On the mat: Charles Henderson hosts first wrestling match

Published 10:17 pm Friday, February 1, 2019

History was made inside the Charles Henderson Gymnasium on Friday afternoon when the Trojans hosted their first-ever wrestling match against Enterprise.

The gymnasium was full of school administrators, teachers, coaches and students eager to get their first taste of high school wrestling.

“It was a great time,” said head coach Matthew Raiti. “We had a lot of support from the student section. There were a lot of people there and the kids wrestled really well.”

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With just a handful of matches under their belt, the Trojan wrestlers were able to compete in front of their peers for the first time. Although some of them may have been nervous, the exciting atmosphere did its job of keeping the wrestlers engaged.

“I think the crowd made them forget about the nervousness and it gave them an extra boost,” Raiti said.

As for the results on the mat, the Trojans fell to Enterprise 48-30 on Friday night. The Trojans were forced to give 36 points to Enterprise because of forfeits due to an incomplete roster.

“They really scored 12 points,” Raiti said. “With the matches we wrestled, we only lost two matches. They did really good.”

With the wrestling program still growing at Charles Henderson, the goal was to have this match showcase what wrestling is all about to students, in hopes of attracting new faces next season.

“I had a lot of people come up and speak to me and say that they really enjoyed it,” Raiti said. “For a lot of people, that was their first ever wrestling match. They commented about it being very intense and they enjoyed it.”

The Trojans will be back in action this Friday night when the wrestle in the section tournament in Montgomery.