High School Wrestling Previews

Experienced Falcons hoping for resurgent season

Matt Metcalf, Assistant Sports Editor
Posted 12/18/14

The Cranston West wrestling team hasn’t seen much success over the past three years.

The Falcons finished in seventh out of eight teams in Division-I-North least season, compiling a record of …

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High School Wrestling Previews

Experienced Falcons hoping for resurgent season

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The Cranston West wrestling team hasn’t seen much success over the past three years.

The Falcons finished in seventh out of eight teams in Division-I-North least season, compiling a record of 7-9.

Two years ago, the Falcons went 3-13 and three years ago they also went 7-9.

For a program that isn’t that far removed from being a Division I power year-in and year-out, the results in recent years have been a little disappointing.

The Falcons’ last winning season came in 2010-11, when West went 15-1.

West also had an impressive streak of four straight titles – the school’s only four D-I wrestling titles – from the 2006-07 season through 2008-09.

It also doesn’t help that the Falcons are in the same Division as Hendricken and Cumberland, who have accounted for the last three state championships.

Hendricken won its second straight title last year, recording an unblemished 15-0 record.

The Clippers were the second-best team last year, falling to only Hendricken in a nearly-perfect 14-1 season.

But the Falcons and head coach Tim Almonte are optimistic about what this season will bring.

“We have a lot of guys returning this year,” Almonte said. “I don’t think there’s anywhere to go but up from last year.”

West will return its top wrestler from a season ago in senior Max O’Connell.

O’Connell was undefeated in the state of Rhode Island a season ago at the 138-pound weight class. He won the Johnston and North Providence Invitationals and placed third at the Methuen Invitational, before pulling out one-point victories in the state semifinals and finals to win the state championship. He earned First-Team All-State and First-Team All-Division honors for his impressive season.

Although you need several pieces to have a good team, O’Connell isn’t a bad building block to have when putting together a roster.

“He’s definitely a great wrestler,” Almonte said. “He’s helping the kids above and under his weight class and they’re helping him as well.”

West will return some other big pieces besides O’Connell, however.

Junior Nick Almonte is back as well and he figures to be a key for the Falcons. Almonte will wrestle at 152 after making it to the state quarterfinals in his sophomore year.

Junior Tyler Gomez and senior Ryan Gomez are also back from last year’s team and should be main contributors this season. Putting together a strong season, Ryan Gomez wrestled at 132 last season, while Tyler Gomez wrestled at 120, but could wrestle at 126 or 132 this season.

Other contributors will be Dario Castillo at 106, Victor DeCotis at 112, William Quattrocchi at 120, Jesse Chan at 120, Noah James at 126 or 132, Matt Roy at 170, Elija Hernandez at 182 and newcomers Guiseppe Creta at 195 and Thomas Napolitano at 285.

Tim Almonte is hoping that a number of his key guys can make a name for themselves on the state-wide scene.

Other notable newcomers are two football players in juniors Abdiel Mendez and Zachary French. Both of them could chip in this season.

“They’re really banging heads in practice at 160,” Tim Almonte said.

D-I-North will contain the same eight teams that it did a season ago – West, Hendricken, Cumberland, Coventry, East Providence, La Salle, North Kingstown and South Kingstown.

D-I-North was by far the better subdivision last year, as six teams finished above .500 in the North, while just three teams accomplished that feat in D-I-South.

But wherever they’re placed, West knows that it’ll have to go through some powerhouses to return atop D-I.

In addition to its regular slate of league matches, West will also compete in several invitationals, quad-matches and tri-matches.

West will host a tri-match tonight, seeing its first action of the season. It’ll then compete in North Providence’s Invitational on Saturday, featuring 12 teams.

The Falcons will also compete in the 16-team Smithfield Invitational on Feb. 7, a quad-match at West on Feb. 10 and then wrap up their schedule with a tri-match at Narragansett with the Mariners and Mount Hope on February 17.

Although the Falcons have some question marks, they also have a great deal of experience back on their roster this season.

Overall, the Falcons will return 16 players from last season’s roster and they also have 12 seniors on this year’s team.

“Having a year under our belts should definitely help us this season,” Almonte said.

West is also working on pulling out close matches, something it had trouble with last year.

“We had a lot of one or two point losses,” Almonte said. “We’ve worked hard to fix that.”

The Falcons will find out what they have going forward sooner rather than later, as their schedule will pick up over the next week.

However, everything is trending in a positive direction right now.

“The kids are having a lot of fun in practice,” Almonte said. “We’re just trying to keep it upbeat.”

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