Patriots hope to sneak up on people BY MIKE McDONALD Staff Writer With only three grapplers with significant varsity experience, the Colonia High School wrestling team is a bit of mystery as the season gets under way. “We have a good team. How good we are, I’m not sure as of yet,” said head coach Daniel Grasso, now in his fourth year. So far so good, as Colonia fared well this past Saturday in its first meet of the year. “On Saturday we had a tri-meet against Elizabeth High School and Johnson Regional High School. We were able to beat Elizabeth but lost to Johnson Regional,” said Grasso. “There were definitely some positives we can take from the match.” One positive was the performance of Nick Esposito (112 pounds), who although only a sophomore, has impressed his coach already. “Nick won both his matches this Saturday. He is explosive, and he has great technique. He is going to be somebody you will be reading a lot about in upcoming years,” said Grasso. Another Patriot who performed well was junior 118-pounder Shaun Woemer. “Shaun has gotten a lot better over the years. He also runs cross-country, which helps a lot in getting him fit for wrestling. We can count on him to get us points when we need them. It is important to have a kid like Shaun on your team,” said the coach Junior Ralph Eastman (140/145 pounds), is another two sport athlete. Besides wrestling, Eastman plays football. “Ralph is an excellent athlete. He always seems to rise to the occasion,” Grasso said. “He has the ability to win matches that many think he has no chance of winning. He raises his level to meet his competition.” In another words, don’t ever count him out of a match. Junior Mike Monaco (145/152) also plays football and wrestles, like Eastman. “Mike is a good, strong athlete. He may be short but he has a lot of heart. He battles and does whatever he can to try to win a match,” said Grasso. Adam Matthijs (135/140), Anthony Zappulla (215) and Shomik Patel (135/140) are the senior co-captains of this year’s team. All three have been with Grasso for four years now and Grasso is very comfortable with these three being the leaders of his team. “Adam just always seems to get better year to year,” the coach said. “He won both his matches this past Saturday and the work he put in over the summer really has paid off. “Anthony is kind of a tricky wrestler. He doesn’t look like he weighs 215, but man is he strong. Shomik really turned himself into one fine wrestler. He has improved enormously since he first wrestled under me. All three of these kids are great leaders. They work hard in practice and give it their all during their matches. As coach that is all I ask for. They have provided a great example for my younger wrestlers.” Also making this year’s team were freshman Zach Matthijs (103), sophomore Giovanni Raconelli (112), junior Jeff Strangio (140), and senior Ruben Benavidez (189). Unfortunately due to injury, sophomore Joey Boyne will not be able to compete this year for the Pats, who finished at 7-11 last year, and 1-5 in GMC White Division action.