteed a spot on the podium. The result secured Wickersham’s second state medal after an eighth-place finish the year before.

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HOW TO FOLLOW ... Live results for the tournament will be posted on FloArena. Follow the link (https://arena.flowrestling.org/) and scroll down to the 2022 PIAA State Wrestling Championships, where you can view the brackets for both Class 2A and 3A.