Cape Big House to host DIAA State Wrestling Championships
The Cape Big House will host the DIAA Individual State Wrestling Tournament Friday and Saturday, Feb. 28 and 29, marking the 10th time the Vikings will host the event since 2009.
There are 14 weight classes rolling from 106 through 285 pounds. Each bracket has 16 grapplers and there are no byes. Wrestle-backs are a bear, as talented wrestlers get kicked to the losers’ bracket and begin fighting their way back with hopes to get to the podium for the honor of earning a spot as one of the state’s top six.
“The Cape kids benefit, from the wrestlers to the fans who always show up to support the team,” said coach Chris Mattioni. “Every year we’ve hosted, we had at least one kid in the finals. It’s always a crazy, yet great weekend of wrestling.”
The state Wrestling Committee chaired by Buddy Lloyd is in charge of running the tournament.
Jody Wilson and Clay Lloyd run both the scoring tables and real-time digital coordination with the trackwrestling.com website.
The event includes dozens of officials and trainers. Orthopaedic surgeon Dr. Michael Axe of First State Orthopaedics in Newark has been a fixture during the two days of the tournament over the last several years.
Cape handles security with Delaware State Police unobtrusively present if needed.
Charlie Pollard, the Kick n’ Chicken magnate, coordinates all the concessions. Jessica Mattioni runs the hospitality room. There are major sponsors like SoDel Concepts, Bethany Blues and Chick-fil-A. And Kathy Pavlik of Lewes makes chili, as she has since Cape started hosting the tournament.
“Bernie [Bowden], Cape’s chief custodian, gets all the mats here,” Chris Mattioni said. “We go from five mats on Friday down to four early Saturday then to three for the money matches to determine places three through eight.”
The culmination of the wrestling season features one mat under the spotlight to determine individual state champions.
Cape has qualified 11 wrestlers for the tournament, which includes four freshmen, three sophomores, two juniors and two seniors.
There are 31 teams represented in the tournament.
Wrestling starts at 4 p.m, Friday, and resumes at 10:30 a.m., Saturday, with the semifinals beginning at 11:30.
