Columbia Match

(Photo courtesy of Ellen Greenberg)

I would like to start out by thanking all of the parents, alumni, and friends of F&M Wrestling who made it out to the Columbia match on Saturday.  The crowd in Mayser Gym was strong and the social after the match was a great opportunity for me to meet our wrestler’s families and quite a few of the alumni who have played an important role in getting me here to Lancaster.  I was also lucky enough to get my parents and high school wrestling coach down as well.  My parents have not been to a match in a few years and it was special to have their support and nice to be able to introduce them to my guys.  My high school coach brought 3 of his stars with him and hopefully, one day in the not-so-distant future I will be able to introduce some of them as new Diplomats!  At the luncheon afterwards I was able to meet and talk with the parents of our wrestlers and it was very nice to feel so much support and gratitude for the work the coaches have put in this season.  Speaking of support (how bout that segway), I had the honor of spending time with Dr. Cark Becker.  Dr. Becker is an F&M Wrestling alum and one of the biggest supporters and fans of our program.  He has given his time, medical expertise, and support to F&M Wrestling and has been the driving force behind a campaign to reinvigorate the program.  The coaches and wrestlers here at F&M want to say “thank you” to Dr. Becker for all his efforts.

The match this weekend was against EIWA opponent Columbia University.  It is always important that we go and wrestle hard and to win, but when we go out against a league opponent EIWA seeding is at stake and that could be the difference between a ticket to Omaha (NCAA’s) or a bus to Lancaster.

133 – Jake made his return to the lineup after 3 ½ weeks off with a knee injury.  While the match was very conservative and uneventful (in a good way) from a coaches perspective Jake did amazingly well.  He was a bit hesitant on his feet but he was dominant on the mat.  Jake did not give his opponant anything for free, using an array of mat returns to keep the Columbia wrestler in the bottom position.  Jake worked up his riding time and even earned his own quick escape to cap off the strong performance.  Welcome back Jake!

141 – Matt Murray wrestled the match of the afternoon (see pic above!).  Matt has been working hard to find a style that best suits his body type and he seems to have found something that works.  I don’t want to give anything away but it rhymes with “punt bedrock” and "ladle".  Matt hit a nice take down and secured the quick pin.  Let’s hope he continues to work hard and improve as we move towards Eastern’s.

149 – Eric Norgard wrestled a NJ State Champ and while the score was lop sided the match was actually much closer.  Eric got hit with a few big moves early on and as a result he had to play catch up the entire 2^nd + 3^rd periods which took away his offense and the ability for him to be patient.

157 – Matt Gittleman needs to get off of the bottom-period!  He cannot be in a match if he is wrestling from his belly the whole time.  Matt is a great kid and a wonderful captain, he will figure things out by Eastern’s I am sure.

165 – Anthony Bongarzone had a similar situation to Eric Norgard.  Anthony was wrestling a tough kid who was really funky.  Anthony came out aggressive and went for his hi-crotch but when the Columbia wrestler stopped him he tried to force a re shot and he gave up 2+2 in a big move.  The rest of the match Anthony had to play catch up and when you are trying to play catch up you tend to force more shots than you should have.  I do feel Anthony can best this guy and we will hopefully find out in a month.  On a positive note, Anthony came in this morning and we worked on some technique and had a great drill.

174 – Hopefully Matt Fullowan will be back in the next few weeks, rumor has it he was bitten by the love bug and has been bed ridden ever since.

184 – Matt Latessa continues to get great match experience and mix it up with some great competition.  He has been effective on his feet but still needs to get better on the mat.

197 – Colin Ely needs to work on being more conservative.  He is trying to do too much on his feet and ends up putting himself in awkward and dangerous positions and gives away too many points.  We are working on this in the room every day.

HWT – Daniel made his return to the lineup as well this weekend.  He is one of my favorite wrestlers to watch and unfortunately he was a bit undersized in this match.  Daniel needs to get back in shape and he will be fine.