Brooke Knoebel of Montgomery proudly holds her trophy after winning the 100 pound championship at the Matness at the MACC at Liberty Arena in downtown Williamsport. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette

Entering your first year of a varsity sport as a freshman can be daunting regardless of what sport you’re competing in. There’s talent all around you and you often feel the need to prove yourself.

For Brooke Knoebel of Montgomery, that’s how she saw this year. She knows as a freshman girls wrestler, some opponents may overlook her or not take her seriously.

Last Saturday, Knoebel competed in the MATNESS at the MACC Tournament at Liberty Arena and showed just why you can’t overlook her as a freshman.

“I’m really happy with the way I performed because going in as a freshman, people don’t think a lot of you but when you go out and perform like that, it’s good,” Knoebel said.

It was definitely a good day for the young Red Raider.

Knoebel went undefeated on Saturday with a 5-0 mark as she picked up a win three different ways in the round-robin tournament to advance to the championship finals at 100 pounds. She had a decision win over Mifflinburg’s Lillian Frederick, 3-0, and then had a dominating tech fall win vs. Upper Perkiomen’s Keyra Seville, 16-0, 4:24. That was followed up with a pin against Camp Hill’s Stella Latorre in 1:49. The talented Red Raider would pin Northern Lebanon’s Sophia Opazo in the semifinals in the first period in 1:17 and had a second-period tech fall win over Danville’s Juliet Steckley in the championship, 16-0, 2:39.

“My finals match, definitely, gave me a standpoint of where I was at,” Knoebel said. “Staying calm and going in like you can win (was my biggest strength).”

Knoebel is 14-2 entering this weekend and her only losses came to returning Central Regional qualifier Isabella Olsehfskie of Hughesville, who pinned Knoebel twice in 2:38 and 3:05 in December.

Knoebel noted that having teammates motivate her and keep her pumped up is what’s been a huge part of the success.

“It really helps the energy and stuff because you have those girls behind you to motivate you,” Knoebel said.

The Red Raider is already ranked this year at 100, which says a lot for the freshman. In the latest polls, Knoebel is the fifth-ranked wrestler at 100 and is behind only Neshaminy’s Mia Nesbitt (No. 4, 11-1), Hughesville’s Olsehfskie (No. 3, 20-2), General mcLane’s Ella Clark (No. 2, 11-2) and undefeated McKenzie Astorino of Curwensivlle (No. 1, 22-0).

The MATNESS at the MACC pitted Knoebel against a number of wrestlers from some schools she may never see otherwise, and it helps give the talented freshman a boost of confidence.

“Absolutely (it gives Knoebel confidence). We love the opportunity, especially in our tournament where they don’t just wrestle two matches and they’re done,” Montgomery coach Jodi Furman said. “Today was a day of how many matches can you get? You know you’re going to get four, five, six matches and you have to bounce back and recover to the next one. And against some tough competition (too).”

Knoebel did that without breaking much of a sweat as well, especially in the championship bracket. Frederick of Mifflinburg was the only Wildcat who went the distance until the final horn against Knoebel in the round robin tournament.

“She is a battler, she’s a fighter,” Furman said of Knoebel. “Whenever she’s on the mat, she knows she’s going to grind it out. She’s met some adversity which has really worked for her. She can continue to improve every time she’s on the mat.”

And the more Knoebel improves, the more opponents will have a tough time against her. And, this time, they won’t be overlooking her simply for being a freshman.