“We’ll wrestle anybody;” Takeaways from St. Francis’s Interstate Showdown with National Powerhouse Wyoming Seminary

Cover photo courtesy of Jeff Pataky

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On Saturday, WNY and NYS #1 St. Francis crossed into the Keystone State for a neutral site meeting with the #4 ranked high school team in the country (via Flowrestling) Wyoming Seminary located in Kingston, PA. The match was held at the St. Luke’s SportsPlex in Allentown.

Although the Raiders were without four regular starters and a lopsided final score (63-3) in favor of the Blue Knights, head coach Ron Lorenz and staff were satisfied with a number of key takeaways just from stepping on the mat with one of the best high school wrestling programs in the country.

“All I wanted our guys to do was come out and compete today,” said Lorenz after the match. “That was our whole approach to coming and doing this. We need to see the level. We need to understand that this is where we are headed, and we need to just compete. That is all our expectation was. Teams won’t wrestle us, so we will come and wrestle number four in the country…we’ll always go find it, we’ll wrestle anybody.”

Lorenz // Pataky

The Raiders earned praise from Wyoming Seminary head coach Cornell Robinson and head assistant coach Will Weber for making the trip despite big odds.

“It’s evident that we are starting to be respected on a larger level, and it’s because of our willingness to go and scrap with anybody,” said Lorenz. “We will learn from everything and we will get better because of this. If we want to be on this level, we need to go see it and experience it so our kids can understand and work towards this. That was the intent of coming here…we will wrestle number one. If we can’t get local matches, we will go find it. Thanks to Wyoming Seminary for being gracious and respectful enough to wrestle us even with a depleted lineup.”

Unavailable for St. Francis against ‘Sem’ were freshman Tanner Catrabone (101-pounds) and juniors Kole Haseley (124), Griffin LaPlante (152/160), and Tavio Hoose (190).

Junior Cullen Edwards was the lone winner for St. Francis as he earned an exciting decision victory over Wyatt Spencer, 4-1, at 116-pounds. Throughout the rest of the weights, Wyoming Seminary featured six top-20 nationally ranked wrestlers (via Flowrestling) including the nation’s top-ranked 215-pounder in senior Jude Correa.

Edwards

“As a program, it was important to us to honor the commitment of coming out and showing up, and earning their respect to come with what we got, even though we didn’t have our best lineup by far,” said Lorenz. “They (Seminary) have been in that same situation, so they get it. I think they know it wasn’t about us beating them. I give them credit for giving us our start and opening the door for us to get in with the big dogs. We respect them quite a bit for taking that dual with us.”

With the postseason coming up this weekend with the NYS Catholic High School Athletic Association (CHSAA) Dual Meet Championships in New Rochelle, Lorenz is confident that the challenging schedule the Raiders have endured this season will have them fully prepared to take runs at the CHSAA dual and individual and NYS federation tournament titles.

“We’ve already wrestled nationally ranked teams…we’re just going back to New York now,” said Lorenz. “That’s where the mental gears are for our guys. We just have to focus and execute. We don’t have to wrestle out of our level…the others have to wrestle to our level now.”