Inclement weather up north on Feb. 13 postponed the (10-6) Indian River Indians varsity wrestling team’s State Dual Championships against the (13-3) Smyrna Eagles to Feb. 20. And, heading into this weekend’s conference tournament at Sussex Central High School, Indians head coach Jeff Windish said he believes that a number of his wrestlers have a good opportunity to excel.
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Bo Wilkinson tries to take his opponent to the mat in a recent match.“We’re going in with high expectations,” Windish said. “You always want to take as many guys as you can to states. That’s our goal heading into the season. And we have a number of kids that could do that.”
“There’s Mike (Magaha) at 119, Darjuan (Pitts) at 125, Sean Cummings at 135, Bo (Wilkinson) at 145, Dominique (Morris) at 160,” Windish said. “P.J. (Barch) came back and looked good in the Woodbridge and Seaford matches, so we expect good things from him at 152.”
“We also have a couple of guys who have a shot,” Windish added. “Delphino (Pascual) has come on strong. And (freshman) Daniel Cervantes and Luke Saylor have come on real strong as well.”
“Our goal is take all 14 (wrestlers), and I don’t think that is that far fetched at all,” he added. “That’s definitely a daunting task in the Henlopen Conference, but I’m very pleased with the way we’ve wrestled lately.”
Magaha, Pitts, Wilkinson and Townsend are all 20-match winners this year. Cummings, Morris, Saylor and Pascual have each won at least 14 matches this season. Barch is 2-0 in his return and Cervantes has a 6-7 record in limited action this year.
And, come Tuesday, Feb. 20, Indian River will have their opportunity to avenge a 47-17 loss to the Smyrna Eagles in their third straight State Dual Championship appearance.
Key wins over Sanford School earlier this season and Woodbridge, Seaford and Lake Forest down the stretch gave the Indians just enough gas to get them into championship contention.
“It kind of came down to the Indian River, Laurel and Sanford, and we were selected because of our head-to-head wins over Sanford and our Henlopen wins over Seaford and Lake Forest,” Windish said.
Both the Henlopen Conference tournament and the State Dual Tournament will be held at Sussex Central High School.
The conference tournament is set to begin at 5 p.m. on Feb. 16 and will run all day on Saturday. The State Dual Tournament will begin at 5 p.m. on Feb. 20.