BUTLER TWP - How small was Decker Hubbs' first high school?

It was small enough that his graduating class couldn't fill out a varsity wrestling starting lineup.

Butler's sophomore 112-pound wrestler transferred this school year from Wyoming. Hubbs had attended Encampment High School - with only 11 other freshmen.

"I played basketball in junior high because we didn't have much else," Hubbs said. "I figured on playing basketball again in high school until my brother talked me into wrestling."

Richard Hubbs, who is five years older than his brother, had participated in USA Wrestling, a youth amateur program. Their father, Dennis Hubbs, wrestled in high school and once placed third in the Wyoming state tournament.

But Wyoming high school wrestling is far different from Pennsylvania's.

"When I saw what they had here … Decker was gonna have to earn everything he got," the elder Hubbs said.

"The average wrestler in Wyoming couldn't make the team at Butler," Decker Hubbs said.

To wrestle in Wyoming last year, Hubbs traveled 18 miles every day after school to wrestle for Saratoga High School, which had 20 in its 2004 graduating class.

But it had wrestling.

"I was terrible when I started out last year," Hubbs recalled. "I mean, just awful. I think I lost my first 12 matches."

He wound up dropping to the 103-pound weight class, finished the season at .500 and was the state runner-up. Hubbs led the state title match 12-6 at one point, but made a mistake and got pinned.

Next thing he knew, Hubbs was in Butler. Instead of attending one of the smallest schools in Wyoming, he was attending one of the biggest in Pennsylvania.

"It took me three weeks before I stopped being late for classes," he said. "I couldn't find my way around the school."

When Hubbs approached Butler wrestling coach Scott Stoner about joining the team, Stoner reserved judgment."I was told he was a state runner-up last year, but I'm not a tell-me person," Stoner said. "I'm a show-me person."When Decker said his graduating class was 12, I'm picturing a one-room schoolhouse. He was in for an adjustment."He was in for some competition, too. Hubbs began this season in the 119-pound weight division, same as freshman sensation Ian McLaughlin.McLaughlin leads the Golden Tornado with a 28-4 record and broke Butler's single-season pin record. He now has 24.At 125 pounds was freshman Alex Evanoff, who has 18 wins. At 112 pounds was Ken Rosenbauer, another freshman sporting a winning record."Decker had to swallow his pride a little bit," Stoner said. "He went from being a state runner-up to having to scrap for a spot in the starting lineup."Hubbs competed at different lighter weight classes as Stoner juggled his young wrestlers. Now he's nestled in at 112 pounds and has an 18-6 record with eight pins this season."Given all he's had to adjust to, I'm surprised Decker's doing as well as he's doing," his father said.Hubbs just enjoys doing it."We wrestled at the Burgettstown Tournament and the size of that was the same as the Wyoming state tournament," Hubbs said."The wrestling room here is incredible. At Saratoga, we had to roll mats out on the cafeteria floor to have a place to practice."Hubbs has a gymnastics background that he's carried over to wrestling. He competed in the USA National Championships in Anaheim, Calif., as a fourth grader."He's a wiry, elusive kid," Stoner said. "At times he gets overexuberant, rides an opponent too high and gets himself in trouble."But this kid is improving all the time. He's enthusiastic, a leader type, who is very personable and polite."At a small high school, social skills are probably emphasized and come into play a lot more. I'm sure that's part of it," Stoner added."There was a lot more one-on-one contact," Hubbs agreed. "That's one thing I miss."Except when he's on a wrestling mat."I'm hoping to get to the WPIAL meet and go from there," Hubbs said. "But I haven't even experienced the section meet yet. The section meet, WPIALs, that's all uncharted waters for me."The state meet around here seems a long way off. I'm just going one step at a time."