Lackawanna Trail’s Cidney Schaffer is the No. 8 seed at 100 pounds for the District 2 tournament. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Wrestler Cidney Schaffer at Lackawanna Trail High School in Fatoryville on Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Wrestler Cidney Schaffer at Lackawanna Trail High School in Fatoryville on Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Lackawanna Trail’s Cidney Schaffer tries to escape from Hanover Area’s Nate Clime in a 107-pound match at the Frank Wadas Memorial Tournament. KEVIN MCCONLOGUE / STAFF PHOTO
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Lackawanna Trail’s Cidney Schaffer is the No. 8 seed at 100 pounds for the District 2 tournament. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Cidney Schaffer entered high school with a decorated wrestling career.
One of the best girls wrestlers in the state, the Lackawanna Trail freshman is a Middle Atlantic Wrestling Association Eastern national champion, a four-time state-placer, a three-time Pennsylvania national team member and a fourth-place finisher at the Fargo National Championships.
Even with her accomplishments, Schaffer knew she had plenty of room to grow and was ready for her next challenge — wrestling mostly boys as the Lions’ 107-pounder.
With Lackawanna Trail not having a girls wrestling team, Schaffer can either wrestle strictly girls tournaments during the regular season or compete with the boys.
“My challenge for her this year knowing that she was going to be wrestling primarily boys all season was to use this opportunity to sharpen her mental game, to be able to stay in tight matches with boys who are more physical, more mature than she is and then to also be able to cope with loss and be able to put that behind her,” Lackawanna Trail coach Adam Johnson said.
She is no stranger to wrestling against boys, but coming in as a freshman and competing on the varsity level is a daunting task for anybody.
“They’re way stronger than you would have imagined, especially because I’m a girl,” Schaffer said. “They’re way stronger than me right now.”
Despite the difference in strength, Schaffer more than held her own this season, securing the third most wins on the team with a 20-9 record — including 10 pins.
She placed third at the South Williamsport Mountaineer Invitational, fourth at the Lackawanna League Championships, fifth at Battle on the Delaware and sixth at the Frank Wadas Memorial Tournament. Also, Schaffer went 4-0 with two pins and two forfeit victories during the league season.
“I’ve had the fortune of seeing her compete in our youth program all the way through, but her intensity in the room, her experience in the room, her overall wrestling knowledge even as a freshman is definitely evident in our room and we don’t have any seniors this year, so it’s been a good fit for her,” Johnson said of Schaffer, who started wrestling when she was nine. “She’s just one of those silent leaders that is just there every day, no days off and she’s just ready to work all the time.”
The few times she faced girls this season, she showed why PA Power Wrestling ranks her as the third best female in the state at 100 pounds. Schaffer is 8-0 against girls this season with seven first-period pins and one second-period pin. Four of those wins came at the Southern Tier Memorial at LECOM Event Center in New York, where she won a title.
“So far, I’m actually decently happy with how I’ve performed,” Schaffer said. “There are some matches I could have wrestled way better in, but they’re behind me and I’m just ready to get into the postseason.”
Learning to move on from tough losses was also a big part of improving her mental game. Johnson recalled a moment during the Wadas Tournament in December that helped her growth.
“She took a loss that she took to heart and it kind of weighed her down a little bit,” Johnson said. “She was upset, and I remember going up into the bleachers and talking with her. I told her that we have an end goal, and that’s the postseason with the girls and my challenge to her is to utilize this year against the boys as a sharpening stone to get her mind right and obviously the conditioning.”
She responded by going 6-2 for the remainder of the boys schedule and capturing the Southern Tier Memorial girls title.
“I can definitely tell that I’ve gotten stronger mentally and physically wrestling (boys) throughout the year,” Schaffer said. “There comes a lot of challenges, but I can overcome most of them.”
This season not only had an impact on her, but also her presence proved a huge asset to a young Lackawanna Trail team.
“She’s young, but she’s a leader,” Lackawanna Trail standout wrestler Mark Rebmann said. “Even at Mat Assassins, she pushes the kids there, she pushes the kids here. Girls wrestling is becoming a big thing, and she’s a big part of it. She’s a really good wrestler and she’s a really good leader for our team.”
Schaffer hopes her career helps jumpstart a girls wrestling program at Lackawanna Trail. She knows the impact she can have with her success, but she’s also been proactive and started recruiting.
“I made an interest form, and I’ve been having some girls sign it, and if they showed any interest, I would just start talking to them,” Schaffer said.
She also influences the youth wrestlers, serving as a mentor and showing what is possible in the sport.
“She’s eternally positive with the girls, encouraging them, trying to remind them that sometimes wrestling boys isn’t the easiest thing,” Johnson said. “I think that big picture, having Cidney where she’s at, even as a freshman, is bringing life to girls wrestling at Lackawanna Trail. We are a very, very small school, and as of now we don’t have a sanctioned girls team, but I think come the end of this season there’s going to be a massive push for a girls team at Lackawanna Trail.”
Even as a freshman, Schaffer embraces that leadership role, and wants to give back to the wrestling community.
“It means a lot,” Schaffer said. “I have girls in our little kid club wrestling the boys that look up to me, and I just want to give them a little thing to look up to.”
Next up for Schaffer is the District 2 girls tournament, which is scheduled for Friday and Saturday inside The Den at Wilkes-Barre Area. She is seeded eighth at 100 pounds because the wrestling committee can only base seeding off matches against other girls. She’ll have to navigate a tough bracket that includes former district champions fourth-seeded Claire Gyle of Hanover Area and fifth-seeded Sophia Yancewicz of Wallenpaupack, another stellar freshman top-seeded Rheagan Wargo of Western Wayne, district silver medalist second-seeded Matilda Serrano of Nanticoke Area and district bronze medalist Willow McDonnell of Scranton Prep.
The top four finishers in each weight class advance to the Central Regional.
“I definitely want to win districts,” Schaffer said. “I know that it’s definitely possible. Even I could probably even accomplish winning regionals, but I definitely want to be on the state podium.”
Schedule
Friday: Round of 16 (4:30 p.m.), quarterfinals and consolation first round (5:15 p.m.), consolation second round (7:15 p.m.).
Saturday: Semifinals (10 a.m.), consolation third round (11:15 a.m.), consolation semifinals (12:15 p.m.), third- and fifth-place matches (1:45 p.m.), parade of champions (3:30 p.m.), Finals (4 p.m.).