Photo Credit: Jeff Kaboly

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cole DiGuiseppi

Cole DiGuiseppi‘s farewell to wrestling starts Friday night.

The Freedom High School senior 145-pounder has attracted interest from colleges but when he takes the mat at Liberty’s Memorial Gym as the No. 5 seed Friday afternoon (4 p.m.) in the 66th annual District 11 Class AAA tournament, the Bethlehem Township resident’s career on the mat will be in the home stretch.

“I’m going down south for college, where a lot of colleges don’t have wrestling, and my college, the University of South Alabama (in Mobile) doesn’t have wrestling,” DiGuiseppi said. “I was on vacation in the Gulf Shore area near there and fell in love with the area and I told my mother I wanted to go to college around there. I want to go into the medical field and (South Alabama) has one of the best programs in the country in radiological sciences.”

The Gulf Coast’s gain is definitely wrestling’s loss. DiGuiseppi has been a major highlight for the injury-ravaged Patriots. He has enjoyed a terrific senior season with a 24-8 record entering districts.

“Cole is wrestling with confidence right now, which is important for postseason success,” Freedom coach Brandon Hall said.

DiGuiseppi has shown flashes of excellence during his career at Freedom but has developed a confident consistency in his senior season. Much of his mindset comes from achieving more success at the Bethlehem Holiday Wrestling Classic in December.

“In the past three years, I was two-(losses) and-out all three seasons,” he said. “This year, I came one match short of placing. Something clicked in my mind. I can do this if I put my mind to it.”

DiGuiseppi has put his mind to first getting to right weight. He has recently dropped to 145.

“I was wrestling 160 to start the season but weighing in at 152 and it was a little bit hard to get to 145,” he said. “But I think being at 145 was a better opportunity for me to succeed.”

Second, to wrestle better in the neutral position.

“I knew coming in I had to gain more confidence on my feet and with my shots,” he said. “The coaching staff really helped me break things down and be more secure on my feet.”

The progress came, as so often is the case in wrestling, with an extra commitment.

“I would stay after practice three or four days a week and the coaches would drill me,” DiGuiseppi said. “I had to keep shooting all the time, all different shots. In the beginning, it was really hard to get in on them. I got better but it’s still not that easy. Coach Hall is one tough wrestler; he’s so good on his feet and (assistant coach Colin) Ackerman is really good at ties and I’d have to get out of them; I wasn’t used to having to do that.”

And third, shoot for a reasonable goal.

“Everybody’s ultimate goal is to make the district final,” he said. “Coach Hall always told me it doesn’t matter where you’re seeded, it’s where you finish. When I was a freshman, I was seeded 18th and wound up coming in eighth.”

DiGuiseppi’s success has been a bright spot for a Patriot team whose promising year has been crippled by injuries.

“Our season just started to fall apart with all the injuries,” he said. “This year was the first year in a long time Freedom made it to team districts and we went in half a team. It would have been nice to see how far we could have gone. From the first week of practice since I have been here, coach Hall has stressed that Freedom isn’t looked at highly in any sport, especially wrestling, and we have had to work hard and do the right things to give Freedom a good name.”

DiGuiseppi and teammates such as 106-pound sophomore Dylan Brown (No. 2 seed in District 11) and 182-pound junior John Callahan (No. 3) can still give the Patriots’ brand a boost with a strong postseason.

“We still have a lot of work to do but we have a lot of guys who can take it farther into the postseason,” he said.

It could be an extended goodbye to the sport for DiGuiseppi.