Last winter, Coach Matt Gorkos filled the position of assistant coach on the Southern Lehigh wrestling team. This season he will move up to the role of head coach for the first time.

“The two years I spent as an assistant were really good to be surrounded by a team of hardworking kids,” Coach Gorkos said. “I’m excited to stay here and continue to be a part of this program and a program that has been improving.”

The Spartans will look to their rookie head coach for motivation this year following a mediocre performance of 11 wins and 12 losses last season. The wrestlers can already see a difference in the preseason.

“He’s bringing in a different style of workouts with a lot more conditioning,” sophomore Dominic Caciolo said. “I think it’ll put us in better shape for the season.”

Although Coach Gorkos is tweaking small things, he doesn’t plan to change the overall atmosphere of the team.

“I’ve been here for three years on staff,” Coach Gorkos said. “We’ve been moving the team in the right direction as far as building the kind of wrestler and character we want in this program.”

The success of the team will depend on Coach Gorkos’ ability to prepare a team filled with mostly underclassmen. Freshmen stepping up to the varsity level include Tyler Petri, Nick DeNave, Colin Gill, Riley Craft, and Tyshonn Barone. Michael Smith will also be forced to mature early along with fellow sophomores Ciro D’Ambrosio, Nick Colasurdo, and Dominic Caciolo, who have had previous experience wrestling older opponents at the varsity level last year, and will be heavily relied on to lead the way for their fellow teammates.

This season will be particularly tough due to the loss of star wrestler Wyatt Noone who graduated in 2016. However, senior Paul Zinck is looking to fill the void.

“I believe we’ll have a decent season,” Zinck said, “but we’re short on numbers and don’t have many big kids, so it’ll be hard.”  

Overall, the success of the Spartans will lay solely in the hands of Coach Gorkos, who will have to prepare his youthful wrestlers for some formidable opponents in a tough Colonial League. Unless these underclassmen step up and perform, Gorkos and the Spartans could be in for a long season.