Wrestling with diabetes: Tamaqua’s Strouse overcomes obstacles on and off the mat

It’s easy to see Bronson Strouse take care of business when he steps on the mat.

One of the most dominant wrestlers in the area, the Tamaqua senior is in the midst of the best season of his career, one he hopes to punctuate with some hardware in Hershey this weekend.

But Strouse has grappled with more than just other bruising heavyweights on his way to the state tournament.

A District 11 junior high champion, Strouse was diagnosed with Type-1 diabetes when he was in eighth grade. It was at the junior high state championships where Strouse lost 20 pounds and knew something was wrong.

“I went to the doctors, and they said my blood sugar was over 1,000 ... which is ridiculous,” Strouse recalled about a number that should typically be around 100.

In the time since his diagnosis, Strouse has managed his condition with the type of control he holds over his opponents on the mat. As he has learned his limits and his body, Strouse has gotten better at making sure he is always adequately prepared each time he competes.

His most recent test came this past Saturday at regionals.

In his 2-1 semifinal victory over Church Farm School’s Emmanuel Lawal, Strouse just didn’t feel right.

“I picked bottom in the second period, and he kept me down. He’s really good,” Strouse said. “But my eyes started to kind of burn, which happens when my sugar is high. But it wasn’t too bad; when I checked it was 205, I believe. So it was more me thinking it was high. And I hadn’t really gotten broken down until the semifinals match, so I was a little nervous there.

“It was more me getting worn down. I was pretty nervous before the match, so insulin was always going to be in the back of my head, being Type-1 Diabetic. My sugar is always going to be different than everyone else. I’m going to be tired, or that’s what I think.”

Strouse responded with a reversal late in the period to take a 2-0 lead, an advantage that he wouldn’t relinquish.

“I think the hardest thing to get accustomed to is that the nerves of the match really mess with the blood sugar level,” said Blue Raiders’ head coach Jim McCabe. “For the first time in coaching him in three years, he took an injury time, and he took it because of his blood sugar. His eyes were fluttering; his eyes get foggy. So when he gets nervous, it really causes his blood sugar to go awry, and he pretty much has learned himself through going to the doctor, talking to his physician, talking to myself or our nurse at the high school, on how to control it.”

Strouse, who is currently 36-3, has won back-to-back district titles after placing third as a freshman and second as a sophomore. He was sixth at regionals as a sophomore, and third last season.

He also captured his second Schuylkill League title this season.

“One thing he’s really gotten good at, because he would eat a lot of bread around the tournament time, districts, regionals and states, and he finally realized that bread really causes the blood sugar to go awry as well,” said McCabe. “So he gets very disciplined this time of the year with what he eats, so that he can control his diabetes a little bit better, and he does that because he wants to be successful, so he took it to the next level as far as what he needed to do in order to get into the place that he is right now.”

Strouse’s situation is one McCabe can directly relate to.

“My father was diabetic,” said McCabe. “So I know about the disease.”

McCabe’s experience has helped Strouse throughout his career, but perhaps never more so than this past weekend.

“During the injury timeout of his semifinal match, he couldn’t get the blood from his fingertips onto the strip,” said McCabe, who is also a Health and Physical Educator at Tamaqua. “You only have a minute-and-a-half, and when the referee said 30 seconds, he still couldn’t get the blood in the strip, so I had to grab both his hands and get it where it needs to be so he could read his sugar to see where it was at. It was a little high, but there’s not much you can do about it at that moment.”

Before the district tournament, Strouse needed to get a new insulin pump after his stopped working.

“He was having issues trying to get a new one in,” said McCabe. “So he was on the phone himself with the company trying to get the new pump in so that he could regulate his sugar on its own instead of constantly checking it, and administering it. Obviously, when he wrestles he has to take that off. But just the maturity level of a high school kid to take care of those things on his own is tremendous.

“It’s obviously been a slow learning experience for him to totally get control of it, because it’s life-changing. To learn everything that needs to be learned in a year or two is impossible, and he’s slowly adapted to the issues that he has to deal with. Now in his senior year, I think he has it pretty much under control.”

Strouse has not lost since falling to Jim Thorpe’s Derek Hunter 3-2 on Feb. 5. He has had several close wins since, posting four one-point decision victories – including one in overtime against Pen Argyl’s Sean Rumsey (2-1, UTB) – and a two-point triumph during the nine-match run.

