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Behind the Business: Ranch Wagon has been dishing up hot dogs and more for over 60 years

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West Pittston native Chris Hine, Chicago Tribune writer criticizes NFL’s ‘anti-gay culture’

Jimmy Hoffman took one of the toughest losses in his long career on Saturday night falling in the state final.And one of the first people to stop by and have a few words and share a hug was his cousin, Chad Hoffman, who was Hazleton Area&#8217;s most recent state medalist before Jimmy grabbed a silver medal over the weekend.&#8220;You have brought so many people in our area together to watch you at the highest level possible,&#8221; Chad recalled telling his cousin after the loss. &#8220;You achieved what every wrestler works for, to wrestle in the most prestigious event there is&#8230; a state title. And then I said &#8216;now you have to stay humble and work even harder for the gold because (you&#8217;re) right there.&#8217;&#8221;Chad, who graduated from the Cougars program in 2012 as a two-time state medalist claiming eighth in 2011 and fifth the next year, attended the event after hearing of his cousin reaching the finals earlier in the day. He&#8217;s currently attending Bloomsburg University where he will be playing his final season of football this fall before graduating in the spring of 2017.When Chad, who eventually hopes to coach wrestling, finished up his career at Hazleton Area, he ended with 112 victories. And even though the little cousin has already surpassed that total with 118, Chad was someone that Jimmy looked up to and idolized as a youngster in the Cougars&#8217; elementary program.&#8220;It&#8217;s a tremendous feeling knowing that your cousin, who has had a great deal of success, can look up to you without you knowing it,&#8221; Chad said. &#8220;It made me feel like I helped him move in the right direction. So I couldn&#8217;t be more honored to hear that.&#8221;&#8220;I appreciate the support and I&#8217;m glad I was able to bring people out,&#8221; said Jimmy about his cousin&#8217;s influence. &#8220;Especially people like him because he&#8217;s a hard worker. He&#8217;s one of my idols. Ever since I was in elementary school, I&#8217;ve been growing up watching him wrestle. It&#8217;s something that runs in our family and it&#8217;s awesome seeing him here to support me.&#8221;A new wardrobeHazleton Area coach Keith Maurer wasn&#8217;t holding anything back on Saturday night after Jimmy Hoffman&#8217;s final. He even admitted that he wasn&#8217;t expecting to be coaching in the state final.Of course, the longtime coach was thrilled that his 132-pounder advanced to the championship, but he wasn&#8217;t too prepared.After Hoffman won his state semifinal bout on Saturday morning, Maurer had to go shopping to buy a dress shirt, dress pants and tie because, well every coach who has a finalist always dresses dapper for finals matches, and Maurer wasn&#8217;t prepared for that to happen.&#8220;I looked at the brackets coming in and saw he was in a pigtail. I did no bracketology. I did nothing,&#8221; Maurer said. &#8220;I wasn&#8217;t prepared to come down and sit in the corner for (the final). I&#8217;m happy as possibly could be. I&#8217;m ready to start the season tomorrow.&#8221;Maurer has been head coach at Hazleton Area for two tenures totaling more than a dozen years. When got to the final it was the first time in his coaching career. Previously, the highest state medalist he mentored was a fourth-place finish.Hitting the trifectaAthens 126-pounder Brian Courtney certainly earned his Class 2A gold medal and Outstanding Wrestler Award over the weekend.The junior defeated three state champions all in the same bracket, including two on Friday. He knocked off Bedford&#8217;s Jonathan Gabriel in Friday&#8217;s quarterfinals, Reynolds&#8217; Cole Matthews in that night&#8217;s semifinals, and then topped Max Murin from Central Cambria in Saturday afternoon&#8217;s finals.Successful defenseCourtney&#8217;s run accounted for three of the four losses to returning state champions. The only other past champ to not complete the title defense was Franklin&#8217;s Dakota Geer in the 182-pound Class 2A bracket.Ten others accomplished the repeat feat highlighted by new three-time champions George Phillippi from Derry Area (138, Class 2A), Franklin Regional&#8217;s Spencer Lee (120, 3A), Bethlehem Catholic&#8217;s Luke Karam (126, 3A) and Greater Latrobe&#8217;s Luke Pletcher (138, 3A).Lee is now a three-time unbeaten state champion with 109 career wins. He could become a four-time champion since the other three-timers are now seniors.Of the six who became two-time champs, Jefferson Morgan&#8217;s Gavin Teasdale is the only one on pace to claim four golds by being a 113-pound sophomore in Class 2A. Penn Trafford junior Cameron Coy (145, Class 3A) could get his third gold next season.Inside the numbers119: The number of career victories by Scranton Prep&#8217;s and Avoca resident Thor Balavage to set the school record for most in a career.118: Jimmy Hoffman&#8217;s career number of victories after his junior season. He needs just 22 wins next year to tie the school record of 140 set by Jared Kay in 2010.105: Tunkhannock&#8217;s Mike Manley ended his career with this many victories. He also led all of District 2 with 43 this season and set the school record for wins in a campaign.101: The total number of career wins that Dallas&#8217; Cole Dixon ends his career with.96: Career wins for Meyers junior Colin Pasone with one more season to go.81: Hazleton Area junior Chris Lasecki ended his second straight tournament with this many career wins.65: Hanover Area&#8217;s state qualifier John Sheridan ends a career hampered with injuries with this many victories.18: There were this many wrestlers in District 2 to reach the 100-win milestone this season, believed to be the most in history in one season.9: The current number of years it has been since the Wyoming Valley Conference crowned a state champion when Nate Eachus and Scott Davis claimed golds in 2007. It is the second longest drought in history only behind an 11-year absence from 1965 to 1976.<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Dave Rosengrantdrosengrant@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach Dave Rosengrant at 570-991-6398 or on Twitter @tldrosengrant</shirttailMeta></div>

Hazleton Area’s Jimmy and Chad Hoffman share state sentiments