It took 11 years and an incredible season, but the Pennsylvania High School Speech League Lincoln-Douglas Debate State Championship is back at Elk Lake.

After an impressive undefeated tournament EL senior Austin Cohen captured the LD title at the PHSSL State Championship at Susquehanna University on March 22-23. Teammate Matthew Horvath advanced to elimination rounds and finished 8th in the state.

Pictured is the EL Forensics Team Place-winners at the PHSSL State Championship Tournament: Matthew Horvath – 8th in LD Debate; Austin Cohen – State Champion in LD Debate; EL Forensics Director Keith Brosious.

During the preliminary rounds both Cohen and Horvath put on impressive performances. The two seniors combined for a 7 win and 1 loss record.

Cohen defeated debaters from Greensburg-Salem, William Tennet, Unionville, and Pittsburgh Central Catholic HS.

Horvath’s wins came over debaters from Harriton, Cumberland Valley, and Pittsburgh Central Catholic. His only loss came to a debater from Pittsburgh Central Catholic.

Unfortunately, for Elk Lake, Cohen and Horvath were seeded 1st and 8th, respectively, in the Quarter-Final bracket based on their preliminary records and speaker points. Because of this, Cohen, the higher seeded debater, automatically advanced to Semi-Finals over Horvath and Horvath, in only his second year of debate, finished 8th in the state.

Cohen then picked up a unanimous decision in Semis over Gillian Wenhold from The Hill School and advanced to Finals.

In Finals, Cohen was paired against each Robert Gormisky from LaSalle College HS in Philadelphia. This was the fourth time during the season that the two of them had met in an elimination round. Cohen had one the previous three meetings.

On a 3-2 decision, Cohen won the State Championship over Gormisky.

Cohen increased his season record to 78 wins and 3 losses. He has now accomplished what no other debater in the 80 year history of debate in Pennsylvania has ever done: He has won every tournament that he has competed in all season.

“Words simply cannot express how I feel right now. Austin (Cohen) is simply an amazing debater who, after 6 years of hard work, put together an incredible performance this weekend. Simply incredible,” commented EL Forensics Director Keith Brosious.

When asked about Horvath’s performance, Brosious stated, “I have never seen a debater go from unheard of to 8th in the state in just 2 years. He has really worked hard to make it to this level.”

The last time the EL Forensics Team won a State Championship was 2002. That year, Eric Allen won the State Championship in LD Debate and Kris Liebegott won the State Championship in Student Congress.

Cohen, Horvath, and the rest of the EL Forensics team, after 6 months of competition, will take a month off as they prepare for the Spartan Invitational at Southern Lehigh HS on May 4.