Strouse pinned Catty’s Lavonte Bouie in 2:21 in the quarters at districts, before posting a 4-3 decision over Wilson’s Roger Russell in the semis. He topped Northern Lehigh’s Joshua Schaffer 7-1 in the final.

At regionals, Strouse defeated Saucon Valley’s Nickolas Warnke 3-2 in the final. He flattened Eastern York’s Nate Dandridge in 0:29 in the quarter, before topping Lawal in the semis.

Strouse has used his size, speed, strength and skill to outlast his opponents on the mat. But it was is his heart that helped him overcome one of his biggest obstacles off it.

“Wrestling with diabetes is tough, but if you love it that much, you’ll stay with it,” said Strouse. “It can be a lot tougher than it is for someone who doesn’t have diabetes. But you just have to push through it.”

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MATCHUPS ... When action begins Thursday morning, two area wrestlers will be in the preliminary round. Tamaqua’s Nate Wickersham (34-10, SE-5, D-11-3) will face Slippery Rock’s Vito Pilosi (33-8) in a 182-pound match. Pilosi was fourth at the Northwest Regional Tournament. The winner will face Ellwood City’s Austin Walley (41-1) in the first round. Walley was the Southwest Regional champion. Northern Lehigh’s Joshua Schaffer (28-11, SE-4, D-11-2) will wrestle Evan Pellegrine (30-7) of Bellwood-Antis in a 285-pound preliminary round bout. Pellegrine was fifth at the Southwest Regional. The winner will face Brookville’s Colby Whitehall (36-0) in the first round. Whitehall was the Northwest Regional champion. Strouse will face the winner of the Kobe Bonnano (Redbank Valley, 29-7, NW-4)-Matt Watkins (Tussey Mountain, 30-10, SW-6) in his 285-pound first-round match.

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LAST YEAR ... Strouse bounced back after a first-round setback, pinning Jim Thorpe’s Derek Hunter in 4:30 in his first-round consolation match at 285 pounds at the state tournament. His tourney ended with a 3-1 loss in sudden victory overtime to Boiling Springs’ Damon James in the second round of consis.

James took a 1-0 lead with 1:42 left in the second period. Strouse then tied it with an escape with 1:28 to go in the third, but James ended it with a takedown.

Strouse lost his first-round match 4-1 in overtime to Southern Huntingdon’s Kole Winfield.

Wickersham saw his first state tournament end in the first round of consolation matches. He was pinned by Ethan Finch (Sheffield) in 5:13 in sudden victory overtime in his 170-pound consolation match. The match was tied at 4-4 before the start of the extra period.

Wickersham fell to Cole Toy of Reynolds in his preliminary-round match.

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ORDER OF EVENTS … The PIAA Class 2A Wrestling schedule is as follows:

Thursday, March 5

Preliminaries and first round - 9 a.m.; First round consolations - 1:15 p.m.

Friday, March 6

Quarterfinals and second round consolations - 9 a.m.; Third round consolations - 11:45 a.m.; Fourth round consolations and semifinals - 7:30 p.m.; Fifth round consolations - 9:30 p.m.

Saturday, March 7

PWCA 2A Coach of the Year Presentation - 1:40 p.m. ; Parade of Champions - 1:45 p.m.; Finals, third, fifth, seventh place matches - 2 p.m.

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MILESTONE ... Although Harrison Bernhard of Northwestern dropped an 8-1 decision to Hamburg’s Bailey Gimbor at 145 pounds in the third round of consolations that ended his campaign at the Southeast Regional Tournament Saturday, the senior made an escape early in the second period hold up to eliminate Northern Lehigh’s Trevor Amorim with a 1-0 decision to secure the 100th win of his career in a second-round consolation match. “It was awesome to see Harry get his 100th win. I know that was one of his goals coming into this season. He really wanted to hit that mark, and you could see it in his face after that match ended. He was really happy. Now he gets his name up there on the 100 wins list with both of his brothers (Jackson and Quentin). We knew it was going to be a close match. Harrison lost to him earlier in the year at the Coal Cracker, but wrestled through some tough situations to change the outcome of this one,” said Northwestern head coach Jim Moll.

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IT’S BEEN A WHILE ... The Times News area did not have a state medalist last season – the first time since 1996. Since 1971, there have only been four times that the Times News area has not had at least one state medalist — 1972, 1973, 1996 and 2019.