William Allen Middle School’s wrestling team earned first place at the South Jersey Middle School Wrestling League championship in February with a 43-42 win over Williamstown.
“We were down 30-9, and that’s when we got the kids on the mindset of, it’s not over yet, just walk out there and wrestle one match at a time,” said coach Curt Clark. “The kids who did lose did a good job of fighting and not giving up all the possible points they could have, because it could have been a lot worse than 30-9.”
Playoffs started on Feb. 14, and the Quakers went on to beat Voorhees and Carusi middle schools, bringing home the championship on Feb. 16.
“It was actually a 42-42 tie, and when there’s a tie, they count up the total number of matches, and for our league, there were 15 matches and we won eight and they won seven,” Clark explained of the match against Williamstown. “So, it gave us a one-match win.”
Clark is a health and physical education teacher at Allen and coaches boys and girls varsity track at the high school. He’s coached football, pole vault and track, but the Williamstown win felt different.
“I think just being in that situation – down – and the intensity of it all and the tie, to come out on top of a tie like that, was all just part of the excitement,” Clark recalled.
“It was a battle, we were losing, we battled back, we were the underdog …” he added. “I don’t think anybody really gave us credit to win that match, and they just rolled everybody that they wrestled all year.”
Clark’s team had its challenges this season, including one starter’s broken ankle, but things turned around quickly.
“He came back for our playoff run and helped us in the playoffs,” Clark said of the injured player. “He was able to make it back for that final little stretch there … We made the playoffs, so that was good, and then he was able to get cleared and he squeezed right back in.”
Clark sees his team as a family where everyone gets treated equally. He likes to mix up groups of kids wrestling each other to keep things fresh.
“ … That way it’s not the same kids always just rolling around on the mat together,” he remarked. “It’s different groups of kids, different competition and it keeps that fire going when I stick a new kid in a group that hasn’t normally been in there, because he pushes the rest of the group to keep working hard.”
Clark believes team camaraderie and the positive environment that comes with playing sports can benefit students in the long run. He praised the teams’ dedication.
“I look at the long-term concept of sports, and the discipline and the work ethic and the sacrifice and the push and the drive, and how all that’s going to help them in high school, college and their career,” he observed.
“ … They’re hard-working kids, they learn how to sacrifice for the benefit of the team, they learn how to become better kids for the benefit of the team (and) they learn how to create drive and determination.”
