Junior captain Joey Briganti pinned Conard’s Brandon Rivera with just over 44 seconds left in the first period. Photo: Dave Burnham, www.esnapsport.wordpress.com.
Newington Wrestling Focuses on the Positives
NEWINGTON - Challenging--that’s what most people would deem the 2014-15 Newington High School wrestling season.

       A roster of just four seniors, four juniors and three sophomores who don’t boast an appreciable amount of varsity wrestling experience translates into an average of four matches forfeited per dual meet, putting Newington at a disadvantage before the Indians ever hit the mat.

       But if you ask senior Anthony Kulowski about the season, he’s quick to note, â€"It’s been good. I’m enjoying working with the team. It’s hard work every day, which may not seen like fun at the time, but by the end when it’s all over, I would never regret this season.

       â€"We have strength in numbers even though we don’t have a big team. We all come together and that gives us a closer bond. Forfeiting weight classes is inevitable; we can’t change that. Everyone goes out there and gives it their best,” according to Kulowski.

       â€"We haven’t been winning a lot of team matches, but we’ve seen a lot of guys improve from last year. I think we can do some good things in individual tournaments and have some guys go far. Sometimes it gets frustrating, but it’s a good experience. I’m definitely enjoying my senior year,” added captain Brendan Zotti.

       â€"I tell the kids if we can win more of the matches that we compete in than our opponent, then it’s a win for us,” explained head coach Eric Soucy. â€"I don’t let the scoreboard dictate that we lost a match or tell us how we wrestled.

       â€"It’s tough in practice because they’re always wrestling the same guys. It’s difficult to switch them up and vary the wrestling partners with a small team. When you’re jumping up 20 pounds, it makes it a little more difficult for one of the wrestlers.

       â€"This team has camaraderie. They always come together,” continued Soucy. â€"I remind them because we’ve got strength in numbers, it doesn’t matter how many we have, as long as we’re strong with what we have. But the advantage of having a smaller roster is that we can give more attention to each kid.

       â€"Brendan is a four-year varsity starter. He goes out and wrestles hard every time. Though Anthony Kulowski is a four-year wrestler, this is his first year in the varsity lineup consistently. Anthony Orwa wrestled as a sophomore and came back to the team this year, while Zach Truhan is a first-year wrestler,” Soucy said of the Indians’ quartet of seniors. â€"There’s not a lot of experience on the team, so we work on the basics, try to synch that into them in practice and go from there.

       â€"We set goals more for individual tournaments, not duals. For meets like tonight, they go out and try to get their wins,” Soucy said after the host Indians dropped a 56-21 decision to Conard Jan. 7. Zotti, junior captain Joey Briganti and sophomore Tyler Savluk scored first-period pins against the Chieftains at 160, 120 and 113, respectively, while junior Richie Junquera posted an 11-4 victory at 138.

       â€"Brendan and Joey looked good tonight. Richie’s only a second-year wrestler but he’s learning and he’s really into the sport. He’s been really stepping up this year. Tyler Savluk had a pin, which was big for him,” said Soucy.

       â€"Wrestling is one of those sports that’s very intense and I’m not going to lie, I did miss it. Once you wrestle, you develop a love for it,” Orwa said. â€"It’s the hardest sport I’ve ever done because you’re going six minutes non-stop. Football is a team sport. Wrestling is an individual sport and a team sport. When you’re out there on the mat, you want to do it for your team, but it’s just you and another person. You have to focus. You get to go at it and see who’s the better person.

       â€"It’s a huge transition to go from a football team with a big roster to a wrestling team with a roster of 11. Being low on numbers makes it harder to win dual meets, but because we’re a small team, our coaches get to work with us individually, so in a way, it’s better. You get to work on things that make you better because it’s easier to pinpoint where your troubles are,” Orwa said.

       â€"It’s easier with fewer guys in the room because we can work as individuals and get that individual work in more often. We’ve had guys get a lot better because they get extra time with the coaches. We can be more individually focused because we don’t have to worry about having too many guys in the room and the coaches not being able to get to you. It’s tough on nights like this, though, because we give up forfeits,” added Zotti.

       Truhan was drawn to wrestling â€"because it’s something different to challenge me. I played basketball last year and wrestling has definitely proven to be more difficult than basketball or football.

       â€"Though we have a small team, it’s good because you get a lot more attention from the coaches and you can get better quicker. You can talk to coach and he’ll remember who you are. It’s a little harder in football because there are so many guys,” said Truhan, who’s considering closing out his scholastic career on the baseball team.

       â€"Individual tournaments are where our wrestlers can hopefully excel more because they’re not worried about the team scoring so they can be more concerned about themselves,” Soucy added.

       The Indians did well at the Jan. 10 Greater Hartford Open, an individual tournament hosted by Hall High School. Junior Rafael Anderson recorded a second-place finish at 132; Junquera and Briganti posted thirds. Zotti, who scored a first-place finish, was named the Outstanding Wrestler of the Tournament.
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