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Jan. 13, 2015 Wrestling
It's all about 'Rattitude' as Northstars pull off amazing win over Allentown
By Rich Fisher
Fish4scores.com
Jan. 13: Say what you want
about having attitude, but
we're talking about
“Rattitude.”
As in “Swamp Rattitude.”
It was all the rage in the
Swamp tonight, as the
Nottingham High wrestling
team got three pins after
trailing matches by 10, six
and five points to upset
Allentown, 44-29.
Tariq Morton has things going his way as he works his way to a technical fall at 120
Those pins provided what
pounds against Allentown's Anthony Heinz tonight. Morton's win pointed Nottingham in
could have been anywhere the right direction as they took a gutsy victory (Photo by Wes "The Media Mogul"
from a 27- to 29-point swing Kirkpatrick).
for the Swamp Rats, who won
a match that coach Jason “The Rock” Marasco has handicapped as a 30-29 loss beforehand.
“That’s the Swamp Rat motto,” Marasco said. “Even if they back us into a corner, we’re still gonna
kick, scratch, claw and fight our hearts out. I said that right before we walked out of the team room and
I brought them in right there at the end and said the same thing. I said 'We kicked, we scratched, we
clawed, we fought our butts off and we got the win.'
“That’s what it was gonna take to win tonight. I mean let's face it, talent-wise they got us.”
Not to be overlooked in all the late-match heroics was the return of talented Trott Montina, who joined
his brother Kem back in the lineup after both missed the three weeks of the season with injury. Trott's
first match back was against stud 160-pounder Jordan Rugo, and the Northstar stayed off his back in
losing a major decision.
“This is actually pretty amazing,” said 170-pounder Zach Grehan, one of the three third-period pinners.
“We got Trott and Kem back, the whole game changes then. Just having them in the lineup was a big
deal. If we send a JV guy out there, then he gets pinned and there’s six. But Trott’s back, he only gave
up three points. It’s a whole game changer.”
Actually, it was a game helper. The true game changers came from Grehan, Daniel Dempsey and
Levens Jean-Gilles – the comeback kids.
The match started at 113 and Tariq Morton's technical fall at 120 gave Nottingham a 5-0 lead and also
lit up everyone else.
“I was up next, it kind of gets you going,” Dempsey said. “If someone loses before you, you’re like ‘All
right, I gotta try to win.’ But when you see someone going out and winning then you say ‘Now I really
gotta win this to keep everyone going.’”
It looked like Dempsey, just a freshman, wouldn't get that win however as he fell behind Cole Borgese
7-2. But the Rattitude kicked in and he rallied for an 8-7 lead before planting Borgese with 53 seconds
left.
“When I was down I thought I had to get up,” Dempsey said. “I was on my back, I was trying not to get
pinned, I was wiggling my arm through and I ended up having him. Then he rolled me to my back, I
rolled him over and got him to his back.
“I was just trying to use all my energy and put him to his back. We needed the pin because all the
harder matches were at the heavyweights.”
Indeed, Marasco said beforehand the key bouts would be 160, 170 and 182, so the Rats needed
everything they could get before then. The 9th-grader's pin helped provide a spark.
“If you have everyone getting pins, everyone is going to be excited and have their energy up to just
keep it going,” Dempsey said.
Allentown (4-4) came back with a major decision and pin for a 13-11 lead before Andy Grullon pulled a
little comeback magic of his own at 145. Trailing 4-3, he got a reverse with under 30 seconds left and
decisioned Nolan Pecci 6-4.
Next came the match of the night for Nottingham. Jean-Gilles trailed 15-5 and wasn't doing much of
anything against Joey Patrylow. He cut it to 15-7 and we'll let him take it from there.
“I was losing because I had to lose weight all day,” he said. “I had five hours of workouts that took me
a long time to lose weight so I could be at my weight class. I was really tired but I fought until the end
so I could win.
“I think I hit him with a cradle. I almost pinned him with that. It took a long time for him to get out, and
when he finally got out he had me on top, I used a Fatman Roll to take him down and then I got on top
of him. He kept on fighting and fighting before I finally pinned him.”
After Rugo's major pulled Allentown within 20-17, Grehan gave off some Rattitude of his own. He had
been ready to wrestle for a while.
“That pin (by Dempsey) got me so hyped,” he said. “I was ready to go out there right after him but I
couldn’t. I was already excited after he got the pin. I was fired up.”
So was Liam McDermott as he took a 6-0 lead before Grehan battled to within 7-5 and then got a
takedown. That temporarily tied it, but the senior ended it moments later when he planted the Redbird.
“I was on the bottom, I had to do whatever it took to get the win,” Grehan said. “I was just trying to get
some points on the board so he couldn’t get the tech (fall).
“Marasco knows I like to stand up, I like to throw so I had to do what I had to do to throw him. My basic
move is a throw. I like to be anywhere on my feet. I had to do what I had to do.”
His pin gave Nottingham a 26-17 lead before Allentown got two straight pins for a two-point
advantage. But, in avoiding any more drama, 220-pounder Devion Stokes got a first-period pin that
proved to be the clincher when Allentown forfeited at heavyweight. Gregory Daloisio finished it with a
flair with a first-period pin.
To a man, the Swamp Rats (6-1) feel this sends a message that they can compete with quality teams.
“This can turn it around, brotha,” Marasco said. “I’ve been telling them all along we’re better than we
look on paper. We’ve wrestled really hard. When you look at the boxscores it just says we got pinned,
people don’t’ realize before the pin we were right in the match. We just made a mistake and we got
pinned because of it. Some of the guys are learning from their mistakes.”
And all of the guys feel this could be a key point in the season .
“It’s against Allentown, we were supposed to lose to Allentown,” Grehan said. “But we turned it around,
we got points where we were supposed to lose and got pins on top of that.”
“This says we are better than everybody else says we are,” Jean-Gilles said. “We work for what we
get and it shows. It showed today, we worked hard. Our attitude came through.”
Correction. The Rattitude came through. It's Swamp Rattitude, and it's catching.
Follow Rich Fisher on twitter @fish4scores