JERRY WOLKOWITZ Allentown’s Ed Zawada, shown here controlling an opponent in a match last season, is one of only a handful of experienced wrestlers returning for the Redbirds this season.
While wrestling hasn’t been the most popular sport at Allentown High School in recent years, third-year coach Ed Dunckley sees some positive signs for the future.
"Kids in the area are starting to come through the feeder systems and get to the high school with a little more experience," he said. "We’re just starting to feel the results of that now."
Dunckley has a very young team this season, with a number of underclassmen scattered throughout the starting lineup.
"I have one senior on the team and two really experienced juniors," the coach said. "The rest of the kids are kind of mixed. Some of them have some experience; others have none at all."
Over the weekend, the Redbirds participated in the Ewing Invitational, and had several wrestlers earn top finishes. Others got their first taste of wrestling at the high school level. All in all, Dunckley was pleased with the results.
"The kids took fifth in the tournament against some very good competition," he said. "We weren’t able to schedule any scrimmages this year, so I figured the results would be difficult to judge at first. But we performed well."
Leading the way for the Redbirds this season are juniors Nick Pinchaud and Frank Cerankowski, both of whom took first place at the Ewing Invitational last weekend.
Pinchaud will flip-flop with freshman Nick Pate between 112 and 119, depending on potential matchups, according to Dunckley. Pinchaud took third in District 25 last season and is a proven team leader.
Cerankowski was fourth in the district last season, and also took fifth in the Mercer County Tournament. Both he and Pinchaud are the squad’s most experienced wrestlers.
"I expect a lot from both of those guys," Dunckley said. "They’re both very hard workers and should help with the development of some of the younger guys."
Junior Ed Zawada is also back at 140 pounds, and is looking to improve on the progress he made last year after transferring to Allentown. Zawada took fifth at the Ewing Invitational.
Senior Kenny Keim took third at the Ewing for the second year in a row in the 160-pound weight class.
"He keeps running into a district champ from Willingboro and can’t seem to get past him," Dunckley said. "But he wrestled well."
At 189 pounds, junior Jason Bednar took fourth at the Ewing Invitational and is one of the wrestlers Dunckley expects to improve steadily as the year progresses.
Junior Charles Morgan took fifth at 215, while junior Brian Simon, in his first year of varsity wrestling, took third at 125.
"Simon has some elementary school wrestling experience and is a very hard worker," Dunckley said. "I expect good things from him as well."
Rounding out the squad are sophomore Matt Schottlender (103), who took second at Ewing; junior Chris McCans at 145, who Dunckley said is an exceptional athlete who should pick things up quickly; sophomore Matt Merritt at 152, who took fourth at Ewing; freshman Evan Teel at 171; and junior Matt Mordas, who will flip-flop between 135 and 140 when he returns in January after recovering from a broken hand.
Not having a wrestler at 275 will hurt the team once again this year, as it will have to forfeit that weight at each match. But Dunckley is not too concerned with team results this season, based on the overall experience of his squad.
"Because of the numbers and injuries, I am really pushing individual wrestling rather than worrying too much about team wrestling," he said. "I want to improve each wrestler, that’s my immediate goal. If each kid continues to improve, the team will come together later."
Dunckley describes this season as a rebuilding year, being that many of his starters are getting their first experience on the mats. But the coach is confident that the growing pains the team suffers this season will translate into a solid campaign next year.
"Next year we should be very good," he said. "We have a lot of young guys who are hard-working, very athletic guys, and I expect them to learn a lot this year.
"We also have a good group of eighth-graders coming up, which will be nice because we’ve grown accustomed to starting with about 20 kids. Hopefully we’ll gain some depth next year."
Dunckley said that getting kids to come out for wrestling has been somewhat of a problem in the past.
"Nobody on our coaching staff works in the school system," he explained. "Otherwise you can take the kids out of the hall. With us not being there, it’s really just a matter of word of mouth, with kids deciding to come out on their own."
But things appear to be turning around in Allentown, and the coach has reason to be optimistic about the future. For now, his team will keep moving forward, starting with Saturday’s matchup with West Windsor South.