Coach Jeremiah Smith teacher students how to wrestle. Photo by Joanna Li.
The Malden High School wrestling team faced off against the Billerica Minutemen on Dec 12, 2015. Though they put up a tough fight, the team was not able to clench the win but was able to identify what needed improving for their next meet against Saugus.
On Dec. 17, 2015 ,the team went up against Saugus with more confidence in their abilities after their meet against Billerica. Junior captain Michael Castro confessed how “[he was] very hyped before the match and [had] confidence in [himself] and in the team, especially since last year, [Malden] beat [Saugus].” Junior captain Anthony Johnson had similar sentiments, saying how “[he felt] pretty confident [that] the team [had gained] a lot of knowledge on the basics, because they worked hard, [so they were] ready.”
While wrestling may be an sport of individuals, the bond between teammates cannot be denied as they all always put in all of their best effort and hard work in everything that they did together . Head Coach and MHS English teacher Jeremiah Smith always expects the wrestling team to have “improvement on their tactics and do a better job than the last match.”
The first wrestler from Malden to face Saugus was junior Sonny Nguyen. The match was very hard-fought, as Nguyen was a person who puts forth strong efforts no matter what. Unfortunately, he did not win. The second match had captain Johnson up, but sadly, he was just short of a pin as well. Third match, sophomore Carlos Parada, lost a close match, as he fought hard to escape his opponent’s grip. Next, was junior Edward Huang, had yet another hard match up, with similar results to his teammates prior. The fifth match had Malden cheering as captain Castro won the match against his opponent, after having to struggle and come back up through the opponent’s grip and backfire it. The sixth match went to Malden as Saugus had to forfeit that round. In the last round, the Golden Tornadoes were able to pull up another win.
Unfortunately, the last few rounds were not able to save the boys. MHS suffered a loss to Saugus, 62-18. After the match, the team was disappointed, but rather than mope, the team will use the loss as a learning experience to better themselves. They have the urge to become better and will work harder for their tournament. Castro concluded that, “to [him,] the team is like [his family, so he is] not going to give up on them.”
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