Kayden Keefer of Loyalsock sizes up Trace Furman of Montgomery during their match at 152 pounds during the 2026 PIAA District IV Central Section at Hughesville High School. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette

HUGHESVILLE — Having a season-ending injury is the worst way to end your season. Having it happen in back-to-back years? That’s just cruel.

But for Loyalsock senior Kayden Keefer, that’s been his career so far. His sophomore and junior seasons ended with season-ending injuries. That meant he didn’t get a chance to compete in the postseason either of the last two winters.

He had to watch his teammates compete instead and wished he was on the mat.

“Season ending injuries the past two years, I haven’t even been able to wrestle at sectionals,” Keefer said. “So I never experienced this before. I never moved onto next week, so I’m excited to see what happened.”

Welcome to districts.

Keefer is more than glad to be competing at the District 4 tournament for the first time in his career. As a freshman, Keefer competed at the Central Sectional tournament but didn’t place.

Consider this a redemption year now for Keefer.

“For sure, I mean I’ve been working my butt off all season trying to stay as healthy as possible and finally got here and I’m moving on,” Keefer said. “That’s all that matters. Moving on.”

Keefer is having the ebst year of his career. He’s 21-5 after his run at the Central Sectional tournament. He won 14 matches as a freshman and 15 as a sophomore before suffering an injury.

Keefer went 2-1 on Saturday in Hughesville. He earned a win in the Central Sectional 152-pound quarterfinals by beating Montoursville’s Haze Mullen by tech fall, 17-2, in 3:25. That was followed up with a 11-7 decision victory over Hughesville’s Landon Puderbach to reach the championship final. Keefer wasn’t able to capture gold his senior year, but he took home a silver medal after a tough 17-2, 5:09 tech fall to Montgomery’s Trace Furman.

“He was just pushing the pace a little more than I was, controlling my wrists a little more than I could,” Keefer said about wrestling Furman in the final. “He won a couple flurries, scrambles, I could have scored on him, but I didn’t.”

When asked what the silver medal meant to Keefer, he didn’t hesitate in being thankful for it given his last two years.

“It’s been a blessing really, you know?” Keefer said. “Getting through a season was my main goal and moving on as much as I can is the secondary goal.”

NOT SATISFIED

Hughesville’s Kile Hartman was more than happy to be walking out of his home gym with a gold medal on Saturday night. The Spartan defeated Montgomery standout Josh Knoebel in the 160-pound final and held off the Red Raider to win.

It was a great feeling, but it left Hartman hungry for more.

“It’s pretty fun, but I’m not done,” Hartman said. “I want to go to districts, regionals and onto states.”

Saturday was Hartman’s first career sectional gold medal after he took fourth as a freshman and silver last year. He’s been to the regional tournament twice and took sixth each of the last two years, but has not been able to medal yet at regionals.

The Spartan hopes this year is different.

“Make the finals, all of them hopefully, and go to states and hopefully win a few matches there,” Hartman said of his expectations.

Hartman’s closing in on 100 career victories, needing just one more to reach the milestone as he is at 38-10 this year and 99-44 for his career. His 13 tech fall wins this year are a single-season high for him, as are his 16 pinfall victories.

At sectionals, Hartman picked up back-to-back tech falls. First, he beat Loyalscok’s Cowden Cooper 15-0, 2:27 in the quarterfinals. That was followed up with a 17-1, 5:36 tech fall over Cade Lusk of South Williamsport in the semifinals.

Against Josh Knoebel, Hartman held a 6-0 lead against him before securing a pin in 5:11 in the third period for gold.

“I like to get a takedown first and then wrestle from there,” Hartman said. “I wasn’t quite sure how it was going to go, but I was going to do whatever I had to (to win).”

Hartman is ranked No. 23 in the state and will have a tough bracket at district sto compete in. That features Canton’s Carson Rockwell (No. 14) and Warrior Run’s all-time wins leader Reagan Milheim, who is ranked No. 2 in the state.

FRESHMAN SUCCESS

Loyalsock’s Miles Ransom-Rennicks started his first year of varsity competition 0-3 this year with a 15-0, 3:20 tech loss to CMVT’s Ryan Milheim and two first-period pin losses to Halifax’s Izaya Schickley and Central Mountain’s Angeo Tarantella.

Obviously it wasn’t how he wanted to start his varsity carerer. But the Lancer kept working and kept putting in practice. And now, it’s resulted in him claiming a bronze medal at the Central Sectional title.

“I’ve definitely improved like a lot. From the start with just like getting to high school and experience to all the way to the end where everything has led up tot his point,” Ransom-Rennicks said.

Ransom-Rennicks is one of three Lancers who qualified for the District 4 championships this weekend, joining Kayden Keefer who took silver at 152, and silver medalist Ivan Baker (145).

“It’s amazing. I’ve always dreamed of this since I started wrestling in Kindergarten,” Ransom-Rennicks said. “Just to have this experience, it’s nice.”

The Lancer won bronze by defeating Central Columbia’s Colt Carmean in the third-place final in a close 2-0 contest. The bout was scoreless heading into the third period where Ransom-Rennicks scored two points and held on.

“I knew I just had to go out there and score and still wrestle my match,” Ransom-Rennicks said. “Even though it was a 0-0 match, it was a tough match, but I just had to go out there and get my points.”

BETTER THAN LAST YEAR

Raiden Felix took home a fourth-place medal last year at the Central Sectional tournament. He was hoping this year’s finish would see him higher on the podium. And while he didn’t take gold or silver, a bronze is still better than fourth, and Felix was happy with that performance.

“Any little step is just a good sign that you’re moving forward in a good way,” Felix said.

Felix didn’t have a great first two years wrestling. He went 2-8 as a freshman and just 8-13 as a sophomore and didn’t make either postseason tournaments. But Felix stuck with it, kept working, kept improving and never quit wrestling.

“It just goes to show how every year that little bit of improvement is just staying with the grind, that improvement just shows,” Felix said. “Even with a record or a match that somebody lost to before. It’s just amazing what it can do for you wrestling wise.”

Those small improvements and every practice has led Felix to this senior year and him hoping to keep his postseason run going. His 25 wins this year are the most he’s won in a single season as well.

“For me to be moving onto districts, it’s just every time you go to a tournament, (the goal is) place and move on. Do everything you can to make it to the next,” Felix said. “Districts for me means regional run and potentially a state run. That’s my potential goal, but just got to fight through it.”

Jon Gerardi is the sports editor at the Sun-Gazette. He can be reached by email at jgerardi@sungazette.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JonGerardi.