Ferraro shines on CWNC mats
CRANBERRY TWP — In its inaugural season, the Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic wrestling team needed someone to carry the flag.
Enter freshman Matthew Ferraro.
The Adams Township resident, who wrestles at 126 pounds, sports a 12-4 record for the Trojans.
“I started wrestling for the Mars Youth Wrestling Club when I was five years old,” said Ferraro. “That was a pretty good experience. I learned a lot of good moves.”
Despite his youth, Ferraro has by far the most experience out of the Trojans’ 12 wrestlers.
“He is the only one who had wrestled before this season,” said CWNC coach Troy Benson. “As a team, we are not in a section and wrestle independently.”
Most of Ferraro’s bouts have come at tournaments. He placed first at the Bo Woods Tournament in Indiana (Pa.) Jan. 9, giving up just two combined points against three opponents. He also took third at Mercer and fourth at Chartiers-Houston.
“Coming into the season, I was nervous because I wasn’t sure how I’d do wrestling against upperclassmen,” said Ferraro. “The competition has been really tough, but I think I’ve done well so far.”
Benson sees Ferraro growing not only physically within the sport, but also mentally.
“Because of the tournaments, Matt will go out and wrestle anybody and not be intimidated,” he said. “He is very dedicated. He works with us, but also practices with North Allegheny’s club team and down at (the University of Pittsburgh).”
Ferraro is hoping to finish the season strong.
“I want to qualify for WPIALs and Regionals and hopefully, get to states,” he said.
Any individuals the Trojans send to WPIALs will have to first place in the top five in their weight class at the Section 3-AA tournament at Avonworth later this month.
North Catholic previously had a wrestling team when the school was located in Troy Hill, but the program disbanded several years before the move to Cranberry Township in 2014.
Benson wrestled in the early 1980s at Altoona High School, where the sport is very popular. He is now trying to foster the same type of enthusiasm at a much smaller school.
“Being a private school, we don’t have a feeder program,” he said. “The kids have made a ton of progress this season, but still have a long way to go.”
“I think wrestling will stick at North Catholic,” said Ferraro. “I talked to some of the other boys on the team and we think we can do some good things next year.”
