West Canaan
Franklin, Mascoma’s opponent on Wednesday night, mustered only three inexperienced wrestlers for the match. Introduction snafus by school officials left some in the stands confused. A premature end to the evening, after a little more than five minutes of actual wrestling, seemed anticlimactic.
Mascoma athletic director John Kelly called it a “test run.” But the quick evening didn’t dampen its significance for a program still building toward something big.
“It was an introduction to wrestling,” Simula said after his team earned the forfeit victory. “We wrestled three matches, we won three matches. You can’t complain about that. … From here on out, our home matches should be packed.”
The Royals will host four matches this season, including a tri-meet with John Stark and rival Newport on Feb. 1. They will next be home for White Mountains on Jan. 11. Mascoma couldn’t host matches last winter because of renovation work at the school.
Mascoma Valley Regional School District superintendent Patrick Andrew was one of nearly 150 observers in attendance on Wednesday, his first time witnessing a varsity wrestling match. He said beforehand didn’t know what to expect, but he was pleased with the progress the program has made.
“I’m just happy when we get kids involved,” Andrew said. “It has such a positive influence. I don’t care if they play a sport or join the math club. It’s a success when they’re excited to be part of the school.
“There has always been that pride in Mascoma sports,” he added. “I think the renovation has sort of brightened things up. In some respects, it seems like a new school. We’re proud of that.”
It won’t get much easier than Wednesday for Simula’s group, which is entering its second season as a varsity program. Simula just wishes the Royals could have put on more of a show.
“It’s awesome for the community,” he said. “We have a lot of people who are invested. … To me, this is what being an actual varsity sport is all about.”
Hosting a match was, in Simula’s mind, the next item in a long list of progressions that has made Mascoma wrestling something viable.
“Last year, we knew we were varsity,” Simula said. “But when you start hosting home matches, you get all your friends, your parents, your girlfriend, whatever, when they show up to watch, the community, people you don’t even know are here, whereas at tournaments, it’s the parents or an aunt or uncle. We go some places and there are 20 people in the stands. I don’t know how many there were, but we had a good number tonight.”
There was also something to be said about not having to ride the bus.
“It was definitely nice to have a subtle first home match,” Mascoma senior Sheldon Farnsworth said. “It’s definitely different being at home than away all the time. … It’s kind of nice. You can kind of chill out after school, hang out with your buddies. Go to the store, whatever you need to do, instead of hop on a bus at 3 o’clock.”
Farnsworth (182 pounds), Joe Stone (152) and Dylan Pelton (126) each earned pins against the Golden Tornadoes.
“There’s more pressure being in front of a home crowd,” Farnsworth said. “This is really new for everyone, at least in this area. They’ve never seen this at the school before. It’s always been a big basketball school. I think wrestling will be good for the whole community.”
Wednesday’s match had its hiccups. Kelly was left unsure of captaincy protocol during his pre-match introductions, eventually telling the crowd, “Let’s do the captains thing.” Spectators laughed as veteran referee Eric Campbell slid himself face-down across the mat in order to get a better view of Pelton’s pin in the match’s opening bout.
Most were confused as both coaches went through weight classes to figure out just how many positions Franklin would forfeit. Almost all were surprised at how quickly it all went.
For that, Simula had regrets. Matches between full rosters can have nine bouts, and many come down to the final few falls to pick up precious team points. On Wednesday, a packed gym of curious spectators saw bouts that lasted several seconds each.
He just hopes they return.
“It would have been nice for the fans, that’s what I was concerned about,” Simula said. “Just having a good show for those guys.”
Still, Simula is confident that home matches can help grow the program. Beyond that, the Royals have laid the foundation for a youth program at the Indian River School next door. Some of that team’s 15 athletes were invited to Wednesday’s match and were rewarded with pizza. The more matches Mascoma can host, the more chances an athlete will want to take up a sport that is still in the process of taking root.
“It’s just getting people interested,” Farnsworth said. “Maybe some people from this crowd will tell more people, then we can get a bigger crowd … or maybe a bigger team. If we can get more people interested and they hear, ‘Oh, we have home matches. This is cool.’
“It’s hard for some kids; they might feel intimidated or nervous. Maybe coming and seeing it at home, seeing their classmates wrestle, might introduce them, and maybe they’ll want to wrestle.”
Josh Weinreb can be reached at jweinreb@vnews.com or 603-727-3306.