Chance Marsteller will be making a most timely homecoming at the end of the month.

The top-20 wrestling match between Lock Haven University and Arizona State — at Red Lion High — certainly is a marker in his winding recovery and rise toward a national title.

It's an important step in a larger picture, too.

Marsteller and his fiancee are parents to a 13-month-old boy, Cannon.

They are expecting another son at the end of February.

A month after that, Marsteller hopes to finish his college career at the NCAA Wrestling Championships in Pittsburgh.

He expects to earn his college degree in May.

All of this seems so far from where he was two years ago.

Being a father "keeps everything in perspective and makes you get every minute out of every hour you train and work," said Marsteller, a fifth-year senior. "It's basically, 'Family, school and wrestling, and go take care of them.'

"There's definitely days that break you, mentally and emotionally," he said of being a father. He gives most of the credit to his fiancee, Jenna Thomassy.

"You still are learning something every day. You never know when he'll get sick or get up in the middle of the night. It keeps you on your toes.

"Is wrestling really that tough or being a dad?"

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Now, all of the YAIAA and District 3 will get to watch Marsteller on Jan. 25 at Red Lion — along with Spring Grove's Dalton Rohrbaugh, Lock Haven's freshman starter at 133 pounds.

Marsteller hasn't performed this close to home since leaving Kennard-Dale five years ago as one of the most decorated wrestlers in state history.

He never lost a high school match and USA Today named him its national wrestler of the year as a senior.

"It is going to be cool to be back home, for my parents and my fiancee's family," he said. "To me, it's another match. It's just always good to get good competition."

Marsteller had to save himself before another title run

At one point, the nation's top high school wrestler didn't even have a school, no less a team.

His college career and personal life spiraled out of control, nearly wiping away the sport he loved.

In August of 2016 he was accused of kicking, spitting and biting at police officers when they were called to an apartment complex near Lock Haven. According to court documents, he had a blood alcohol content that was more than three times the legal limit for driving and also had marijuana and cocaine in his system.

After that, he finally seemed to meet a stretch of troubles head-on.

He completed rehab, received seven years of probation and earned his way back into college and on the Lock Haven team.

He said he refuses to use that as motivation.

"I tried to let that stuff drive me before, but that's kind of like putting (regular) gas in a diesel truck. It's not the right fuel.

"I don't let that bother me now. Everyone has their own expectations. ... A lot of wrestling fans never wrestled in college and never have a clue to what it’s like. They have their own opinion and that doesn’t mean much. I'm harder on myself than what everyone expects in me. That's what drives me, that and my family."

Marsteller finished fourth at the NCAA Championships last March and is ranked fourth again this season at 10-1. His only defeat came in the finals of last week's prestigious Southern Scuffle in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He dropped a 6-5 decision to Penn State defending national champ, Vincenzo Joseph, the nation's No. 1 at 165 pounds.

"The way he can handle and problem solve everything on his plate right now is pretty impressive," said Lock Haven coach Scott Moore.

"It's been very rewarding to work with him and identify what he needs in his life to be successful and break down and simplify the process for him. It's made me a better coach. It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to work with someone with that skill set ..."

Most impressive, though, has been "seeing him develop and mature into a father and a leader and captain of the team," Moore said.

Consider that last season was only Marsteller's first full season of college competition.

"I think I'm right about where I want to be," he said. "The biggest thing coming out of high school was I always gave myself every chance I could, like going to the Olympic Training Center. I went everywhere I could, trained with everyone I could. The first couple of years of college I didn't exactly do that."

And yet, through his entire journey, from being a Penn State recruit to wrestling at Oklahoma State to Lock Haven, "The goal has never changed. I never stopped working at my craft. ... I don't know how to live and breathe without it."

And the final turn of his whirlwind college career will begin, in a sense, in Red Lion.

"I absolutely know" he said, "that I can win a national title."