Wrestling: Headless Horsemen to Open Against Torres

When Sleepy Hollow opens its campaign at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 7 against visiting Mahopac, it will be going up against one of its own.

That's because Mahopac coach Juan Torres, a 1992 Sleepy Hollow graduate, once wrestled and was an assistant coach for Headless Horsemen boss Brian Tompkins.

Both squads also wrestled against each other last year at Mahopac, with Sleepy Hollow winning.

Torres, who was a three-time all-league wrestler in high school at 91, 98, 105 and 119 pounds, said that the lessons he learned while wrestling for Tompkins are ones he puts in use when he coaches his Mahopac squad.   

Tompkins, in turn, said he was really proud to see Torres grow from a wrestler he had in high school, to now being a successful coach at one of the top programs in Section 1.

"It's great to see Juan grow as a coach," Tompkins said. "He's done a great job at Mahopac. He does a real nice job with the kids. He puts in a lot of time at Mahopac."

When Tompkins and his Sleepy Hollow squad start the season against the Indians, it will rely on four key returning grapplers to lead a young squad of 40 wrestlers. One of them comes off a campaign where he was all-section last year – Dondrey Sharrock who will wrestle either at 160 or 171 pounds.

"Being that he was all-section last year, we are going to expect a lot out of him this year," Tompkins said. "He has been around wrestling for a long time. He's a tough kid."

Another top returning wrestler is senior Ben Hofling, who will hit the mat at 145 pounds.

"He is a hard-working kid," Tompkins said. "He is just a tough kid who wrestles tough."

Another tough returning wrestler for Sleepy Hollow is junior Juan Pablo Loja, who wrestles at 119 pounds. Loja has become a quick study when it comes to the sport of wrestling.

"It's only his second year on varsity but he is a competitive, hard-working kid in the room," Tompkins said. "He's another hard-working kid that we are going to rely on this year."

Another wrestler that falls into that same category for Sleepy Hollow is senior Chris Lopez, who weighs in at 140 pounds. He brings plenty of experience to the mat since he has been wrestling since he was in middle school.

"He has been wrestling since he was in eighth grade," Tompkins said. "He is just another very strong kid who works real hard in the room."

The hard work that Sharrock, Hofling, Loja and Lopez put into their wrestling represents what type of work ethic Sleepy Hollow has as a whole, according to Tompkins.

"We have a young team this year," Tompkins said. "We have 40 kids who are working really hard and are looking forward to the season."