As recently as two weeks ago, the St. Joe’s wrestling team didn’t think it was going to get a season at all.
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has forced an amazing amount of juggling by school and league officials, who were still able to make sure that every sports team got some semblance of a season during the school year.
The lone exception was wrestling, which was deemed too dangerous and pushed back a couple of times from its usual November start date. But with surrounding counties finally approving the sport for mid-May, Erie County finally gave it the green light – sending wrestlers to the mats for an extremely abbreviated campaign.
“Everybody’s grateful just to be out here after so much uncertainty,” said senior Ronnie Jones. “It’s not perfect but it’s a lot better than nothing.”
The tentative season is short and sweet. There are tri-meets scheduled for June 2 and 4 against St. Francis and St. Mary’s – the only two other Monsignor Martin schools fielding a team this year. St. Joe’s then hosts those same two on June 6 in the All-Catholic Tournament.
That leaves teams scrambling to prepare for the season and get into match condition.
“Not a lot of guys have been able to do much wrestling in the past year, so right now we’re trying to get back into shape,” said St. Joe’s coach Brad Devlin, a former Marauder wrestling standout and 2005 grad. “Also, a lot of our guys are playing other sports at the same time, so we’re not sure where some of the guys will fall into weight classes.”
It’s a young group, with just five seniors on a roster that now counts 28 grapplers.
The Mercyhurst University-bound Jones headlines the group. He’s already a three-time Monsignor Martin All-Catholic champion and a two-time Catholic state runner-up. He’s 10th in program history with 105 career wins. He’s a team captain who will wrestle at 191 pounds.
He’ll now get the chance to become a four-time All-Catholic champion – a feat that’s been accomplished only about 15 times in the league’s 55-year wrestling history, according to former coach Pete Kennedy.
Sophomore Luke Ventresca also returns after winning an All-Catholic title last year as a freshman at 99 pounds. He went on to finish third at the state Catholic tournament.
Junior captain John Van Vessem will wrestle at 172, while sophomore Me Reh will compete in the heavyweight class. Aidan Wright (215), Austin Zimmerman (102) and Michael Jarosz (138) also figure to contribute.
Dorian Buckley, a freshman with wrestling experience, will be at 152, while Jayson Kline (126) transferred in from the Kenmore unified team.
“I hope we can use this opportunity to become better physically prepared and learn more about wrestling going forward,” Jones said. “I want the younger guys to really get involved with the program and understand that it’s a family.”
The wrestlers must deal with a number of health-related adjustments, especially since the nature of the competition precludes the ability to wear masks. There is plenty of disinfectant always on hand.
There are no certifications before each contest – whatever a wrestler weighs on the first day will be the lowest class he can go for the season.
But they remain undeterred.
“We’re grateful just for the opportunity to be on the mats,” Devlin said. “In this program, we’ve always called each other family and that was put to the test this year because we had to be apart for so long. Really, to be happy and healthy is all we want – the results will speak for themselves.”