High School Wrestling Preview

The time is now for veteran Panthers

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The Johnston wrestling team finished seventh in the state last season and third in Division I-South, even with a number of injuries throughout the year.

So with its main core of wrestlers coming back from a successful 2013-14 season, the Panthers feel that they can compete in a big way this year.

“I think that we should be a contender for the division [title], us and Mt. Hope,” head coach Matt Mancuso said.

The Panthers have already seen results, placing five wrestlers in the finals at their first tournament of the season – the Huskies Holiday Tournament – hosted by Mt. Hope.

The five wrestlers were Jon Soto at 132, Michael Caparco at 145, Jesse Ribezzo at 152, Derric Vigeant at 182 and Devin Soares at 195. Those five wrestlers will be relied on to carry the team, as all are seniors except for Soto, who’s a junior.

The Panthers will also look to senior Marc Conte to provide some veteran leadership. Conte may miss the first couple of weeks of the season due to injuries from the football season, but had a successful junior campaign.

Conte and Soto were both Second-Team All-State and First-Team All-Division selections at their respective weight classes last year, while Ribezzo was a First-Team All-Division selection as well.

Johnston’s biggest loss is Tim Tedesco, who graduated after earning a Second-Team All-State selection while wrestling at 138 in 2013-14.

The Panthers will look to fill the holes that they do have with some young wrestlers.

“We have a lot of young pieces who we’re looking to see grow throughout the year,” Mancuso said.

Three young guys in particular – freshmen Brad Testa and Chris LaVallee and sophomore Carson Kenny – are expected to contribute.

Kenny was the freshmen state champion at the heavyweight class a season ago.

“He’s gotten bigger from last year to this year,” Mancuso said. “We’re expecting big things from him.”

Testa is young but showed a lot of potential in the first tournament at Mt. Hope this past weekend.

“He just refused to get pinned, which will help us down the road,” Mancuso said.

LaVallee will wrestle at 106 even though he’s just 82 pounds and has already shown that he can compete at the high school level.

“He pinned two guys (at Mt. Hope),” Mancuso said. “He looks like he’ll be able to get us a few wins this season.”

Mancuso also expects senior Anthony Antonucci to contribute at 113.

Other wrestlers on the roster are James Baccala, John Bonilla, Elijah Burgess, Francis DeLeon, Nikos Demetropoulos, Joseph Garry, Tyler Macomber, Drew Martinelli, Jasmine Medina, Cesar Mendez, Tommy Nguyen, Nelson Ovalles, Dante Parisi, Daniel Pennacchia, Rick Rajsasombat, Cody Schoer, Nathan Souvannavong and Philip Thompson.

Although D-I-North will remain the same this season, D-I-South will endure a makeover.

Woonsocket, Middletown and Chariho will all move down to D-II this season and filling their vacant spots will be Barrington, Narragansett and intra-city rival Toll Gate.

Barrington went 16-1 in D-II last season, while Narragansett went 15-2 and Toll Gate finished 14-3.

Middletown, Woonsocket and Chariho encountered some struggles in D-I last season, combining for just nine wins.

Mancuso noted that all three of the programs entering D-I have all lost a lot to graduation from last year to this year, as well as North Providence, who finished ahead of Johnston at 11-4 last season in D-I-South.

Besides its regular slate of league matches, the Panthers will compete in tournaments, quad-matches and tri-matches at East Providence, Cumberland, Hendricken, La Salle, Springfield High School of Science and Technology in Springfield, Mass. and Quincy High School in Quincy, Mass. this season.

Overall, the Panthers have high expectations for themselves going into the year.

“It’s definitely a year where we can make a run at it,” Mancuso said. “We’ll have to see.”

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