Braves open Fri., Buena, EHT, Spirit, Prep quarantined
The Absegami Braves wrestling team will open the 2021 season this Friday night at Delsea in a thrilling rematch of last spring’s contentious South Jersey Group III playoff dual. Saturday morning in Galloway they will meet the typically tough Middle Township Panthers at 10am. Meanwhile the wrestlers at Buena, EHT, Holy Spirit and St. Augustine have been quarantined.
The Braves were to have opened with Buena on St. Patrick’s Day but will try to chase that rainbow later in the month. The Braves will face the mighty Kingsway Dragons at home on Monday the 22nd. More so than any other year the Braves’ schedule is in a constant state of flux. Ironically in a season in which very few fans will see them wrestle, Absegami is good. The Braves boast four state qualifiers and a district placewinner, many solid underclassmen with varsity experience and freshmen lightweights that have been wrestling for Braves’ coach Shawn Scannell in the Galloway Mustangs’ program.
“We have a solid lineup, Scannell said. “We have kids with lofty goals but more importantly they have the means to achieve them.”
Freshmen Owen Doyle, Chris Eaton and Aidan Zeck will man the posts at 106, 113 and 120, respectively. Veteran Jack Devlin, a senior who was a district medalist last spring, takes his last run at states from the 126-pound weight class. Devlin has improved every year he has been in the program.
Veteran junior Tyler Foulke and freshman Julian Rivera will wrestle off for the spot at 132. Sean Cowan, who was a state qualifier last year as a freshman, is back but is up several weight classes to 138. “He’s big, Scannell said. “He’s worked very hard and he is very strong.” Sophomore Frank Gargione had a good varsity season last year and is the starter at 145 this year. Fellow soph Charley Soto will wrestle at 152. Senior Ethan Zeck is back at 160. Zeck is a very talented veteran wrestler who could finally put it all together this year for the Braves.
Junior Ray Weed missed all of last season with an injury. The year before that he won the district tournament, was a region finalist and won several matches at the state tournament. He will wrestle at 170 this year.
At 182 state qualifier George Rhodes, another district champ and regional finalist, will make another run at the state tournament. Rhodes’ relentless style is fun to watch. It will be interesting to see how much he has improved. Yet another state qualifier awaits the opening whistle at 195 pounds. Senior Mikal Taylor was a district champ, placed third in the region and grabbed a couple of wins in Atlantic City last year. He may also see some matches at 220 as he switches off with senior Sahmir Brown. Sophomore Adrian Martinez-Ruiz is the Absegami heavyweight.
All of this assumes, of course, that the Braves stay away from Covid-19. “We have been preaching to the kids to stay safe, Scannell said. “They can’t be selfish and go somewhere they shouldn’t go. They have many sacrifices to make in many ways.”
One thing that will be sacrificed will be the lengthy dual meet season and the team group playoffs. Fans who love the lineup bumping and ‘who has to send out first’ drama of the dual meets are out of luck this year.
“There will be no movement in the lineup, Scannell said, “unless it is to get a kid a tougher match. This will be 10 or 15 meets of best versus best. There will be no running from guys at certain weight classes or any of that. Two reasons for that are that one, we have a short season and two, we have to get our kids ready for the postseason. We have get all our kids the toughest matches we can. There is no premium on winning dual meets. There are no league titles and no group power points or playoffs.”
Training the Braves for the postseason with a short preseason and short regular season is a whole different deal than what most wrestlers are used to.
“We’ve got to prepare for the postseason, Scannell said. “We have a very quick turnaround to wrestle them into shape. Some guys will be rusty in dual meets. This is a challenge to get them into shape and into tough matches. We have had some very high intensity practices.”
Whoa. When Scannell talks about high intensity it gets your attention. Kind of a like a hurricane telling you it’s going to be windy.
“We don’t have a lot of time to hone technique, he said. “We have to go, go, go. We are in hyper mode in practice. No slowing down, no time for resting. We aren’t hitting the ‘play’ button. We are on ‘fast forward’ all the time. The kids have responded. They have been great.”