Dodger Wrestlers Lose Early Lead in Narrow Loss

For the second time in as many meets, the wrestling team saw its chances for victory dashed in the night's final match as the Dodgers fell to Woodbridge High, 37-34, Wednesday night in Madison.
 
While the Dodgers have dropped their last two matches in heartbreaking fashion, unlike their match against Belvidere on Monday, Madison was in control for much of the match, building 28-9 lead with seven matches remaining.
 
But losses in six of the Dodgers’ last seven matches was the dagger, leading Woodbridge to the three-point victory.

“It was a good match even though we lost,” Madison head coach Steve Healey said. “It was a close match, but we got good match-ups and what we’re trying to do at this point, is get as much competition as we can before the districts and regions so we’re seasoned and ready to go.”

After losing their first two matches, Madison senior 160-pounder Ed Carr got the Dodgers on the board as he stopped Mike Arena with a headlock just 37 seconds into the match.

Wins in their next four matches by Nick Haboj (171 pounds), Jack Anzul (189), Tom Tracy (215) and Mike Boardman (285), put  Madison ahead, 28-9.

But junior Patsy Davis (125 pounds) was the only Dodger to come out with a win in Madison’s final seven matches, as he stopped Chris Balina with a second-period pin.

Madison was scheduled to face Parsippany High on Wednesday for a share of the conference title, but that match was postponed until Monday night.

With a conference title at stake on Monday, the Dodgers are aware of what they need to do to get back on track.

“I’m going to be clear with [the team] and tell them that it would have been nice to win, but it doesn’t matter,” Healey explained. “Winning matters, obviously, but [this loss] doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things.

"It’s keeping us competitive, it’s a great competitive match, now we’ve got to learn from these two tight losses how to win that kind of match and break that pattern.”

Anzul and Carr–two of Madison’s senior captains—are hoping that the Dodgers’ recent struggles act as a motivator.

“We have to come back from this,” said Anzul, who recorded a third-period pin on Wednesday. “We’ve got to come back stronger, we’ve got to be working hard tomorrow. Hopefully [these losses] motivate us to work that much harder, move past this and come back even stronger.”

“We have to get aggressive and have a better attitude about going into our matches,” Carr explained. “We just need to get fired up before the match.”