Pats hoping to get over the hump and contend in D-II

Matt Metcalf
Posted 12/18/14

In its two seasons since moving down to Division II, the Pilgrim wrestling team just hasn’t been able to make its way to the top of the standings, floating in the middle of the pack.

The Pats …

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Pats hoping to get over the hump and contend in D-II

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In its two seasons since moving down to Division II, the Pilgrim wrestling team just hasn’t been able to make its way to the top of the standings, floating in the middle of the pack.

The Pats haven’t had bad seasons by any means, finishing fourth in Division II-South with a record of 9-8 last season and third in the subdivision in 2012-13 at 8-8.

Pilgrim is one game over .500 since moving to D-II, but it’s hoping that it can make significant strides this year.

“We returned most of our starters from last year,” head coach Tom O’Connor said. “We feel like we should be very competitive within our division.”

The Pats will return a number to its core wrestlers from a season ago, including three All-Division selections.

Pilgrim will be led by seniors Griffin Potter at 182 and Michael Pereira at 220. Pereira was First-Team All-Division last season, while Potter received a Second-Team selection.

Potter and Pereira will provide veteran leadership as the only two senior wrestlers on Pilgrim’s 21-man roster.

“They’re two of our better wrestlers,” O’Connor said. “They’re very consistent and they show our younger guys how to do things the right way.”

Another top returner for the Pats will be sophomore John Castaldi, who also earned Second-Team All-Division honors as a freshman, while wrestling at 106.

Pilgrim did lose a pair of All-Division wrestlers however, in Oluiaseun Akinnusotu at 170 and Michael Turchette at 195.

Although the Pats will do their best to fill the roles of Turchette and Akinnusotu, it’ll undoubtedly be tough.

In their absence, Pilgrim will look to two sophomores – Garrison Potter and Jacob Zuller – to elevate their contributions this season.

“We’re really looking for them to step up this year,” O’Connor said.

In terms of weight classes, Michael Sanville will wrestle at 106, Castaldi at 113, James Kozosko at 120, 126 is still up for grabs, Zuller at 132, Garrison Potter at 152, Tyler Parton at 160, Steven Kavanagh at 170, Griffin Potter at 182, Nicholas Carpenter at 195, Pereira at 220 and Caleb Minton at heavyweight.

Other wrestlers on the roster are Kalum Alldredge, Damian Barbiero, Hunter Bazarnick, Liam Connor, Mitchell Fielding, Hunter Heal, George Hernandez, Jacob McNamara, John Pierce and Emerson Torem.

Pilgrim will compete in Division II-B this year, as opposed to the D-II-South subdivision that it had been competing in the past two seasons.

The shuffling may be good for the Pats, though.

Pilgrim will remain in the same subdivision as Burrillville, West Warwick and Tolman and will be joined by Cranston East and Woonsocket.

The Pats had a better record than all of the teams in the new D-II-B other than Tolman, who finished at 12-5 last year.

Woonsocket went 2-13 last season, but competed at the D-I level.

But no matter what the results were a season ago, the Pats have tremendous respect for the other teams within their division, particularly Tolman.

“Tolman’s tough,” O’Connor said. “They’ve brought that program from five or six kids to 40. It should be interesting to see how our kids react to (the new alignment).”

In addition to Pilgrim’s league schedule, it’ll host a tri-match with East Greenwich and Hope on January 21.

The Pats will also compete in tri-matches and quad-matches at Moses Brown, Chariho, Juanita Sanchez, Warwick Vets and Woonsocket and they’ll partake in the Smithfield Invitational on February 7.

Pilgrim will open its season with a tri-match at Moses Brown with the Quakers and Mt. Pleasant at 4:30 p.m. this afternoon.

The Pats are feeling good about where they are as a team right now, but some question marks are lingering.

“I know what I’m going to get from my juniors and seniors,” O’Connor said. “It’s the freshmen and sophomores that get thrust into the starting lineups. You’re not sure how they’re going to respond when put in that position.”

If the older guys are solid as usual and some younger guys step up, the Pats should have no problem contending in D-II.

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