Young Knights edge Princeton
By: Bob Nuse
Bill Mealy doesn’t have to think too hard about the biggest win in the young history of his West Windsor-Plainsboro High North wrestling program.
"This is it," Mealy said after his Knights defeated Princeton, 45-42, Saturday to improve to 2-0 on the season. "This is a big win for us. It’s the first time we went into a match against a team that we weren’t sure if we could beat them and we did. It was a match we weren’t sure we could win and we won it."
The win was the second straight to open the season for North, which has never been 2-0 before in its previous three seasons as a program. With the quick start, this could be a breakthrough year for the Knights, who have never won more than four matches in a season prior to this year.
"I think we’ll be better than we were last year," said junior Steve Smagula, who picked up a key win in the match with a pin at 145 pounds. "And next year we could be even better. We’ll only lose one senior from the lineup from this year."
Like the team, Smagula is hoping this is a big season ahead. Each of his previous two seasons with the Knights have seen their share of pitfalls, much like his first two years with the sport.
"I started wrestling in seventh grade and I got injured during the season when I sprained my vertebrae," said Smagula, who improved to 4-4 on the season with his win on Saturday. "Then in eighth grade I broke my shoulder."
His luck wasn’t any better his first two years with the high school program either. He was sick for much of his freshman season, then last year when Smagula was finally healthy, he ran into some of the best wrestlers the Knights would face all year.
"His freshman year he was sick for a lot of the season, then last year when he was healthy, he faced everybody’s hammer at the beginning of the year," Mealy said. "He did better over the second half of the season. I don’t think he started this season the way he wanted this year, so this was a nice win for him to get."
"I knew my match was going to be an important one," Smagula said. "I wanted to come out and do well. We have a pretty good team this year. We’ve already won two matches, which is a good start for us. We have McCorristin and Trenton coming up and hopefully we can keep on winning."
In the win over Princeton, the Knights picked up wins via pin from Smagula, Jeff Rotella, Corey Simmons-Elder and Alex Ragucci. George Goldsmith picked up a win via decision, while Wynton Skelton and Tim McGuigan won via forfeit.
"Jeff Rotella getting that pin was a pleasant surprise," said Mealy, whose team was going after its third win of the season when it faced McCorristin on Monday. "His kid came out tough and he was able to win a good match. He’s coming along nicely for us."
A relatively young team, most of the Knights have shown steady progress in the early going. Smagula is just one of those wrestlers showing steady progress.
"The coaches have helped me a lot," Smagula said. "I have more experience now and so far this year I’ve been healthy. Our whole team is learning a lot. This was a good win for us against a good team. We knew Princeton was going to be tough, but we got some key wins."
Those wins led the Knights to the biggest win in their history. But they hope there are more to come as the season goes on.