OPINION — IT WAS INTERESTING to note that Reynolds coach Casey Taylor and Greenville mentor John Reynolds both reflected on the history of their programs after winning section crowns Saturday.

When Reynolds won its phenomenal 43rd section crown Saturday, Taylor talked about the coaches who went before him. He especially cited Neal Lineman, who built the early program, and Brian Hills, who retired two years ago and handed the reins to Taylor — his step-son, assistant coach and three-time state champion at Reynolds.

While Lineman is considered the man who started wrestling at Reynolds, he actually wasn’t. The first coach was Dick Sherwood, who really knew little about wrestling.

But principal Ray Bost had talked with a Purdue University wrestler Neal Lineman - a former Greenville High star - about taking over the program when he graduated. So Bost asked Sherwood to start the mat program in 1960-61 at the newly consolidated school so it could then be held for Lineman. Sherwood posted a 4-4 record that first year, not bad considering he was starting from scratch.

The rest is history - a great history. Lineman took over and coached from 1961-77, producing a phenomenal 201-10 mark. He was followed by Mark Reichard, Doug Groover, Ron Taylor and Ed McClimans, before Hills started as head coach in 1986 after several years as a junior program mentor.

All of the “interim” coaches between Lineman and Hills had solid records. But Hills, in his 25 years, produced a fantastic mark of 370 wins, 39 losses and 1 tie.

When Greenville notched its 21st section title Saturday, Coach Reynolds talked about the coaches who preceded him, including legendary Dave Clelland and Jim Miller. Clelland posted a record of 171-14-1 from 1960-73, while Miller went 169-92 from 1986-2003.

Reynolds is right up there as well, however, with a 164-48 mark since taking over from Miller in 2003.

But one point is that in the days of Lineman and Clelland, there were stricter limits on how many matches a kid could wrestle. For most of the 1960s, you could only compete in 12 or 14 dual meets and one 4-team tournament.

Mel Berry also should be mentioned in the legendary Greenville group. Mel coached from 1938-42 and 1947-56 and posted 102 wins against 30 losses and 2 ties. He then took over at Thiel College and really developed a solid small college program.

Other former Greenville coaches included Harold D. McClure, the first coach in 1935-37, and Ken Eakin, Harry Ramsey, Andy Lentvorsky, Bob Robbins, Moe Hejazi and Terry Cooper. All had success in shorter terms as well.

Many of us can remember the heyday of Reynolds-Greenville rivalry matches. They moved the bouts some years to Westminster College or Edinboro University and packed the places with 4,000 fans. Those matches were something to see.

ä And in talking about the history of wrestling, it was sad to read the recent obituary of Tom Springer. Tom was the last Farrell High state champion in the once powerful program before the school canceled the program in the early 1950s and became a basketball power.

Tom won the 120 title in 1949, joining the list of other Farrell champs George Lewis (1944, 45, 46), Howdy Prizant (1944), John Bralich (1945), Achilles Mouganis (1946) and Vic DeVito (1947).

For a short time, the Farrell program was one of the best in the state. Lewis, my former high school coach who started the Hickory High program, told me during a conversation at the Section 2-AA tourney at Sharon that he would love to see Farrell start a co-op program with another local school and revive the sport that helped him and so many others.

Not a bad idea.

ä Too bad District 10 doesn’t have the same of sense of history that others do.

The district no longer recognizes section team champions and in fact won’t even buy the awards for winners. Funny how they don’t hesitate to accept the proceeds from the section tourneys to put into the D-10 coffers, however. Go figure!

The District 10 Coaches Association distributes the awards to section team champions, coaches of the year and medals for the top four place-winners at each of the section tourneys. Money is collected from each high school coach (or their booster clubs) to fund the awards.

ä The Section 1-AA tournament at Union City Saturday saw somewhat of an upset when Saegertown unseated Fort LeBoeuf as team champion.

Saegertown compiled 201 points to LeBoeuf’s 189.5. LeBoeuf was hampered when two-time section champ George McGuire was forced to pull out with a neck injury.

The individual finals results saw:

106 - Devin Brown (Saegertown) pinned Dustin Weilacher (Union City), 1:09; 113 - Jarret Carter (Fort LeBoef) dec. Brad Nowakowski (Seneca), 6-0; 120 - Tyler Vath (Saegertown) dec. Tyler Kuzma (Fort LeBoeuf), 5-1; 126 - Nick Monico (Saegertown) dec. Adam Ballew (North East), 6-2; 132 - Adam Fish (Seneca) pinned Garret Zuver (Seneca), 4:19; 138 - Matt Humes (Saegertown) dec. Chris Hibbler (Seneca), 8-7; 145 - Brad Malinowski (Fort LeBoeuf) dec. Lou Head (Eisenhower), 4-3; 152 - Tyler Harrington (Fort LeBoeuf) tech fall Maat Newara (Harbor Creek), 15-0, 5:20; 160 - Jordan Bryan (North East) dec. Taylor Fox (Fort LeBoeuf), 4-2; 170 - Tim Vargo (Union City) dec. Shane Taubert (Corry), 5-2; 182 - Dylan Reynolds (Saegertown) pinned Stone Sivak (Youngsville), 1:59; 195 - Trevor Beiter (Seneca) dec. Ryan Morris (Corry), 3-2; 220 - Evan Daley (Fort LeBoeuf) pinned Jaykup Durlin (Youngsville), 1:37; 285 - Jeff Burger (Union City) dec. Nate Conti (Fort LeBoeuf), 9-2.