Wrestlers meet on the mat

As training and competitions ramp up towards regionals and the Greater Montreal Athletics Association (GMAA) wrestling championships, both Kahnawake Survival School (KSS) and the joint Howard S. Billings/Kanien’kehá:ka Tehontatie:nas Mohawk Wrestling Club (MWC) squads are liking where they’re at so far this year.

That was on display at the latest wrestling dual meets at Billings last Thursday. MWC girls were undefeated on the day, finishing first, while the KSS boys placed first overall and MWC boys placed second.

“That’s something I didn’t really expect, to be honest with you. I was sure that we had a shot, but I knew it was going to be close,” said KSS wrestling head coach Brandon Stalk.

“The guys showed up and they all wrestled above my expectations.”

Stalk was particularly impressed with the performance of three wrestlers last week: Slade Two Rivers, Aiden Jacobs, and Leland Lahache.

“I guarantee they’re going to be on the podium next month,” said Stalk.

“He gets better every match. He’s getting more comfortable. You see that he’s not making the same mistakes he was,” said Stalk of Two Rivers.

Jacobs, meanwhile, was attacking nonstop, not giving up any points and always looking for the right opportunity to attack.

Lahache faced a lot of tough competition, but came out on top, including an impressive 20-second victory.

Stalk credits the success of his team to their passion for wrestling, as well as the hard work and dedication of his assistant coaches: Kanerahtens Bush, Kahonwes Stacey, Shakoiatenhawitha Cross-Jacobs, and Kennikahontesha Montour.

“It’s a lot of commitment. We’ve got guys that are just competitive, tough and hard working, and they really like the sport. They like to learn. They want to be there, they want to win, and it’s showing. They’re a really tough team and they’re going to be hard to beat,” said Stalk.

One team that will be looking to potentially beat them is the MWC.

“They’re about where we expected them to be,” said MWC coach Otiohkwanoron Montour of the progress the wrestlers have made so far this year.

There are a few first-year wrestlers who got their first shot at real competition at the dual meets, he explained, and some of those younger wrestlers did not match up well in terms of weight class, being on the lighter side. That means they don’t get much time on the mat outside of practice if there are no other wrestlers in their weight class.

“It’s just that there’s nobody there to wrestle. I know we have some girls that are really petite and they’re like 90 pounds, there are no other wrestlers in our division that are there,” said Montour.

He highlighted the performances of a few less experienced wrestlers, like Thomas Kenna, who has wrestled less than a half-dozen matches before Thursday’ Joshua Shadbolt, who has been improving a lot since a difficult start to his season to get his first ever win on Thursday’ and Luca Valade, who did well in his first ever match.

The Ed Meagher tournament at Loyola High School this weekend will be a good opportunity for many of these wrestlers to get some reps against people other than their teammates, he said.

The name of the game at this stage is improvement, he said, no matter what the result is.

“I’ve said this to a lot of my athletes, too. No matter what happens on the mat, win, lose, or draw, there’s no actual losing,” said Montour.

KSS would have normally also been there, but Stalk said they were not invited after finishing third overall last year – Loyola High School declined to comment on the matter.

Nevertheless, both teams will cross paths again next Tuesday at the Mohawk Super Bingo in Kahnawake for regionals.

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