CWNC has 1-man wrestling show
CRANBERRY TWP — The wrestling program at Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic has left and gone away.
Except for one guy.
Matt Ferraro, a 138-pound junior from Mars, wrestles on.
He will be competing in weekend tournaments at Indiana, Mercer, Grove City and other places this season, still wearing the CWNC singlet. He just won't have any teammates.
“We had to suspend the program before the season started,” Trojans wrestling coach Troy Benson said. 'We had eight kids out for the team last year, but when it came to our section meet, nobody wanted to compete. They didn't think they were good enough.
“Matt was the only one who kept going. We started the program up again three years ago, but wrestling is a sport where you have to take your lumps for a while until you learn technique and improve.
“Matt has been wrestling for a long time. The other kids were just starting and didn't want to continue,” Benson added.
Ferraro began wrestling at age 4. He was in the Mars elementary program before moving over to St. Killian in fifth grade.
He wrestled as an independent in seventh and eighth grade.
“That's sort of what I'm doing now,” Ferraro said. “When I came to North Catholic, I was looking forward to being part of a team again. It was fun having other guys around the past couple of years.
“I'm still hoping we can get back to that next year. But I'm definitely going to keep going.”
Ferraro was 19-6 as a freshman with the Trojans and 26-5 last season at 132 pounds. He placed third in the section and sixth in the WPIAL Class 2A tourney before ending his season in the Southwest regional.
“Matthew is a very skilled wrestler,” Benson said. “He works hard at it and I'm more than happy to keep working with him.”
Because he has no high school team to practice with, Ferraro gets in his mat time by going to wrestling clubs at night. He attends one somewhere four nights a week.
Ferraro said he goes to wrestling clubs at North Allegheny, Mars, University of Pittsburgh and Latrobe.
“My (high school) coach supports me and so do all of those clubs,” Ferraro said. “I'm getting a lot of quality time in on the mat. I wish I could get some matches during the week ... That's where not having a high school team hurts.
“Some of the other kids in school ask me where and when my matches are because they want to come watch me if they can. I feel like the school is still behind me and I feel like I'm still representing the school by wearing our singlet.”
Benson gives Ferraro credit for sticking with the sport.
“You have to accept defeat until you learn how to do it,” the coach said. “He's been through all of that. Matthew has lofty goals in wrestling. He wants to get to the state tournament. He wants to wrestle in college.
“I admire how he does what he has to do to get there.”
Ferraro is carrying a 4.3 grade point average in high school while taking honor courses and admits to having to balance his time during wrestling season.
“I take advantage of study halls and do most of my homework then,” he said. “I'll study in my room after school before I go a wrestling club because most of them don't start until 8 p.m.or so.
“My goal is to wrestle at a Division I college, get to the NCAA Tournament. My academics will always come first, but maybe wrestling can help me get there.”
