There was some concern about the state of Youngsville High School wrestling earlier this year.

Those fears have been allayed for now.

At Monday’s meeting of the personnel, athletics, and co-curricular activities committee, Coordinator of District-Wide Athletics Rick Gignac said officials expect there to be 12 on the roster this winter.

“We had our second meeting on Sept. 19,” Gignac said. “We feel strongly that we should have around 12 varsity wrestlers.”

Pre-season numbers varied widely — from four to 30.

The low end was based on the number of wrestlers returning. There are four returning lettermen from last year’s team. At an initial meeting with parents of that group, it was agreed that an agreement with Warren Area High School made sense if there were only four on the team.

After that, there was another meeting in which about 30 students in grades seven through 12 signed up.

“The projection in June was somewhere around 30ish,” Gignac said.

The September number lies between and “who knows what that’s going to be come November?” Gignac said at a previous meeting.

“They feel 12 is a very solid number at this time,” he said. None of those in attendance at the September meeting opposed moving forward with a Youngsville team.

“Is that 12 weight classes?” Board Member Tom Knapp asked.

Gignac said it is probably not. “I would feel they’re probably going to end up forfeiting some matches.”

There are 14 weight classes in PIAA competition, so even if all 12 students were in different weight classes, they would not fill the slate.

Asked for an estimate of how many the team would have to forfeit, Gignac said, “with 12 kids, they’re going to end up forfeiting anywhere from four to six matches.”

That is not only a problem for Youngsville. “We’re seeing more and more forfeits,” Director of Administrative Support Services Gary Weber said.

Sometimes, two teams with a number of forfeits each face each other with few bouts. “We might forfeit four and they might forfeit four, leaving a very small number of contested matches,” Board Member Jack Werner said.

But, even if the forfeits lead to a team loss, there is still incentive for the individuals on the team to compete.

“The boys that are wrestling want to achieve and score as many points as possible,” Gignac said. “You wrestle as a team and as an individual.”