BERKELEY SPRINGS -Tory Bennett was just an elementary-school student when his older brother Tyson won the National High School Coaches Association's Freshman Nationals Wrestling Tournament, but the experience made a lasting impression.

"Yeah, I wanted to win it," Tory said of watching his brother take on the title to become Berkeley Springs High School's first-ever freshman All-American in wrestling.

Last week, Tory Bennett made it two Freshman All-American honors for Berkeley Springs - and gained some bragging rights on his brother - by winning the NHSCA Freshman Nationals tournament in Virginia Beach, Va.

Facing a group of largely unknown wrestlers representing more than 40 states, Tory Bennett nevertheless went into the competition confident he could compete.

"I was hoping to at least place," said Bennett, who wrestled at 171 pounds.

That appeared an ambitious goal, judging by Bennett's first match in the double-elimination tournament on Wednesday against New York's Anthony Lock. Bennett battled to a 4-3 victory in that match, dealing Lock - who eventually finished third in the tournament - his only loss.

Bennett's second-round matchup looked even tougher, with another New Yorker - Zachery Diekel - who finished fourth in states during the high school season. Trailing 2-1 going into the third period, Bennett scored an escape, a takedown and three near-fall points to grab a 7-2 lead before scoring two more near-fall points in the waning moments for a 9-2 victory.

Two matches into the tournament, and Bennett had already gone more than six minutes per bout.

"I'm not going to say he was in the kind of shape he was during wrestling season, because he wasn't," said Darrell Bennett, Tory's father and coach at Berkeley Springs. "He was only working out a minimum two or three days a week, and a maximum five days a week. He got in better shape as the tournament went along."

Bennett's third-round matchup came against a wrestler he'd faced before, North Carolina's Cameron King. Having previously beaten King in an NHSCA open tournament, Tory Bennett might have been thinking he'd finally caught a break. Heading into overtime tied 1-1, Bennett didn't think that by the end of the match even though it took less than a minute in OT to secure the victory after King's leg attack left him wide open for Bennett's two-point counter for the 3-1 win.

In the semifinals, Bennett jumped out to a 4-1 lead against Pennsylvania's Jerome Beers and was never really threatened in an 11-4 victory.

That set up a championship matchup on Friday against yet another New York wrestler, Austyn Hayes. The match went back and forth in the opening minute before Bennett scored two points with a takedown. Hayes rallied with an escape point, but Bennett got that back with an escape of his own and tallied another two-point takedown in the third period for an eventual 5-2 victory.

"We just went down mainly to see some new guys, to see some different styles," Darrell Bennett said. "Kids from New York, New Jersey wrestle a little differently."

Tory Bennett found that out early.

"One of the kids a wrestled was on his hands and knees a little bit, and I wasn't used to that," Tory Bennett said. "And all the kids were stronger than me."

Tory Bennett, who finished his freshman season at Berkeley Springs with a 54-4 record that included a third-place finish as a 160-pounder in the Class AA/A state wrestling meet, hopes the experience in Virginia Beach will pay off next year in Huntington.

"In the semis, I handled it a lot better than I handled it at states," Tory Bennett said. "I definitely learned a lot."