JACKSON TWP— When Bill Hufnagel retires, a good bit of Seneca Valley wrestling history will retire with him.

"He's a walking encyclopedia for that program,"said former Raiders coach Ken Lockey. "Bill remembers wrestlers and matches that have gone through Seneca Valley like no one else can."

With good reason. Seneca Valley wrestling has existed for 42 years. Hufnagel, 54, has been keeping the scorebook for 41 of them.

Lockey retired from coaching a few years ago after compiling a 392-163-13 record in 33 seasons. But Hufnagel stayed as Joe Montalbano, Mark Angle and current coach Lee Mullett took over the program.

"Every year, I look closely at it now," Hufnagel said about whether he will continue scoring the matches. "I know I can't be doing this for too many more years."

Hufnagel was a freshman at Seneca Valley when he began keeping Lockey's book for the Raiders' second wrestling season.

Lockey was his history teacher that year — the only year of Lockey's teaching career that he taught freshmen.

"Bill was a very sociable kid and he'd always come up to my desk and talk for a while after class,"Lockey said. "He was the football manager in ninth grade and I knew he loved being around sports.

"One day he asked me if I needed any help with the wrestling team. He's been keeping the book ever since."

Lockey's wife, Mary, kept the book during Seneca Valley's first wrestling season because "no one around here had ever seen a wrestling match, let alone know how to score one," the coach said.

Hufnagel had to learn the terms himself.

"That first year was rough," he admitted. "I had to learn the basics. It's like keeping the book in any sport — football, basketball, baseball — you have to understand the terminology.

"I had to learn what a takedown was, an escape, a reversal. ... Once I knew what was what, I fell in love with the sport."

Employed as a mechanic during the day, Hufnagel has rarely missed a match at night.

"He missed maybe three or four matches in my 33 years,"Lockey said.

Lockey ranks 10th on Pennsylvania's all-time high school wrestling win list. The Raiders once had a streak of 35 consecutive winning seasons, sixth-longest in state history.

"We always had huge numbers (of wrestlers),"Hufnagel said. "We had full junior varsity teams at one point. Now if there's two or three JVmatches, that's considered a lot anymore."

When Hufnagel began scoring matches, the lightest weight class was 88 pounds "and we always had a kid there. Now the smallest weight is 103 pounds and teams have a hard time finding them."

Hufnagel had no problem recalling the most memorable match he's seen.

"We were wrestling at Greenville and Wayne Bloom, a sophomore, was beating the defending state champion," he said. "The clock ran out, but the buzzer never went off.

"Wayne had the lead when time ran out, but the referee never stopped the match. The other kid scored a couple more points after the fact, was awarded the win, and the place was in an uproar."

When asked to name the best wrestlers he's seen at Seneca Valley, Hufnagel immediately rattled off five names.

Dave Ferianc, the program's first section champion, was one of them. So was Richie Barron, the program's first and only state champion.

Others were two-time WPIALchampion Bloom, four-year standout Tim Kearns and four-time section champion Shawn Cully.

"Those guys were just outstanding,"Hufnagel said. "Richie, Matt and Mark Barron were the first three brothers to get more than 100 wins each in the state."

Hufnagel has done more for SV wrestling than just keep score. He's been active with the wrestling boosters, serving as treasurer for many years.

He's been involved in fundraisers and accompanied Lockey on scouting trips.

"He's done everything for the program but coach,"Lockey said. "I never asked him to come scouting with me. He asked if I minded if he went along one day, then he kept coming. We logged hundreds of miles together and became best friends.

"Bill would sit behind the table at tournaments for hours and not even move. He was amazing that way."

The day will come when Hufnagel isn't behind the table anymore.

"They'll be hurting when he retires,"Lockey said. "So many things that he does ... well. nobody else can do."