Seahawks can’t take off with Panthers’ paws gripping tight

With just four matches to go before the Henlopen Conference championships, Sussex Academy wrestling will take lessons from the 61-15 Jan. 24 loss to Polytech and focus on improvement.

“For the sake of this match, I really wanted to keep everybody at their main weights, just for seeding for conferences,” said coach Justin Bennett. “Going into the match, we try to hype the guys up, we try to motivate them knowing darn well that these guys are going to be tough. And I think a lot of our kids went out there with the fight of a dog in them, and they tried their best.”

Senior Douglas Horton continued his domination at 175 pounds, while sophomore Rico DiSalvo collected his third pin in a row. The aggressive DiSalvo was all smiles once he got the hand tap. Horton did his smiling mid-match after treating his opponent like a dough meant for pretzels.

Sophomore William Hendershot was the only other Seahawk to get a hand raised, doing so in dramatic fashion.

“Most of my matches this year have been really close – I've seen a lot of improvement this year – and it's just those close matches that matter most,” Hendershot said. “Inside [pointing to his head], an easy win will help you, but it's not like those close matches where you can push yourself and really get that win in the end.”

Hendershot trailed 9-8 before escaping to tie. A takedown gave him the lead 11-9.

The sophomore didn’t like seeing his teammates getting roughed up.

“Just saw a lot of my teammates getting beat up, and it really made me upset, and I wanted to go out there and start off getting some points for the team,” Hendershot said. “I just saw a lot of my teammates down and needing something to bump them back up.”

Bennett praised Polytech for not allowing his guys to implement their preferred style.

“They took a lot of control of the match; they pushed a tempo, they didn’t allow for our wrestlers to wrestle their style,” Bennett said.