Chestnut Ridge has been the dominant program in local wrestling for many years now, and it would appear on paper that the Lions have no designs on moving away from that top position anytime soon.
Already with a strong nucleus set to return for the 2017-18 season, Chestnut Ridge is gaining another stud as Kaden Cassidy is expected to put the blue and yellow singlet on this winter.
Cassidy, who will be a sophomore, competed at Bishop McCort in its first season as a varsity program in 2016-17, and he put together an outstanding freshman year. He won a District 6-AA and Southwest Regional championship before finishing third in the state at 106 pounds. He was 25-4 with the Crimson Crushers.
During the offseason, the Cassidy family sold their home in the Bedford Area School District, and flirted with a permanent out-of-state move before returning back north and finding a home within the Chestnut Ridge district. Prior to attending Bishop McCort, Cassidy was a decorated youth wrestler, which included a Pennsylvania Junior Wrestling title for Bedford at 97 pounds in 2016.
Gaining a wrestler with Cassidy's credentials surely makes Chestnut Ridge much more formidable. The Lions will already be returning reigning state champion Justin McCoy, two-time state medalist Jared McGill, and many other starters. The addition of Cassidy to that nucleus could make the District 5 power a major player on the statewide stage again, where the Lions reached the PIAA finals in 2015 and finished fourth in 2013.
