EDINBORO — As an athlete at Slippery High School, Forrest Christmann won 102 matches in wrestling and was an all-state lineman in football.

Now a red-shirt sophomore at Edinboro University, he’s ready to do it all again.

Already entrenched on the Fighting Scots’ wrestling team, Christmann finished 11-7 with four pins last season. He battled for time at the heavyweight position.

He’s earning time as a defensive tackle for the Edinboro football team these days.

“I just missed playing,” Christmann said of football. “I decided to give it a shot.”

Edinboro football coach Scott Browning is glad he did.

“I love the kid,” Browning said. “He’s such a hard worker and he challenges himself. He’s seeing some time on the field for us now and I can see him cracking our lineup in the future.”

Christmann was an all-state guard in football for Slippery Rock his senior year and was District 10 champion on the wrestling mat. Iowa, Penn State and Pitt were among schools showing interest in his football skills before he committed to wrestling.

While seeing sporadic action on the gridiron this season, Christmann has accumulated one solo tackle and six assists.

“I didn’t decide to play until August,” Christmann said. “I wish I came out last spring so I could have gotten ahead of the game a little bit.

“It’s all good, though. I feel like I’m catching up.”

The 6-foot-3, 260-pound Christmann is No. 2 on the depth chart at defensive tackle behind 6-5, 290-pound junior James Wilson Jr. The Scots have started eight different freshmen on defense this season.

There are 49 freshmen or red-shirt freshmen on the Edinboro football roster. The Scots are winless this season.

“It’s been rough not winning games, but we’ve been in a number of games,” Christmann said. “This team is going to get better and I want to be a part of that.

“My goal is to become a starter next year, All I can do is keep working at it.”

Browning has no doubt he will.

“Forrest came to us and expressed interest in coming out for the team,” the coach said. “We gave him a chance and he’s been making progress ever since.”

Christmann said the Scots’ wrestling coaches have no problem with him playing football, though preseason wrestling practice is now coinciding with football season.

“They’ve already had wrestle-offs for starting positions and Billy Miller is our heavyweight right now,” Christmann said. “Once football is over, I’ll report back to wrestling practice and will be given a chance to wrestle-off for that heayweight spot.

“I’ll do my best to get that spot, but there are no pushovers in that (wrestling) room. It’s a top-flight program for a reason.”

Edinboro has won the Eastern Wrestling League 13 times in the past 17 years and the PSAC Tournament 14 times in the past 17 seasons.

And while Christmann is in football shape, he admits he’s not in wrestling shape — which is much rougher.

“There’s no comparison,” he said. “In football, you go hard for 30 seconds and stop. In wrestling, you’re going all the time. I’ll get there.”

Playing two collegiate sports while maintaining a 3.0 grade point average as a criminal justice major is keeping Christmann busy.

But it’s nothing overwhelming to him.

“If I wasn’t playing one sport, I’d be practicing the other,” he said with a shrug. “I would keep busy either way.”