Peddie wrestling team reaches a perfect 10

The Falcons trounced Lawrenceville 68-6 and beat St. Benedict’s 49-21.

By: Neil Hay
   Having won just a total of 10 dual meets over the past two years, who would have thought that, at this point in the 2002-03 season, the Peddie wrestling team would be a perfect 10-0?
   The Falcons did indeed win their ninth and 10th matches of the season – without a loss – by first routing Lawrenceville, 68-6, then defeating St. Benedict’s, 49-21, Wednesday at home.
   "It was a good win for us," said Peddie coach John Leonardis of his team’s victory over St. Ben’s, which completed the two-match sweep. "Head to head they beat us only twice. To win nine matches out of eleven, I was pleased. Even the guys who lost wrestled well. This is one of our measuring sticks to see where we stand. The last two years St. Ben’s has owned us. We are now 10-0, and when you are 10-0, things are going well.
   "I don’t ever think I anticipated being 10-0 at this point. I knew we had the potential. Going in I was confident we’d perform better as a team than we had in the past two years. The kids are wrestling better, they are doing well, and having fun. I’m excited."
   The match with St. Benedict’s began with the 130-pound weight class. Ryan Hamor got Peddie going with an 11-0 decision over Bobby Laraway. At 135, St. Ben’s Chris Lopez pinned Mike Prashad in 2:40. At 140, Rob Neill of Peddie posted an 18-8 major decision over D.J. Meisch. The Falcons then forfeited at 145.
   Peddie got those points back when St. Ben’s forfeited to Paul Stanton at 152. Matt Wolf of Peddie won a 19-5 major decision over Hye-Chun Ghering at 160. At 171, Keith O’Donnell defeated Sean Marshall, 6-2. At 189, Nick Boles pinned Louie Morado in 1:04. And, at 215, Kevin Fox scored a 1:55 pin over Roger Sorrell.
   John Slevin, the St. Benedict’s heavyweight, defeated James Parra, 6-3. The Falcons’ Rafael Chang-Wu won at 103, 16-6 over Edson Silva. At 112, Peddie’s Joe Morreale pinned Billy Casseus in 4:20. Nick Weaver, at 119, pinned Michael Narciso in 5:55. The match ended with St. Ben’s taking a forfeit at 125.
   As he did later in the afternoon against St. Benedict’s, Hamor got the Falcons off and winging against Lawrenceville when he opened with a 1:44 pin against Mark Rudner. Prashad followed with a 7-2 win over Alan Barlow, Neill pinned Derek Hsu in 4:26 and, after Lawrenceville won by forfeit at 145, Stanton took a 13-4 major decision from Isaac Riffelmacher, and Wolf had an 18-2 technical fall win over Will Zullo in 4:45.
   O’Donnell then claimed a 16-2 major decision over Ryan Arcadia, Boles used 4:05 to score a 21-6 T-fall over Sam Glendon, Parra pinned Eric Fogg in 1:32 at 215, and Fox moved up to heavyweight where he pinned Josh Arcadia in 3:44.
   Also, Chang-Wu pinned Matt Cardoso in :30. Rob Tafaro, at 112, pinned Anthony Hall in 1:03. Morreale moved up to 119 and he came through with a pin over Zack Goodman in 1:49. And Weaver, at 125, had a 3:56 T-fall over John Allard.
   Did Leonardis expect to win so decisively against Lawrenceville?
   "I had an idea we could dominate. Everyone stepped up and wrestled well. Hamor getting a fall right off the bat was big. The others carried the momentum."
   This weekend Peddie will be at St. Benedict’s for prep national duals. Although his team is on a roll, Leonardis refused to make any predictions. However, he repeated what he had said earlier in the season.
   "I hope we wrestle well and if we do wrestle to our potential, the opportunity will be there to win a lot of matches."
   So far, so good.