Greencastle wrestling hopes the little things have big rewards

GREENCASTLE -- It has begun.

The 2009 season and the quest for a state championship has once again began for the Greencastle wrestling squad.

And for head coach Matt McComish it all starts with the basics.

"We are concentrating on the little things right now," McComish said. "We want to steadily improve as the season progresses."

Greencastle has three seniors returning to the mats this year, Jesse Ford, Nolan Lewis and Tommy Downing. Out of those three returning, Ford was the only one that made a run in the tournament. He made it to the Evansville regional before getting eliminated.

Ford might be the only senior returning who went deep in the tourney, but he isn't the only one of the team.

Letterman Jesse Vermillion returns to the squad this year. Last season Vermillion made it to the Mooresville Regional before being pushed out. Other non-senior lettermen returning this year to the squad are Trevor Teal, Will Mobley and Ben Hesler.

Along with the experienced grapplers coming back, McComish is looking towards the younger wrestlers to step up and make an impact this year.

"All of our young guys will have to make an impact on the team this year," McComish said. "I'm not sure who it will be, but we need to have some of our freshmen and first year wrestlers step and win some big matches.

"I look to all of our young wrestlers to come up big for us as the season progresses," McComish added.

But before the Tiger Cubs can focus on the state tournament, McComish said there are two other things that the team has to concentrate on -- the county and conference tournaments.

"We want to win the county and conference championships," McComish said. "Then we will focus on getting everybody through to the regional."

For that to happen, McComish said there are some things that have to change from last season.

"We need to work on our match strategy," he said. "We want to continue to be fundamentally sound and increase the tempo as the match goes into the third period."

"Our sectional is a tough one. We have to take it one match at a time and keep improving as the year goes on," McComish added. "Right now we need to work hard during practice and keep improving."