C-C Wrestling Wraps Up Successful Season

The early season outlook wasn’t good for the High School wrestling team. In one weekend, the Patriots lost three key contributors to injuries.

Shorthanded for what appeared to be a significant amount of time, second-year C-C coach Eric Rivera tempered expectations. What initially had the makings of a strong season quickly appeared to be taking a turn for the worst.

“Our expectations going in were very high,” Patriots sophomore Zach Bloom said in a telephone interview on Sunday afternoon, “but then the injuries hit and our expectations sank real low.”

Enter several unproven wrestlers and one star in the making, that would be Bloom, and the Patriots slowly but surely reversed their early misfortunes. Each week, Rivera said the team showed signs of improvement. And, like clockwork, each week the results began to steadily get better.

C-C was at its best by the end of the season. The Patriots placed fourth in the Dual County League meet, third at the team sectional meet. They reached the top at the Division 2 Central Sectional, turning out three sectional champions and four sectional finalists.

And the rising star, Bloom, competed in the New England Championships held over the weekend. Though his stint was short in New Haven, Conn., losing his first two matches on Friday night, Bloom gained valuable experience that will pay off in the future.

“I think Zach grew up this year,” C-C coach Eric Rivera said on Sunday afternoon. A pre-op procedure kept Rivera from attending New Englands. “He became tougher and had a willingness to learn. For him, it’s how good does he want to be? He can be great. I expect great things from him.”

The run by Bloom and the rest of the squad was the best by a C-C wrestling team in at least the past five years. That’s when Zach’s older brother, Scott, was a Patriot. He’s now on Rivera’s staff.

“I’m trying to instill a wrestling philosophy here,” Rivera said. “The guys were never taught a particular skillset and I’m trying to teach them a set of 20 core moves now.”

While Zach Bloom’s spectacular year in the circle helped, both he and Rivera are ardent in the fact that C-C’s success was a team effort. Specifically, both the coach and the future star pointed to the contributions of seniors Andrew Terajewicz and Ryan Ruiz. Neither had prior wrestling experience before joining the team this winter.

Ruiz, captain for the Patriots’ football team in the fall, had been a significant contributor for the C-C basketball team before leaving the court for the mat this year.

At the D-2 Central sectional, Terajewicz and Ruiz joined Bloom in picking up a first-place finish.

“They were huge for us,” Bloom said. “They were what made us good.”

If the Patriots are going to keep their success going into next year, they’ll need more contributions similar to those they received from the two unproven seniors. That means recruiting new wrestlers, which isn’t always easy for the unheralded sport.

For one, the C-C team has no official practice space. They rolled out mats in the cafeteria each day after school this winter to get training time in.

Then there’s the difficulty. Wrestling is easily one of the toughest sports a high school athlete can play. It takes peak physical conditioning, mental and physical toughness and specific skill set.

Since taking over the program last winter, Rivera has tried to install a core set of moves to teach his wrestlers, while getting them to commit more to the sport.

“I think the hardest thing is the skillset,” he said. “It takes years to be good. It’s like a martial art in that you can’t just jump in. Being an athlete just doesn’t translate like it does for basketball and football.”

Perhaps the Patriots’ best recruiting tool is their own success. Witnessing the run the team went on this winter could convince more of the school’s athletes to give the sport a shot. Rivera, who has also taught at CCHS for the past 10 years, said several kids have already approached him about wrestling next year.

He also plans to try and get some Patriot football players to take up wrestling.

Bloom already has plans to spend more timing on wrestling during the offseason, between competing for the C-C boys’ lacrosse and defending D-2 state champion soccer team. He’ll also reach out to athletes at the school that he thinks will be a good fit on the wrestling mat.

“It’s definitely a sport where your feelings depend on how you’re doing,” Bloom said. “When you’re winning, it’s the best sport in the world. But when you’re losing, it can (stink).”

Feelings around the program should reflect more of the former if the Patriots can keep their success going into next winter.