A wrestler has to shatter dreams to achieve his own
Cape Henlopen High School will host the DIAA Individual State Wrestling Tournament Friday and Saturday, Feb. 22 and 23, for the seventh time in the last eight years.
“We have a great venue and group of volunteers, and we just love hosting,” said Vikings coach Chris Mattioni.
Wrestling is all about the numbers, with 14 weight classes each with a full bracket containing 16 wrestlers for a total of 224 wrestlers. That means 406 matches will be wrestled over two days of competition. The only path to the finals is not to lose.
A wrestler going to the dark side (losers’ bracket) may have to wrestle as many as six times just to get third place. A top seed who holds serve only has to win four matches to be crowned state champion.
“Most, if not all, coaches are fans of the sport,” Mattioni said. “The quarterfinal matches Friday night at 7 p.m. [on five mats] should be incredible. The first-round consolation matches are also at 7 p.m.”
The 16-wrestler seeding is just like March Madness regionals in NCAA basketball. A 16 seed makes it into the tournament, and he is just happy to be there. His reward is a match against the top seed who has more than 35 wins.
The Henlopen Conference has eight top seeds going into the tournament. The top seeds in all brackets include 106: Gabe Giampietro, Smyrna (39-2); 113: Zach Spence, Salesianum (33-6); 120: Ethan Gray, Caravel (39-2); 126: Alex Poore, Caravel (34-2); 132: Anthony Caruso, Cape (41-3); 138: Nicholas Natarcola, Smyrna (34-5); 145: Jackson Dean, Caesar Rodney (33-5); 152: Nick Hall, Caravel (36-2); 160: Liam O’Connor, Delcastle (38-2); 170: Brian Schneider, Middletown (47-2); 182: JT Davis, Smyrna (37-3); 195: Michael Wright, Sussex Central (34-9) ; 220: Anthony Diaz, Milford (33-1); 285: Kevin Hudson, Caesar Rodney (25-7).
Cape’s individual state champions include: 1973: Willie Vann; 1975 and ‘76: Tyrone Gibbs; 1977: Randy Johnson; 1978: Perry Walls; 1980: Charlie Turner; 1989 and ‘90: John Lobiondo; 1991: Jared Hill; 2006: Brian Riggin; 2012, ‘13 and ‘14: Thomas Ott; 2014: Aaron Mattioni; 2016: Anthony Caruso; and 2016 and ‘17: Cory Lawson.
