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"I don't know what all that means," Solanco coach John Little said Saturday night, "but yeah. Sure."
In the course of the weekend, Little delivered a concentration of force — 13 varsity wrestlers — in a specific area: the Lancaster-Lebanon League wrestling tournament.
Attacking the field of 22 teams at Conestoga Valley's Rill Gym, the Golden Mules broke out, placing 12 of those 13 wrestlers and totaling 225 points.
The Mules' margin of victory over runner-up Manheim Township, 54.5 points, was the third-best in the 16-year history of the tournament, bettered only by Manheim Central's 68-point bulge in 2007 and Solanco's 55.5-point advantage at the inaugural L-L tournament in 1995.
Solanco crowned two champions Saturday: Joe Welk (140) and Connor Moran (152).
Five Mules competed in the 3rd-place consolation finals with Evan Wertz (103), Dan Neff (130) and Jordan Hastings (135) claiming bronze medals while Wink Charles, III (119) and Jesiah Deibler (171) placed fourth.
Hans Herr (125) and Joe Forren (189) were fifth; Steve Lam (215) and John Martin (285) took seventh and Cole Martin (160) finished eighth.
"Having everyone but one place is sweet," Moran said Saturday night. "We've just been stepping it up."
What might be most impressive is, of the dozen medalists, six are sophomores and another is a junior.
Think the Mules are peaking right now?
"Oh yeah," said Welk. "Look at the score."
"This group has been a pleasure (to coach), a pleasure," said Little. "The attitude's great and the team's constantly improving.
"They're very teachable. We tell them, we judge them on performance. Never let up when you're ahead. Never give up when you're behind."
Despite the overwhelming victory margin, the journey to the team title was not a cakewalk.
"We had a few things happen (Friday) night," said Little. "Usually with a young team like this, you expect the bottom to fall out."
The Mules took their first hit Friday on a quarterfinal loss by Wertz.
But their knees buckled when Neff, arguably the Mules' leader and undoubtedly their best wrestler, was disqualified for slamming Columbia's John Markley.
The top seed at 130, gunning for his third league title, with the possibility of a fourth in his future, Neff was suddenly just another guy fighting through the wrestleback vortex.
His teammates seemed stunned.
"I thought a couple matches that we had right after that, the guys were kind of shell-shocked," said Little. "They weren't going out, going after the fall."
"We just knew we had to pick it up," said Moran.
As did Neff, who had to refocus in a hurry.
"I told Dan, (Saturday) morning, 'People won't remember last night. They'll remember today. You'll be judged on what you do today. Do it with class.' "
The DQ did not damper Neff's aggressive nature as he battled back with a pair of tech falls and a fall in the consi semis. That vaulted him into the third-place final where fate delivered a rematch with Markley. Neff gave no quarter, running up a 16-2 lead before pinning Markley in 2:19.
"We hate that he lost," said Moran, "but ..."
"His coming back showed he was there for us," Welk chimed in.
"It showed underdogs like us that anyone can do anything at this level," said Moran, completing the thought after being named the recipient of the Floyd "Shorty" Hitchcock Award.
The award, named for the late Millersville coach who was a prolific pinner in his scholastic and collegiate career, goes to the wrestler with the most falls in the championship bracket in the least amount of time. With three falls in 3:23, Moran was unchallenged.
"Coming into (Saturday), with two pins in under a minute each I thought, 'First match, get it done.' I just went out and performed," Moran said.
As did Penn Manor's Bobby Rehm, the champion at 125 who, for the second consecutive year, was voted the D. Kenneth Ober Outstanding Wrestler Award, named in honor of the late Elizabethtown College coach.
Surprised and speechless, Rehm was barely able to contain his joy. "I didn't think I would (win) this at all," he said "Last year was my year."
Last year, as a mid-level seed, he stunned top-seeded Alex Fisher in the 119-pound final, making him the obvious O.W. choice. This year, as the top seed, he was the hunted rather than hunter.
"He had a really good tournament," said his coach, Steve Hess. "He was dominant, but there were some other really good wrestlers here. Nobody really stood out."
Obviously, Rehm did.
Nearly as much as his Southern End neighbors.
