Aberdeen accentuates teams’ strengths

After having a wrestler win states last year the Devils are puting all their efforts into repeating that feat.On Saturday, December 12 the varsity wrestling team competed against Sherwood and Paint Branch. The Devils were bested by Sherwood but were able to beat the Panthers 40-30.

On December 9 they  took on the Churchill Bulldogs. The Devils lost to the Bulldogs 38-39 in a disappointing match. A factor as to why the Devils could not pull away with a win was that senior Joseph Galeano was not able to wrestle because he was 0.1 pounds overweight.

The loss of Galeano plus the prexisting injuries to senior Alex Abramson and junior Lam Ngo was to much to overcome.

The Devils squad came into this season with high expectations despite some questions concerning depth. Compared to last year they are missing one state champion and two wrestlers who reached the state tournament. Even with all the talent on the team, there are still some holes. The team has no one wrestling at the 103 pound or at the 125 pound weight classes.

Although this is a major problem the good news is that the team was able to return standouts Abramson and Galeano. Both made it to states last year and return to the team looking to surpass their efforts.

 “Last year was a good season, but I want this year to be even better,” Abramson said.

Even with these holes in the line up, the Devils were optimistic going into the annual Aberdeen tournament on the weekend of December 4. The Devils placed first at Aberdeen last year.

“My goal going into the tournament was to get a good start to my varsity wrestling career,” junior Michael Robinson said.

Robinson, the Devils 189 pound wrestler, won five of his seven matches at the tournament.

J. Galeano, Senior Eric Aguilar and sophomore Vincent Galeano led the Devils by winning all seven of their matches.

Matches got very physical; getting to the point where Aguilar split one of his opponents heads open during a match.

“Wrestling is a physical sport, things like that happen, I didn’t do it on purpose but at least I won my match,” Aguilar said.

The Devils fought hard but were not able to repeat their performance from last year. The Devils placed second behind Bel-Air High School.

“We lost but we wrestled well. It was a good tournament for us,” head coach Rob Wendel said.

Many of the wrestlers left the tournament with a good record, but it was not enough to get the win.

“I was disappointed with the outcome at Aberdeen,” senior Morgan Mendis said

Mendis finished with a record of 5-1. Other Devils standouts at Aberdeen were junior Alex Campbell who went 6-1 and Abramson who went 5-1 before injuring his ribs.

 Abramson was not the only Devil to get injured. Junior 215 pound wrestler Lam Ngo severely sprained his ankle during his third match.

“It’s going to take a while to heal,” Ngo said.

The Galeanos are the only Devils that remain undefeated and look to keep it that way against B-CC tomorrow