Nottingham overpowers Lawrence with physicality
HAMILTON TWP. » With massive inexperience on both sides of the mat, it should come as no surprise it was the Nottingham wrestling team’s physicality that proved to be the difference in a 51-27 win Saturday morning over Lawrence.
Time after time it seemed whenever a Lawrence wrestler got out of position he lacked the strength to get out of trouble, and the result was seven Nottingham pins in its “Swamp.’’
“That’s our thing; you know that,’’ said Nottingham coach Jason “The Rock’’ Marasco about his team’s aggressive style. “We like to beat on people if we can.’’
Nottingham is coming off a season in which it won a school-record 21 dual matches and captured a sixth straight division title. With nine firstyear wrestlers in their lineup the Swamprats are clearly rebuilding, but will only get better as the year goes along.
As for Lawrence, it starts eight freshmen, and there’s a new sense of energy with a team that appears on the upswing with an infusion of young wrestlers.
What Saturday’s match pointed out, however, was that in addition to mat time what the Cardinals also need is a lot of time in the weight room.
“You can do some light lifting, but you can’t really weight train that much during the season,’’ said veteran Lawrence coach Chris Lynne. “You have to do that during the offseason. Once we get the kids on a (weight) program it will really help.’’
Lawrence got off to a nice start when Miraj Patel (132) and Justin Featherson opened the match with pins, but it was at this point where the Swamprat pinning barrage began.
At 145 pounds, Lawrence’s Careem Frost was doing a nice job of riding Dan Dempsey in the second period of a scoreless bout, only to get reversed and suddenly decked in 3:58.
The same thing more or less happened at 152 pounds where Lawrence’s Jake Dellarda built up an early lead against Patrick Lenard, but was suddenly flattened early in the second period.
This left the match tied at 12-all, and Nottingham more or less cruised home from there. Also pinning for the Rats were Joshua Almanzar (170), Franklin Hytegha (195), Marc Jordine (220), heavyweight Sylvester Freeman and Sudesh Gurang (120).
For its part, Lawrence also got falls from Conner Verga (182) and Darren Ikeda (113) in addition to the two pins to start the match.
Also getting the job done for Nottingham was Jerry Andaluz at 160 pounds. Second at the season-opening Nottingham Tourney, Andaluz beat one of Lawrence’s top wrestlers in Efrain DeLeon, 9-3.
“We’re going to take our lumps, but we will still be out there going for it,’’ said Marasco.
Nottingham (1-1) 51 Lawrence (2-2) 27
132: Miraj Patel (LASE) over Eddie Gonzalez (HNN) (Fall 0:42) 138: Justin Featherston (LASE) over Angel Rodriguez (HNN) (Fall 2:14) 145: Daniel Dempsey (HNN) over Careem Frost (LASE) (Fall 3:58) 152: Patrick Lenard (HNN) over Jake Dallarda (LASE) (Fall 2:27) 160: Jerry Andaluz (HNN) over Efrain DeLeon (LASE) (Dec 9-3) 170: Joshua Almanzar (HNN) over Alex Marion (LASE) (Fall 2:42) 182: Connor Verga (LASE) over Edwin CreveCoeur (HNN) (Fall 1:42) 195: Franklin Hytegha (HNN) over George Stoev (LASE) (Fall 0:51) 220: Marc Jordine (HNN) over Adam Zarow (LASE) (Fall 1:52) 285: Sylvester Freeman (HNN) over Marcelino Lopez (LASE) (Fall 1:12) 106: Joe Wilson (HNN) over (LASE) (For.) 113: Darren Ikeda (LASE) over Jeffrey Isaac (HNN) (Fall 3:21) 120: Sudesh Gurung (HNN) over Denym Carroll (LASE) (Fall 0:26) 126: Reece Schenck (LASE) over Wild Jeff Fileus (HNN) (Dec 6-2)