Warrior 'mat men' gearing up for individual tourneys
By Josh Lashley
MILFORD — A strong case can be made — be it by athletes, coaches, or fans — that wrestling is the most challenging of all high school sports.
To be most effective, a wrestler should possess discipline, stamina, mental and physical toughness, a solid skill set, and the ability to learn from mistakes.
Nowhere in the country is the sport more of a challenge to the competitors than right here in Pennsylvania. Year after year, the very best teams and individual student-athletes reside right in the Keystone State.
Now, the most exciting and most hotly contested time in the season has arrived for Pennsylvania mat stars has arrived — the individual post-season tournaments. Delaware Valley High School is quite familiar with success, both by teams and individual players, and they are hoping to keep their positive momentum going in the upcoming weeks.
“The entire team has shown great improvement throughout the season,” DV head coach Lou DeLauro said. “They are doing things on the mat that we have been asking them and they couldn’t do at the start of the season. Individuals that have shown steady improvement are Mike Mckinney, Shawn Jones and Troy Moore. Mike and Shawn have both gained confidence which in return is leading to score more points. Troy has been able to slow himself down on the mat and has improved his mat awareness.”
On Feb. 25 and 26, as this paper goes to press, the PIAA District II Class AA and Class AAA Tournament will be held at the Kingston Armory in Wilkes-Barre. On the following weekend, the Regional Tournaments will be held. The State Individual Championships will be held at the Giant Center in Hershey from March 10 through March 12.
“Over the past couple weeks we have been scoring first and attacking,” DeLauro said. “When you score first and continue to look to score points good things will happen. At this point of the season and starting post season time our main goal is to win the Individual District tournament and send a minimum of seven wrestlers to Regionals. We are also hoping to keep a 14-year streak alive of having a state qualifier. We would like to become more physical in the post season.”
Leadership has been and will continue to be a key factor for the Warriors this entire winter.
Shawn Jones and Robert Korfmann are the team leaders, DeLauro said.
“We have a very young team this season, and these two individuals have set a great example," he said. "They can always be counted on to keep the team motivated and focused. When things aren’t going right they have a great way of regrouping the team.
“This season Tyler Moraski was a League champ. Our team came from behind to beat a very competitive Hazleton team in the Team District Tournament. We also concluded a 39 match win streak in the Lackawanna League expanding over seven seasons.”