Cape wrestlers go to states
Five alive heading into the second day semifinals of the Delaware State Wrestling Championships has never happened for the Cape wrestling team in its history unless someone can prove otherwise. And without second-round losses in the final seconds of the second round by Austin Smith 112 and Garrett Smith 125, it could have been seven going into semifinal rounds last Saturday, Feb. 26.
Coach Chris Mattioni gathered his grapplers on the mat prior to Saturday’s action, which began at 11 a.m., to wish them well. “The kids have been great going hard and exceeding expectations during these final two weeks, so there’s not much to say,” Mattioni said. “I told them to keep going hard, that it was sure to be another wild and emotional day.”
Chris Young 130, Justin Lopez 140, Sammy Mohr 152, Ian Eckrote 160 and Thomas Ott heavyweight had all reached the semifinals. Austin Smith, Garret Smith and Aaron Dennis were in the wrestle backs. Tadeo Gonzalez, Cape’s Henlopen Conference Champion at 171, was out of the meet after breaking his hand at the last practice.
Cutting to the quick, all “five alive” Cape guys lost in the semifinals. But Cape closed out with a full house of three third-place finishes in Young, Mohr and Ott and two fourths in Eckrote and Lopez.
Young lost to Tyler Pendergast of Saint Mark’s but came back to capture third place, beating Josh Briddel of Sussex Tech 6-0. “He is one of the best wrestlers Cape has ever had,” Mattioni said. “He finished the season 31-3 and his career 124-36. He is a four-time state placer, finishing sixth, fifth, third, and third.”
Freshman Lopez had two great tournaments to close out the season and finished fourth in the state. “He is a tremendous athlete with a lot of raw athleticism. He exceeded all expectations and will just get better and better as he matures and becomes tougher,” Mattioni said. Lopez finished the season 22-12. “He impressed a lot of people this past weekend. He knocked off the independent champ Mike Merrill from Sallies in the quarters,” Mattioni said. “He defeated Jon Wideman from William Penn in the wrestle backs. Jon had dominated him and pinned him at the Delcastle tournament.”
Mohr, a junior, finished the year 30-10 and earned third place in the state. “Sammy is an emotional wrestler who believes he can beat anyone,” Mattioni said. “He had more overtime matches than anyone else on the team this year. He had a nice win over the McGinley, the independent champ, in the quarterfinals. He was wrestling well against Boyles from Smyrna in the semis, but gave up a pin in the second period. He had a great year and wrestled back tough to take third. He should challenge for a title next year.”
Senior Eckrote finished the year 13-4 and ended fourth in the state in a tough weight class. He had an early season broken hand that kept him off the mat for a long period of time. Ian was a four-year starter, two-time state qualifier, and a state placer this year. “He is a hard worker who put in a lot of work in the off season,” Mattioni said. “No one put more time in during the off season over the year than Ian.”
Freshman Ott, wrestling in the 285-pound class but weighing in at 220, finished 19-4 and was close to a trip to the finals before losing to Pat Cassidy on Saint Mark’s in the semis in triple overtime—a great feat considering he split time between wrestling and basketball. “If he had a little more weight and height, I think he would have beat Cassidy,” Mattioni said. “He has a great shot at winning titles the next three years.” Ott beat Christian Forrest of Lake 3-1 in the consolation finals to place third.
Freshman Austin Smith wrestled back to place fourth and finished the season with a 29-10 record. Garrett Smith, a junior, completed his season 28-10. Freshman Aaron Dennis wrestled back to place fifth and finish the season 25-11. “The only other freshman at the weight class to win that many matches was Bobby Hopkins,” Mattinoni said” If he can match Bobby's feat he will have a amazing career at Cape. “
