Penns Valley’s Ty Watson chooses wrestling over football, will head to Penn State

Penns Valley’s Ty Watson has been a tremendous multi-sport athlete during his high school career.

The senior became Centre County’s all-time leading scorer this year on the football field, surpassing the likes of Larry Johnson, Jr. and Matt Suhey. He also became the Rams’ all-time rushing yards and rushing touchdown leader.

But Watson saw his football career come to a close for good on Nov. 3, when Penns Valley dropped its District 6 Class 2A quarterfinals game to Richland. Next, he’ll lace up his wrestling shoes, and has committed to do the same at Penn State. He made it official Thursday morning on the social media platform X, where he thanked his family for “getting me to where I am today.”

“I’m committing to wrestling, which is kind of crazy. I’ve been playing football for a long time,” Watson told the CDT. “It’s just that chapter of my life being closed and college wrestling being opened. I just got to focus on wrestling, and being the best that I can be.”

While the Rams wrestler will keep his alma mater’s colors on to become a Nittany Lion, it wasn’t his only choice. He had other options in West Virginia and Edinboro, but also had some smaller schools after him as well.

“Honestly, it was between West Virginia and Penn State. It was an easier decision for me,” he said. “But I just felt like the place that I chose would be way better and an opportunity for me to succeed at the higher level. I went down there (West Virginia), and I really enjoyed it. It really reminded me of around here. It was mountains, and lakes, where you could go fish, hunt or whatever. I really liked the coaches. Penn State, all of the guys were awesome. They showed me around. The coaches were really supportive and just talked me through everything.”

After it was all said and done, Watson said that staying close to home was the ultimate decision maker. Watson describes himself as a “home body,” and said his entire family is tightknit. All of them live in the Penns Valley community, with his grandmother and aunt and uncle living just 10 minutes down the road from his family’s house.

The decision to join Penn State not only gives his family the ability to come and support him — which he said they would have done no matter where he went — but it was a “dream come true.”

“It just felt more like home to me, to be right down the road. It has always been a dream of mine,” Watson said. “Ever since I was little, I was going to Penn State matches with my dad, mom and then my brother when he was born. It’s all we do. We look forward to Penn State matches. It got me hyped up whenever I went there and watched those cool introduction videos before the matches start. It just felt like the right thing.”

The two-time PIAA medalist says he plans on majoring in kinesiology at Penn State. Since he was 12, he’s had a fascination with the occupation because of “watching videos of chiropractors doing things to athletes, and thought it was pretty cool.”

Watson continues the string of Penns Valley wrestlers that coach Joel Brinker has seen make the Division I level, joining Andrew Sharer (West Virginia), Baylor Shunk (Penn State), Malachi DuVall (George Mason) and Corey Hazel (Lock Haven).

“It’s always nice to see these guys move on. We love these guys,” Brinker said. “This has been their passion from elementary up through. It’s a credit to the coaches throughout our program. They have a great support system with the Penns Valley wrestling club, which supports these guys tremendously. Our community here in Penns Valley is extremely supportive.”

The support that Watson receives from the community was something he’s received from the Nittany Lions’ coaching staff as well.

He said that coaches Cael and Cody Sanderson showed up to the Rams’ football game against Central on Oct. 6, adding that during his official visit he and Cael Sanderson spoke more about football than wrestling.

Even though Cael Sanderson told Watson he wanted to see him play, and they’d exchanged texts in the days leading up to the game, he still didn’t think he’d see the coach in the stands that night.

“I was like, ‘there is no way he’s coming to my game.’ Thursday, he texted me and said, ‘I’m still coming,’” Watson said. “I told him it might be raining. I saw him walking in and coach Cody. I waved at them. They sat in the rain and watched the game with my family. They were into it according to my parents. They were being supportive of me. It just shows how much they care.”