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Chester County Press

Wrestling Coaches Take a Time Out, Preview Seasons

12/19/2014 09:20AM ● By Kevin
Winter sports are upon us. In light of that, we chatted with wrestling coaches Chris Matz (Unionville), Tyron Johnson (Kennett), and Scott Gold II (Oxford) to get the low down on the 2014-15 season.

Unionville

"We were 22-5 last year, which was a school record for wrestling wins in a season. We lost 9 seniors with a combined record of 115-60. We are young this year with 34 wrestlers on (the) roster. We have four captains: Mitch Camp, Sam Immediato, Ian Larson, and Matt Stillman. (Larson) is a returning captain.

"(West Chester) Rustin is the team to beat in our league. We beat them for the league title in 2013.

"Underclassman on the radar are Jake Tayler (113), Spencer Larson (138), Joey DiMarco (145), and Ryan Margolin (160). Interesting fact - we are undefeated in our new gym over the last two years. We hope to win 85 percent of our dual meets and get several wrestlers to the PIAA regional tournament, and one to states." - Chris Matz, 14th year (134-92) at Unionville

Kennett

Chester County PRESS: Your record last year? How did the season end?

Tyrone Johnson: 1-4 league – 4-16 over-all

CCP: Seniors last year you lost to graduation

Johnson: Tristen DiCicco, Emmit Devlin, Kyle Warner and Cory Tomasetti.

CCP: Team captains this year? Aside from the captains, who do you expect to step into a leadership role?

Johnson: Tyler LaCosta is our captain. Drew Massetti (120) and Rudy Perez will be a big help to Tyler. They both were 20-match winners and district qualifiers last year.

CCP: What matches are on the radar as important matchups this year.

Johnson: All the matches that we will wrestle will be important to this team's success.

CCP: Any up and coming underclassmen to look out for?

Johnson: Logan Reigel (106), Gerhardt (120), Luis Nieto (170), Bryan Castaneda (285), Edwin Castaneda (220).

CCP: Your overall expectations for the season this year.

Johnson: This will be a growing period for the demon with 8  to 10 underclassmen in the line-up. A top 3 finish would be a terrific season for this young team.

CCP: Biggest challenge to overcome this year?

Johnson: Our experience  and filling the line-up (see roster below)

106 Logan Reigel Fr or Nevan Mcfoy Fr

113 Mary Nichols  Jr or Gerhardt Reiter FR

120 Drew Massetti So

126 Giovanni DiCicco Fr or Jake Anderson Fr

132 Dale Burns So or Manuel Negron Fr

138 Adian Shaw Sr

145 Tyler LaCosta Sr

152 Alex Corona So

160 Diego Atoy FR

170 Luis Neito So

182 Rudy Perez Sr

195 Edwin Castaneda so

220 Bryan Castaneda FR

285  Alex Lucas Fr

Oxford

Chester County PRESS: Your record last year? How did the season end?

Scott Gold II: 10-9, lasts years season was a continuation in the right direction to rebuilding our program. We reached some important team goals that were set early in the year, but fell short on some individual goals.  A few wrestlers were driven by this during the offseason. 

CCP: Seniors last year you lost to graduation?

Gold: Davin Axelson (145/152), Tyler Carter (285), Clay Moran (170), Ben Starcheski (195), and Kyle Youssi (145). 

CCP: Team captains this year? Aside from the captains, who do you expect to step into a leadership role?

Gold: Alex Chavez (120/126), Michael Galbraith (120/126), Jose Torres (145). We are also looking for Harry Marr (106) and David Cox (152) to work into a leadership role this year. 

CCP: What matches are on the radar as important matchups this year?

Gold: With a diminished line-up due to the of quality wrestlers choosing to pursue other avenues, every dual meet is important this year. We will try to scrape by with the small lineup we have to work with this year.  

CCP: Any up and coming underclassmen to look out for?

Gold: It is too early to tell.

CCP: Your overall expectations for the season this year?

Gold: We had an extremely low turnout this year. Something we’ve never seen in Oxford before. Nonetheless, we still have regional and state quality wrestlers in our room everyday working as hard as anyone else. At the end of the year we expect to be competing at the regional and state tournament. 

CCP: Biggest challenge to overcome this year?

Gold: Every team deals with challenges throughout a season. That’s what this sport is about.  Our challenge this year is keeping our wrestlers confident and motivate throughout a long season. 

CCP: Any other thoughts/praise you'd like to add.

Gold: It is a shame that the Oxford male student body does not want to engage in this fine sport. The wrestling team has put more trophies in the show case over the last 40 years than any other team.