Hard luck wrestling Rams continue their comeback

They're back. The hard-luck Port Chester wrestling Rams, their winter season already put on a temporary pause by a COVID-19 outbreak and quarantine that sidelined their coach and several of their heavy hitters, came back last week to wrestle two of Westchester's best teams in back-to-back matches.

The Rams nearly upset Fox Lane, one of the state's top-ranked teams, in a match that could have gone in the Rams’ favor had they not lost two of their better wrestlers who were sent home due to illness the day of the home match last Wednesday (1/12). And they rebounded to win their first match in the high school's new gym against John Jay/East Fishkill by a score of 47-21 last Friday (1/14).

Life's curve balls

"We always tell the kids that life throws us many curve balls, but it is how we handle those unexpected curves to overcome those obstacles that determines who we really are," head coach Joe Facciola, better known as Joe Fatch, said after those matches. "And so far, we are doing it the right way, overcoming every obstacle, every curve, by showing and wrestling like Rams.”

Against Fox Lane, for example, the Rams unexpectedly went into the match with two starters out, sent home the day of the match due to illness.

"As a result, we had two younger, more inexperienced wrestlers fill in their spots," Facciola said. "They both lost their match via pins."

But, he explained, those matches were winnable if the Rams’ regular starters had been available.

"So, if we take away those pin points from Fox Lane and add the probable team points to our team score, we had a chance to beat Fox Lane, perennially one of the area's best wrestling teams," Facciola said. "But regardless of the outcome, we wrestled Fox Lane tough. And we put up the third most points scored against Fox Lane this year. And that's saying a lot because the Foxes constantly blow out the teams they face. They didn't blow us out."

Inspirational captains

Despite being shorthanded during that 46-27 loss, the Rams didn't come up empty. Jackson Kuhn, wrestling in the 152-pound weight class, won his match with a fall in 1:23, Ricardo Lopez (215) won his match via a 14-8 decision and ex-football lineman Byron Olmino came out on top wrestling at 285 pounds. And two-time All-Section lightweight Nicholas Bolanos (118) won his match by forfeit while Felix Medina (135) lost his match in a close decision.

Facciola credits a lot of his comeback team's success—including two tournament wins and a close third place finish in the third—to the inspirational motivation by the Rams’ four senior captains, Bolanos, Kuhn, Medina and Olmino, all of whom contributed to the Rams’ strong showing against the Foxes.

It was more of the same and then some against JJ/EF.

In that match, Bolanos (110) won by forfeit, Medina (132) won via a 13-2 decision as did Kuhn (152) with a 10-2 decision while Olmino won with a fall in 29 seconds flat. Other Rams who came away with wins included Dylan Ramos (118) with a fall in 1:08, Augustine Gonzalez (160) won his match by a 9-3 decision and Jason Vicente (189) won by a fall in 2:19. Heavyweights Ricardo Lopez (215) won by a fall in 1:18 while Bryant Sanchez (285) won by forfeit.

Facciola was especially impressed with the way the Rams wrestled their way through the heart of the JJ/EF lineup in the 118- through 138-pound weight class including Medina's major win by decision over JJ/EF's big gun (Guy Colabatistto) who finished third in this year's Mid-Hudson Tournament, a tourney the Rams missed because of their quarantine.

Medina a standout

"It was a great match for Felix Medina because he has had to overcome so much to be standing where he is today," Facciola said. "He was a very promising freshman but missed his entire first season when he broke his collarbone in his first match. He had a good sophomore year when he won 16 matches. But he lost his junior year due to COVID cancellation. But now Felix is making up for lost time by continuously racking up great performances. His record so far this season is 15-3. And he is very determined to finish All-Section along with a few of his teammates."

Facciola likes their chances. And he knows what he is talking about as a former All-Section light heavyweight (170) and three-sport varsity athlete who is now a physical education instructor in the Port Chester School District.

"As a team we have endured a lot, between losing our wrestling room during the construction of the new gym, a move that necessitated our taking two buses to SUNY Purchase every day to practice only to have our season being canceled due to COVID last year, the only Port Chester team to lose their entire season," Facciola said.

Team never quit

But no matter what happened, the team never quit on themselves.

"I owe a lot of credit for that to our coaching staff," Facciola said, citing the savvy, knowhow and pride coaches Danny Alvarado, Sean Zemylyan and Andres Salcedo, all former Ram wrestlers, bring to the team. "The kids sense the Ram pride we bring every day to practice. Our being able to recruit and rebound after all the obstacles we've faced are a direct reflection of the hard work the staff is putting in and how hard the team is working to come back from all that has happened."

The wrestling Rams hope to continue their rebound efforts in their next two home matches, a dual meet against White Plains Thursday (1/20) at 4:30 p.m. and the Westchester County Champions Saturday (1/22) at 9 a.m., COVID and its highly contagious Omicron variant permitting, of course.