PHS Senior wrestlers Jahyr Tejada, Michael Sams, Keith Coyotl, Royce Francisco and Angel Ysabel at senior night. Photo by Edwin Morales

By Danielle Baez

Wrestling is one of the toughest, most demanding sports that PHS offers. Our Passaic Indians practice two hours right after school almost every day of the week. Along with wrestling, many of the teammates are also involved in other after school activities.

Those who come to the meets only see a small part of what goes into the sport. What about all the grueling practices, hours of hard work, lengthy road trips, and injuries our athletes receive almost every day for months? Although these happen in almost every sport, a very small amount of high school seasons have been shown to deal with the mental and physical strain of wrestling.

When asked about what his motivation to continue in the sport Edwin Morales said, “I come into practice everyday to work hard so I can compete at the highest level possible.”

Not only do wrestling practices push the participants to the point of exhaustion, but no other high school sport requires its participants to be at or under a certain weight in order to compete. Before every meet, each wrestler on the team must be weighed in and can be disqualified if they do not make weight requirements. “I joined my sophomore year looking for a challenge and wrestling definitely proved to be just that,” said senior Keith Coyotl.

As a teammate, there is always someone that you can look up to and aspire to be like on the team. Edwin Morales looks to his team members for motivation, competition, a better mindset, and work ethic. “There is a bit of competition between members, and it is a way for them to push themselves harder” said Morales.
Members such as Royce Francisco and Angel Ysabel are known on the team for having a great mindset and work ethic for the sport.

Our Passaic Indians started February off strong and won 36 to 33 against the Kennedy Knights of Paterson. Pins for Passaic were achieved by Adrian Serrano, Keith Coyotl, Edwin Morales, Royce Francisco, and Michael Sams.

Other major victories were achieved this season, with the Passaic Indians beating Leonia, Newark East Side, Christ the King, Barringer, and Paterson Eastside.

We are looking forward to seeing how the Passaic Indian Wrestlers finish out their season.