Western Wayne’s main goal is to peak at the perfect moment in boys wrestling action
VARDEN — Western Wayne’s boys varsity wrestling team is enjoying solid success this winter in both dual meet and tournament action.
Led by Gavin Morcom, Jake Leslie, Liam Farley and Tyler Barletta, the Wildcats have a 4-2 match record along with Top 10 finishes at both the Tony Iasiello Christmas and the Jarvis Memorial events.
And according to head coach Josh Harrison, this talented young squad is just getting started insofar as realizing goals is concerned.
“We’re in a good place right now,” the veteran skipper said. “This is a really close knit team. The kids have great camaraderie and work really hard in the room every day.”
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Weather permitting, Western Wayne will be back on the mat this week for a crucial home dual meet against Lackawanna Trail.
“We haven’t beaten Trail in six years,” Harrison said of the perennial Class AA powerhouse. “I’m hoping for a really strong outing against them.”
Action gets underway at 7:45 p.m. Wednesday at the middle school gym.
Building momentum
Western Wayne opened up the 2023-24 season in the best way possible.
The Wildcats traveled to Athens High School to compete at the Jarvis Memorial Tournament. There, they powered their way to a first place finish in the team standings.
Morcom, Leslie and Farley led the way with individual gold medals.
Morcom pinned Karson Sipley of Athens in the 139-pound final. Leslie clamped Shane Neal of Spencer Van Etten (NY) to claim the 145-pound title, while Farley notched a tech fall against Jack Touissant of Columbia (NY) to cop the 133-pound crown.
Two weeks later, the Wildcats returned to Athens for that school’s annual high-profile duals tournament. Once again, Coach Harrison’s boys muscled their way to a team championship.
“I’d say our win there is the high point of the season so far,” he said. “We wrestled two tough District 4 teams and came away with gold medals. I think that tournament showed the kids that their hard work is really paying off.”
Western Wayne dominated both their quarterfinal and semifinal matches, rolling to lopsided wins over Spencer Van Etten (58-15) and South Williamsport (51-19).
That set the stage for a much-anticipated showdown with the host team, which went right down to the wire. Thanks in large part to stellar performances from Morcom, Leslie, Farley and Barletta the 'Cats posted an electrifying 37-35 victory over Athens.
“Having such good team chemistry definitely helps in the room,” Coach Harrison said. “These kids don’t let one other slack off during practice and that translates onto the mat. They’re all super-competitive and really want to win.”
On-mat leadership
Morcom is just a freshman, but he’s already turning heads all around the Lackawanna League at 139 and 145.
Following a dominant junior high career, Morcom won a starting spot in the varsity lineup and quickly began piling up the wins. He currently boasts a team-best 18-5 record including 14 falls.
“What Gavin is doing as a freshman is very impressive,” Coach Harrison said. “He’s got a champion’s attitude. It doesn’t matter who Gavin is wrestling, he just goes out there expecting to win.“
By contrast, Leslie is a battle-tested senior who’s coming off a 25-win season which ended with a silver medal at districts. This year, Leslie is already 17-2 with 11 falls.
“Jake is really fun to watch out there on the mat,” Coach Harrison said. “He’s one of the best high school wrestlers I’ve ever seen. There aren’t many kids out there who can get out from bottom on him.”
Farley is another member of Western Wayne’s talented senior class. He competes at 133 pounds and has 78 wins in his varsity career. Farley is 16-2 this season with 11 pins.
“Liam has a very unique style of wrestling,” Coach Harrison said. “He’s extremely tough on his feet and on top. Liam is part of the core of our team and the younger kids really look up to him.”
Barletta is a seasoned, versatile veteran who wrestles at 145, 152 and 160. The senior has 45 career wins and is 14-4 with an eye-popping 13 falls this winter.
“Tyler is just a strong athletic kid,” said Coach Harrison said. “He’s awesome on his feet and has phenomenal pressure on top which gives his opponents a lot of trouble.”
Setting the bar high
The high point of Western Wayne’s dual meet competition so far this year came on December 20 via a blistering 72-0 shutout of Mountain View.
While the Wildcats did suffer a pair of razor-thin losses to local rivals Wallenpaupack Area (39-33) and Honesdale (35-27), a win over Lackawanna Trail on Wednesday will have major post season ramifications.
“Our main goal as a team is to win district duals and go to Hershey,” Coach Harrison said. “The kids set this goal on our first day of practice and they’ve been working super hard to achieve it.”
This article originally appeared on Tri-County Independent: Western Wayne wrestling team paced by Morcom, Leslie, Farley, Barletta
