Chris Mattioni begins 28th year as Cape wrestling coach
Coach and school counselor Chris Mattioni just celebrated his 53rd birthday by entering his 28th season as Cape Henlopen’s head wrestling coach. Mattioni dresses for practice in the wrestling room, then picks a middleweight partner to demonstrate takedowns, escapes, reversals, scoring moves and pinning combinations. it’s ironic for athletes to know the counselor by day who can drop you into a cement mixer before you can say ball and chain at after-school practice.
The core of the 2024 wrestling team centers around sophomore Austin Guerrieri, the returning state champion at 106 pounds, and 2023 state finalists junior Nick Walker (144) and senior Patrick Donahue (215).
Most wrestlers bump around in the early season, so it's likely Guerrieri will move up to 113 and Walker to 150, while Donahue stays put at 215.
Cape also returns Cale Baker, Tripp Gannon, Max Meadows, Colin Poulis, Jacob Goodsell, Owen Mattioni, Hudson Senard, Luke Arnold-Decyk and others, while welcoming some talented freshmen into the room.
Cape will host Sussex Tech Wednesday, Dec. 11, followed by Milford Wednesday, Dec. 18.
Cape has a combination of 10 coaches in the room counting volunteer assistants. Those listed as assistants include Shane Jensen, Garrett Smith, Keith Tobin and Aaron Mattioni.
Check out capevikingssports.com for the complete season schedule.
Late lineup : Cape will travel to South Carolina the weekend of December 6 and Dec 7 for the Southern Slam tournament held at Eastside High School .Yje Vikings projected lineup by weight class rolling light to heavy is :106 Nolan Wright ,113 Blake Walker ,120 Austin Guerrieri, 126 Cale Baker ,132 Tripp Gannon, 138 Max Meadows, 144 Blake Walker,150 Colin Poulis, 157 Riley Baum, 165 Carson Tuer, 175 Jacob Goodsell , 190 Luke Arnold-Decyk, 215 Patrick Donahue, 285 Whatt Graviet .
