For New Campaign, Dodger Wrestlers Seek Boost From Past Victories

After losing six seniors from last seasons Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference Independence Division winning team, head coach Steve Healey and his wrestling team head into the 2011-12 season with high expectations surrounding a lineup littered with questions.

While it remains to be seen how the Dodgers will fair in their quest to defend their first conference title in six years, they will face a number of hurdles heading into the season, including loads of inexperience in both the upper and lower weight classes.

The Dodgers may appear to be in a precarious position by relying on so many rookies, but the reality is that replacing athletes from one season to another is the norm in high school athletics and Madison has dealt with it before.

“The goal is to bridge that gap, as we’ve been able to do in the past, Healey explained. “Every time you lose somebody, you hope the younger guys can step up and get it done. We’re pretty solid in the middle [of the lineup] but some of our upper weights and lower weights are young, so our middle guys are going to have to hold the ground and see if the others can develop.”

But while Healey anxiously waits for some of his less experienced guys to develop, he also has a stable of reliable wrestlers to count on, including nine returning letter winners.

“Guys have been working hard and we have great senior leadership,” Healey said. “There’s a gap between our young guys and the experienced guys, so those upperclassmen are trying to help those guys along and encourage them.  Everybody is developing, its moving along well, we just have to hope that it continues to progress.”

Leading the way for Madison this season is senior captain and three-time District 10 medalist Patsy Davis. Davis, who has also medaled in the Region 3 Tournament twice in three seasons, and has two Morris County finals appearances—including an MCT title in 2009—to his credit, can normally be counted on for six points in each duel meet.

Already, Healey says that Davis has improved on some of his techniques from the 2010-11 season.

“We fixed a few things in the first couple of weeks [of practice] that we noticed he was doing last year that he could improve on,” Healey said. “He’s already made big strides in those areas, so we expect to seem him improve [on last season’s performance] and get greater results."

Individually, Davis’ goal is to make his second trip to the state tournament, and this time earn a medal.

“I definitely want to make it down to Atlantic City this year and place,” explained Davis, who wrestled in the states his sophomore year after placing third in the region. “I didn’t have a good run in the region tournament last year, I didn’t wrestle well, so I definitely have to step up big and make it down to Atlantic City and place.”

Healey believes that Davis’ goal is attainable, as long as things go as planned this year.

“Our goal for him and his goal for himself is to be on the podium in Atlantic City,” Healey said. “He obviously wants to be a state place-winner, top eight in his weight class, which we all know he’s capable of. It’s just a matter of getting hot at the right time and making sure that he stays injury-free.”

Seniors Matt Allen, Max Gotsch and Peter Willis, along with junior John Costa, all come into the season after earning top-three finishes in the District 10 tournament last year and Healey hopes to see them recapture their success from a season ago. Junior Nick Haboj (195 pounds) is the lone returning member of the upper weights.

“Those guys, along with Davis, are going to be the anchors of our team, he said. “Mostly everybody else is young, as far as not being in the lineup or young as far as not having a lot of varsity experience. There are some guys like [Nick] Picillo, [Dave] Schuckman and [Doug] Capuder who have had varsity experience in the past and now need to take that experience and develop it.”

Madison gets its season started on Wednesday against Hopatcong.

LAST SEASON

Madison finished up 2010-11 with a 15-5 mark, including an Independence Division Conference title. The Dodgers saw their season end with a 33-30 loss to Belvidere High in the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association North 2 Group I state sectional tournament.

LOOK OUT FOR

Patsy Davis, (126)- Davis heads into the season with high expectations from not only Healey and the rest of the Dodgers, but also from himself. With a top-eight finish in Atlantic City a tangible goal, look for Davis to continue his impressive performances on the mat.

Peter Willis, (152)- Willis grabbed a third-place finish in the districts last season and is hoping to continue his impressive wrestling in 2011-12.

Matt Allen, (160)- A third-place finisher in the districts last season, Allen is another experienced wrestler returning to the middleweights for Madison.

THEY’LL MISS

Mike Boardman, (285)- Boardman was an anchor in the Madison lineup for the good part of three seasons, giving Healey & Co. a win more often than not.  Boardman's senior season included second-place finishes in the District 10 and Region 3 tournaments, and he was the lone Madison representative at the state tournament in Atlantic City.

Ed Carr, (170)- Carr developed into a consistent asset to the Madison lineup in his final two seasons, regularly stopping opponents with what eventually became his signature headlock. The senior earned a third-place finish in the District 10 Tournament in 2010-11.

Jack Anzul, (189)- Anzul was another Dodger who developed into a quality grappler for Healey. The senior wrapped up his season with a second-place finish in the District 10 Tournament.

THEY SAID IT

“So far we’ve been trying to push the younger guys hard so they’re not totally shocked by the intensity of this level of wrestling. That’s the best thing we can do for them right now. It’s pretty similar to last year and we’re hoping to get some of the same results.”-Matt Allen

“We’re going to be a young team, definitely inexperienced, but everyday we’ve got to go out there and work hard and keep getting better. It’s more about mat time for us this year than anything else, there’s going to be a lot of close matches, but we’re going to have to pull though and win.”- Patsy Davis

“There is definitely a lot of younger guys, but we also have a bunch of good seniors that will definitely be able to win. We lost a good amount of talent from last year, but we’ve been working really hard in the preseason trying to get into shape and get ready and I think we can win a lot of matches just by our conditioning alone.”- Max Gotsch

“All the experienced guys are trying to spread out and fill out different weights and I think we’ll have a strong group from 138 [pounds] through at least [160 pounds] and obviously we have Patsy. But down at the lower weights and up at the higher weights, we might be a little less experienced.”- Peter Willis