Both the High School North and South wrestling teams are getting ready to take the mat for the 2014-’15 season, and many of the Pirates’ leading point-getters from last year are returning. Along with last season’s leading wrestler, Ben Schulman, the Pirates also have Nick Maher and Robert Armus returning.
South coach Darren Schulman said he also expects Sean Thompson to be a contributor this season.
“I have three to four individuals I think are very good and can go pretty far this year,” Schulman said. “That’s our strength.”
The leaders for this season will be Ben Schulman — the coach’s son — and Maher.
While Schulman said he treats Ben Schulman the same as he would any other wrestler, he does “hold him to a higher standard,” and he is more straightforward with him.
“I’ll try to push him as hard as I can, and usually, he responds,” he said. “He’ll work very, very hard. Sometimes there will be some tension, but it’s all in the course.”
Ben Schulman agreed.
“It doesn’t make it more difficult to wrestle with him as my coach or anything,” he said. “It’s just that he expects me to work a lot harder, and I’m at a higher standard. Sometimes there’s a little less pressure, but usually, we have a good dynamic.”
Schulman and Maher “lead by example. [That’s] their style, and that’s the reason why they are captains,” Darren Schulman said. “I just want the other wrestlers to see how these guys work and look at the success that they have.”
South’s biggest weakness this season will be not the quality, but the quantity of wrestlers. The squad’s thin numbers will force South to forfeit some weight classes in competition this season.
As a result, some inexperienced athletes and first-time wrestlers will see more mat time than they might on another squad, and some of the more skilled wrestlers won’t get proper workout partners.
“If we had more numbers, we’d probably have better workout partners. We’d fill the weights better,” Schulman said. “If somebody gets hurt, we’re out of luck. If one of my big four gets hurt, that will hurt us a lot because I don’t have substitutes for them.”
Despite the challenges brought on by low numbers, Schulman said he expects his team to be competitive in the CVC, and the lack of depth will not hinder the Pirates in tournament-style play.
“I’m just looking forward to making sure that my wrestlers are better at the end of the season than they were in the beginning,” Schulman said. “And I’m just looking for guys to show heart and work hard. That’s all I can ask.”
North wrestling faces the same challenges with a small amount of wrestlers, carrying just 14 on its roster.
“It’s going to be very difficult to come back from being down 18 points before we even start,” North coach Ed Ferraro said. “Even with the caliber of kids I feel like we have, 18 points is a big deal.”
This will be Ferraro’s first season as North’s head coach. He pre viously coached at the middle school level in Manville and then at Grover. He worked at the Eagle Academy for Young Men in Newark for two years before he came to Northâ.
Ferraro is trying to bring stability to Knight wrestling. He said his coaching style relies on wrestling basics and drills.
“[The] best way to build a wrestler is to do live wrestling and constant wrestling drills throughout practice, and my guys, they don’t stop,” Ferraro said.
He said he mimics the style of former Blair Academy coach Jeff Buxton.
“I went to a lot of his clinics, and I used a lot of his drilling because he has a very successful program,” Ferraro said. “It’s been working. It’s worked for me in the past and I’m hoping it’s going to help me with the North program this year.”
Leading Knight wrestling will be Vinny Porreca, who made Regions last year. Porreca is one of North’s strongest returning wrestlers, but Ferraro also expects Christopher St. Amour to be strong this season.
“He’s definitely going to have a good season this year, I’m almost positive,” Ferraro said. “Nathan Santa Maria, he’s been working with club all summer … and he looks excellent in practice.”
Since his coaching stint with North began, Ferraro has stressed unity amongst the team. He said he wants “them to feel like they’re a family when I step into the room.”
“They know they have one another’s back and they’re trying to make them better,” he said. “The unity of the team right now is going to help the program in the future too. People already seem like they’re coming together, having kids come to the room just to see maybe I’m interested in this, kind of watch practice, like they’re talking about the program again, that unity’s starting to spark interest and that’s what we really need.”
