That rise would plateau, as competitors learned to respect him more and adapted to his improvements. But that aforementioned case remains alive and well past the first round of the individual postseason.

He went into districts having already eclipsed his number of wins and bonus-point victories by five compared to last season. And on Saturday night, he’d exit Altoona’s gymnasium a district champion, 38 matches and over three months after his hot start.

“I’m just trying to get out here and get better every day,” said Tarantella following his District 6 Class AAA title run. “Taking third my freshman year was a good accomplishment, taking first my sophomore year is a big step towards regionals and making the state tournament.”

Since coming out of the gate swinging in December, Tarantella has gone on to garner hardware in every tournament the Wildcats have competed in – from regular to postseason. At three of the biggest tournaments in the state – King of the Mountain, Mid-Winter Mayhem and Ultimate Warrior – he took sixth, eighth and sixth respectively.

TIM WEIGHT/Special to the Sun-Gazette Central Mountain’s Patrick Tarantella fights from the bottom in the District 6 Class AAA final on Saturday at Altoona.

And after not earning a state-ranked win through his entire freshman season – based on the last set of rankings from 2023-24 – he’s acquired seven throughout his sophomore campaign so far. His most impressive win came in the team’s home event in King of the Mountain, when he pulled off a sub-minute pin against Red Lion’s Mason Harvey, who’s currently ranked No. 13 in the state at 133.

Though it may seem like it from the outside looking in, those developments didn’t just appear out of thin air.

Following a promising freshman campaign that culminated in a 24-20 record, district medal and regional appearance, the sophomore upped his commitment to the sport, practicing as much as he could to carve out a deeper role within the team.

“This offseason, I wrestled a lot of freestyle,” said Tarantella. “Even coming back this season, (I was) getting in the room more, just working harder. Shout out to my teammates, making me better every day, and my coaches. They just put us through everything, push us and make us better overall as a team.”

His weight class – 133 – has also proven beneficial, residing between the two most assured classes on the team. In practice, his consistent sparring partners include Aiden Kunes – ranked No. 5 in the state at 127 – and Dalton Perry – ranked No. 1 at 145.

TIM WEIGHT/Special to the Sun-Gazette Central Mountain’s Patrick Tarantella wrestles against Montoursville’s Blaize Vogel during this past year’s King of the Mountain tournament in Mill Hall.

That’s given him the opportunity to learn from some of the best wrestlers in the state, helping him continue to improve while upping his consistency. As the saying goes, iron sharpens iron.

“Wrestling them just makes you better overall,” said Tarantella on sparring against the pair. “Whether you’re getting beat up on in the room or you’re beating up on them, they’re making you better no matter what.”

Above all else, what’s helped him improve the most has been his growth in maturity and the change in mentality that’s come with it. Approaching 100 career bouts and with almost two full seasons of high school experience under his belt, he heads into regionals with an elevated sense of confidence.

“Just believing in myself. Believing in myself for the full six minutes,” said Tarantella when asked about the keys to this season’s success. “Anything can happen during the match but if you score that next point, there’s always that chance that you can go out and win it for yourself.”

Having improved on every tournament run he produced last season, the goal heading into regionals is much of the same. As it stands, he’s yet to pick up a competitive win in the individual postseason’s second step but has plenty of reason to expect that to change.

“My goal is to podium at regionals, maybe even make it to states,” said Tarantella. “Going 1-2 last year was not my greatest accomplishment but I’m working to improve like I have this year.”