High School Wrestling: Win over Smyrna still memorable for Vikings

By Andy Walter
Posted 1/18/22

Cape Henlopen High has earned its spot among the state’s wrestling elite the last few years.

The Vikings are the defending DIAA Division I team state champions after all.

But that …

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High School Wrestling: Win over Smyrna still memorable for Vikings

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Cape Henlopen High has earned its spot among the state’s wrestling elite the last few years.

The Vikings are the defending DIAA Division I team state champions after all.

But that doesn’t mean beating a traditional power like Smyrna isn’t still a big deal for Cape Henlopen.

“I’ve only done it twice, and I’ve been here for 26 years,” veteran Vikings coach Chris Mattioni said with a laugh. “So I don’t think that would ever get old, beating Smyrna.”

Certainly, Cape Henlopen’s 34-30 victory over the Eagles last Wednesday night didn’t come easily.

The Vikings had to win the last four individual bouts, capped off by Carson Kammerer’s third-period pin, to overcome a 30-15 deficit. The only other time Cape Henlopen beat Smyrna in a dual meet was in 2019.

Mattioni, whose team returns to its Henlopen North schedule with a home match against Polytech on Wednesday, said his wrestlers were pretty excited after pulling out the win.

“They were fired up,” he said. “We believe we can beat anybody.”

Andrew Schaen (145 pounds), Mikey Frederick (152) and C.J. Fritchman (160) all posted wins to set the stage for Kammerer at 170. Those three tallied 13 points in their victories.

“Once we won at 132 (with Joshua Alvares-Ramos), I knew we had a really good shot at wining the match,” said Mattioni. “Putting Andrew Schaen up at 145 and Mikey to 152, that gives us four, real solid wrestlers to close out the match.

“Mikey and I have talked — knowing that he’s potentially needed to go up and he’s willing to do it. He’d never complain. There’s certain guys that are just going to do whatever it takes for the team.”

Cape Henlopen followed up the big victory by capturing the team title at the Grapple at the Brook tournament over the weekend. The Vikings finished with 260.5 points to out-distance second-place Springbrook, Md. (163), the host school.

Josh Alvarez (126), Frederick (145), Fritchman (160), Alex Taylor (195), Dalton Deevey (220) and Lucas Ruppert (285) all won their individual brackets.

See-saw week for Smyrna

Smyrna bounced back from the loss to Cape with a big comeback win of its own on Friday.

The Eagles posted three pins in a row leading up to a deciding 9-2 decision from Chijioke Eule (285) in the 36-35 Henlopen North victory over Milford.

Ironically, though, coach Aaron Harris was more encouraged by the Eagles’ effort in their loss to Cape Henlopen.

“It was funny,” he said. “After the Cape loss I go into the locker room and I give a pretty positive speech. The guys battled.

“Then, after the Milford match, we win and I go into the locker room and yell at everyone. I didn’t feel like we wrestled up to our potential. At this point in the season, it’s not really about wins or losses. It’s about wrestling hard, giving your best effort and working toward February.”

In some ways, Harris said the tough loss to the Vikings raised the bar for his team.

“Going into that match, I wasn’t sure if we were good enough to win a state title,” he said. “But that actually gave me a good gauge and let us know that we’re good enough to win. We just need to sharpen some things up.”

Bender on the mend

It was a tough season for Cape Henlopen’s Luke Bender.

The state champion at 145 pounds last winter, he tore ligaments in one of his elbows over the summer. The junior was cleared to start the season and wrestled in a few matches.

But Mattioni said Bender was clearly still hurting. He got a second opinion in Philadelphia and opted to have season-ending surgery.

“He wants to wrestle in college,” said Mattioni. “He asked me, ‘What should I do?’ Because, technically, he was cleared to wrestle. He was just in a lot of pain.

“He possibly could have wrestled and won a state title. But, if you delay that surgery, you don’t know how long it will be for the recovery. He wants to get healthy so that he can have a great senior season and hopefully be recruited somewhere.”

Takedowns

Caesar Rodney has a 7 p.m. Henlopen North showdown at Milford on Wednesday. The last three matches in the rivalry have been decided by a total of just 10 points with the Buccaneers winning twice. ... Smyrna hosts Salesianum on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. in an interesting non-conference matchup. The Sals downed the Eagles, 52-18, a year ago. ... Indian River puts its 7-0 record on the line on Wednesday with a 6 p.m. Henlopen South match at Lake Forest. The two squads didn’t meet last season after their match was canceled. ... Harris missed Smyrna’s 53-12 win over William Penn on Monday because of COVID protocols. But he’s expected back for the Eagles’ Henlopen North match at Sussex Tech on Wednesday night. ... Smyrna 120-pounder Gabe Giampietro is 40-4 with 26 pins.

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