Sports
North Wrestling Team Wins District Championships
By Andrew Lavoie
Volume 3 Issue 4
May 18, 2023
From bottom left to bottom right: James Fischman, Jonathan Nilsen, Frankie Polizzi, Philip Burmann, Andrew Lavoie, Salvatore Montalbano, Sebastian Madruga, Paul Testa, Giuseppe Scarpa, Luca Dekel
Top left to top right: Eddy Turcios, Anshdeep Singh, Adebayo Kayode, Thomas Krsulic, Yonny Turcios, Yusuf Hamid, Alex Balack, Justin Gangi, Francisco Castillo Not pictured: Jordynn Thomas, Dante Melisi, Daniel Pasquaretto Head Junior High Wrestling Coach: Joe Goetz Head Varsity Wrestling Coach: Chris Bottjer JV Wrestling Coach: Jordan Gonzalez
Image provided by Joe Goetz
North Wrestling Team Wins District Championships
“When you aren’t working hard, the other person is getting better.” That is what VSN’s Junior High Coach Joseph Goetz says to his wrestlers every day at practice. Well, that hard work paid off. Two Saturdays ago, the junior high wrestling team won Coach Schiavo’s Spring King of the Ring Royal Rumble. They were competing against South and Memorial for the title of District Champions.
This tournament wasn’t just any tournament for Coach Goetz. As a wrestler, he went to state championships once but did not win. He has said that he wants to wrestle “through” his wrestlers and win with them. He worked very hard throughout this season and shaped his wrestlers into champions. Several first-year wrestlers won their weight classes. Eddy Turcios and Frankie Castillo were both first-year wrestlers who won their divisions; Eric Innis, Justin Gangi, Sebastian Madruga, Jonathan Nilsen, and Yonny Turcios were also first-year wrestlers who placed in the top four in their divisions.
As to why Coach Goetz believed in this team enough to run a whole tournament, he said that this is one of the hardest working groups of wrestlers he has ever coached, and he has been coaching for ten years.