By Ryan Mink
rmink@digitalsports.com
When Gonzaga wrestling coach Milton Yates took over six years ago, he inherited a team with just eight wrestlers.
Forfeiting 30 points per dual, the Eagles went 1-15 their first year with their only victory coming against Hyde.
“We didn’t have much,” Yates said. “It was a learning experience.”
Now Gonzaga is coming off a season in which it went 11-3 in duals and crowned a pair of WCAC champions in Paul O’Neill at 103 pounds and older brother Joe O’Neill. The Eagles also have more wrestlers than ever in the room, now at 44.
But heading into this year’s wrestling season, even a team on the rise like Gonzaga still faces a cold fact every day; that at this point it’s incredibly difficult to end DeMatha’s 23-year streak atop the WCAC.
“Last year we had a great year,” sophomore Paul O’Neill said. “We beat a lot of teams we haven’t beat in a long time. But DeMatha’s a good team. It’s going to take a lot to beat them – O’Connell too. So it’s definitely going to be tough. It’s doable, but it’s tough.”
While DeMatha is lauded for its success in other sports, such as winning a sixth-straight football championship this past season or for continually fielding one of the best soccer, basketball, baseball and lacrosse teams in the Washington area, it’s most dominant team compared to those around the rest of the conference is wrestling.
The Stags have not only won 23 straight titles but they’ve done it with so much ease that it’s kind of accepted as a fact of life in the WCAC.
“It’s DeMatha; they’re powerhouses in all their sports,” junior Zach Thompson said. Every single year they’re bringing in new kids that are good. It’s discouraging but at the same time it makes beating any of their kids that much better.”
“It’s one of those things that you realize if you’re coming here and you don’t have that experience you understand why they’re where they are,” Yates added. “You understand that not until when we have multiple years of getting five to six experienced kids a year, then we’ll be in a position to compete with them.”
So where do programs outside of Hyattsville even start?
Yates goes with a grassroots approach, meeting kids, parents and coaches in wrestling rooms inside and outside the beltway.
His sell isn’t necessarily wrestling, because if a grapper has his eyes set on team championships and a life focused around athletics, they’re heading to DeMatha. Instead, Yates sells Gonzaga’s academics and hopes that the student is smart enough to get admitted if they choose to even apply.
Yates has steadily improved the numbers in his own room. He will also, for the first time, have a wrestling dual match in the middle of a school day with the entire school’s student population watching, thus hoping to spark some interest amongst those already enrolled.
But while getting kids who have never wrestled before helps to at least put more bodies in the gym, it’s going to take more than that to catch up to the Stags.
“You have to get kids admitted that have wrestling experience,” Yates said before addressing DeMatha. “They’re not dealing with a lot beginners. The only beginners they usually get play football and want to improve and they’re usually heavier.”
Gonzaga’s top returning wrestler is O’Neill, who won the WCAC championship last season by beating DeMatha’s Pat Prada. But O’Neill stumbled at National Preps and didn’t place while Prada took eighth. O’Neil didn’t wrestle this summer so Yates said he’s not sure what to expect from the hard-nosed sophomore.
“Hopefully I keep on winning. That’s about it, keep on winning, keep on working hard,” O’Neill said. “I know I have strength and quickness but my technique wasn’t there last year.”
The Eagles also return senior Stephane Guillou and should get Thompson back near the start of 2009 when his knee heals. Gonzaga feels it has more depth than last year and has a shot at finishing in the top three of the WCAC.
But with DeMatha all but already locking up the title before the season even starts, Gonzaga’s eyes are set on a city championship, which has been won by Sidwell Friends the past few years by a large margin.
“Our chances [of winning a city title] are a lot better,” Guillou said. “It would be great to end my senior year on a city title, especially because I’m a captain. It would mean a whole lot to the whole team.”
SO WHO DOES DEMATHA HAVE?
Yet again, the Stags graduate a talented class of wrestlers, in specific Matt Dugan and Mike Aggugia who went to Drexel and American, respectively. But DeMatha still has a strong cast returning.
“It’s always tough to replace a good guy and a kid that works hard in the room,” Coach **** Messier said. “Both those individuals had that kind of work ethic. Seeing how they were successful carries over to the next year and the year after that.”
Leading the way is Prada, Ben Hatef (who placed third at national preps in the upper weights) and Kyle Haden, who made a big splash as a freshman last year at 125. Michael Williams, Cory Wilson, Arie Kouandjio, John Daniel Peacock and Chris Miller should also be impact grapplers.
The Stags, as usual, have a pair of highly-touted freshman coming into the fold in junior league champions Sean Patrick Meehan and Jonathan Simmons. Simmons notched a big overtime win in the first match against Curly this past weekend at the Curly Duals.
DeMatha topped perennial state power Curly, 38-36, in an early display of how strong the Stags are again this year. Other than Simmons’ big win, Wilson and Hatef each notched big pins and Prada also had a major decision. The Stags also beat John Carroll, Calvert Hall and St. Mary’s Annapolis to get Messier his 401st career win.
WHO HAS THE BEST CHANCE?
O’Connell’s Nam Dunbar leads an experience-laden Knights squad that may have a senior at every starting position and should have the best chance of knocking off DeMatha.
Dunbar, an aggressive wrestler with a unique style, will surely be looking to get revenge on McNamara’s Andrew Bannister, who came from behind to beat Dunbar at National Preps last season.
The Knights also return seniors Kyle Mason, James Young, Jonathon Carpenter, Chris Curtain, Connor Furey, Mike Pettit, Jeff Carrol, Michael Winkler, Chris Staubs and Jonathan Nieto. O’Connell placed 13th at National Preps last year.
GEMS ELSEWHERE
There’s certainly some top-notch wrestlers sprinkled throughout the rest of the WCAC.
Bishop McNamara senior Andrew Bannister has a chance to become a four-time private schools state champion. Good Counsel offensive lineman and upper weights monster Devin Gordon-Hamm should make a big splash this season as well. St. John’s returns City Champion and National qualifier James Wenzlaff.
Paul VI also returns experience this season and St. Mary’s Ryken is on the rise with Daniel Schuck and Jonathan Boyd leading the way.
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