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Tim Andrekovich started teaching at Bellwood-Antis 30 years ago, and his coaching career started soon after that.  Gradually, he progressed up the coaching chain.

Coach Andrekovich started off with two terms as assistant junior high coach, followed by a six-year stint as the head junior high head coach. Five years ago Mr. Andrekovich moved up to the varsity squad as an assistant coach to Ron Wilson before taking over this year.

The veteran coach recently spoke with the BluePrint on the decision to move to the varsity level at this stage in his career.

“I enjoy working with the kids and we had a good group of wrestlers returning this year, plus our junior high team has been very successful the past three years,” he said. “I was hoping that would transfer to the varsity level”

The Bellwood-Antis squad, however, will face the same problem it faces every year, and that is simply filling the lineup.

“Too many forfeits. We will be giving up at least 18-24 points per match,” Coach Andrekovich said. “That’s pretty hard to overcome. It’s unfortunate for that to happen because there are kids in the high school at those weights and with wrestling experience who decided not to come out this year, and they really could have helped the program.”

The coach is still excited to see how the team will do this year.

“We should do well in head to head competition during dual meets and be very competitive in our tournaments,” he said. “I’m hoping that we can get three or four guys to the regional tournament this year.”

Mr. Andrekovich stepped into some pretty big shoes left by Coach Wilson, the program’s only 100-win coach, but it’s expected he will lead a talented team to a lot of individual wins.