By Rich Winter

605 Sports

IPSWICH — Opponents of Ipswich/Bowdle eighth-grader Sophia Knittel can thank her older brothers for the wicked cross-faces and the in-your-face all out brawl every time Knittel steps on the mat with them.

Knittel finished second in the 126-pound weight class at the 2024 state girls wrestling tournament. The eighth-grader is 8-1 heading into the new year and gives a lot of the credit for her own success to her older brothers. 

“The reason I wrestle so physically is because of my brothers and that’s how we would push each other around,” Knittel said. “I’ve wrestled a lot of boys in practice and if I want to break them down it takes more to break a boy down and that helped form my style.”

Ipswich/Bowdle wrestling coach Robbie Williams had been watching Knittel come up through the AAU ranks, especially for the last two-to-three years. A year ago he watched as his seventh grade prodigy clawed and scrapped her way into the championship match at the state tournament. 

“Last year was the first year I worked with her and she’s definitely a scrapper,” Williams said. “She’s extremely tough and will get into a scrap with anyone, she won’t back down from anyone.” 

A year ago Knittel and her coach looked at the state tournament bracket and were just hoping to reach the podium. Knittel entered the tournament with a 13-3 record and was facing an uphill climb against more decorated and higher seeded athletes. 

In the quarterfinals she upset No. 2 seed Brooklyn Baird of Sturgis, 4-3. In the semifinals she took out No. 4 seed Mathilde Matsuda of Spearfish, 6-5.

“I was hoping to place in the top six and I was not expecting to do as well as I did,” she said. “I listened to my coach and took shots and paid close attention to the girls before I went out to the actual matches.”

Having exceeded expectations Knittel found herself matched against undefeated and top-seeded Regina Stoeser of Harrisburg in the finals. The match ended by fall (5:29) but Knittel soaked up every second of the experience. 

Nervous throughout the state tournament Williams said Knittel wrestled her butt off at the state meet.

“She came a long way last year and just got better bCandice Matsuday leaps and bounds,” Williams said. “We ran into a bit of a hammer in Regina but overall she had a great state tournament.”
Williams is the boys and girls coach, along with the junior varsity. coach in Ipswich. While Knittel was going on a tear at the state tournament the school, the teachers and fellow coaches began bombarding him with congratulatory texts and emails. 

A year ago Knittel was the only girl on the wrestling team. 

“Being the only girl felt normal, I’m pretty used to it,” she said. “Ever since I started there have never been any girls in the sport because they felt like they couldn’t do it.”  

Following her success and the continued building of the program Ipswich/Bowdle has five girls on the team, and for the first time, Knittel doesn’t have to wrestle exclusively boys.

WIlliams gives most of the team expansion credit to Knittel. 

“Girls sit back and see that this is another avenue they can take,” he said. “If they see a girl right here that is doing it and being successful then why not give it a try.” 

Knittel is 8-1 on the season with her only loss coming to a wrestler from North Dakota. With girls tournaments scarce in their part of the state, Knittel and her teammates plan on attending tournaments in Miller/Webster and Harrisburg during the month of January. 

Before the state tournament in February, Knittel and her coach will be sticking to

“I think with high-level wrestling we’ll just keep working on the basics until they are perfected,” Williams said. “We can do better on top and working turns and breaking down people but it’s always about the basics and outworking your opponent.”