Hills West Wresting Looks To Pin Down A Championship

A few years ago a 24-year-old two-time collegiate All American and high school national champion took over a wrestling program that had lacked a bit of focus.

At first, Mike Patrovich was not certain what he had gotten himself into. He knew that he had the resume, and most definitely the right pedigree (Patrovich's father, Joe Patrovich, is a Long Island Hall of Fame coach).  

What he found at were some talented kids who at times might have lacked some focus. Patrovich had a few ideas to renew that focus, but first he had to get a "buy-in" from his existing team. Then he would try to get a buzz created within the community. His family and a few friends/business partners had just opened a wrestling gym called RaZor Wrestling Club. RaZor could provide training to young wrestlers.  

Having just been hired as a teacher at Candlewood Middle School, Patrovich started scoping out the Candlewood sports teams.  He took a chance and brought an 8th grader up to compete for a spot on the High School West varsity team.

That 8th grader, Tyler Grimaldi, compiled a record of 23-10 and was a league finalist, earning All-League honors and qualified for the county championships. The Candlewood team, which had averaged about 25 to 30 kids, now had 40 kids participating. A bunch of these athletes began frequenting RaZor gym. The buzz was growing and the high school's off-season program was becoming more popular.  

Kids were walking off the football field after summer practices and walking into the wrestling room. There they found Patrovich re-painting the wrestling room and buying plaques for their Wrestling Wall-of-Fame. He figured the next thing to do was to promote his wrestlers.  

He utilized a friend who owned a local photography business to take team photos. A poster was then produced that featured the team and season schedule with the title "THE TRADITION STARTS NOW."  

The coach put the posters in the high school, in the middle school and in the elementary schools.  The poster was prominently displayed outside the athletic director's office. When the football team was making its run toward the Long Island Championship, the centerfold of their program was the wrestling team's poster, wishing the team luck.  

The buzz was building. The coach rewarded the hardest off-season workers by making them captains. Senior Mike Carter and freshman Tyler Grimaldi would lead the Colts into the 2009-2010 season.  The Colts were on their way, and Coach Patrovich was finally seeing the fruits of his labors and marketing.  Now all the team had to do was win.  

What resulted was one huge turnaround.  The 2008-2009 Colts had finished the season with one win and their only qualifier for the county championships was an 8th grader. The 2009-2010 team finished 12-6 and had seven wrestlers qualify for the county championships, including captains Carter and Grimaldi, League Champ Zach Aal, Joe Massaro, Tyler Fleet, Chris Golinowski and Deven Williams. The team was awarded the "Most Improved Team in Suffolk County" by the SCWCA.  

The buzz was growing.  The first day of wrestling practice at Candlewood was a real eye-opener.  Coach Lupa (assistant coach at Hills West and head coach at Candlewood) looked into the gym, and there was a small army; sixty-eight 7th and 8th graders were all looking for a spot on the team.   

Now it's the 2010-2011 season. Will Patrovich be able to maintain the buzz?  Will the Colts continue to build on the newly christened tradition?  Will the youth of yesterday be able to continue the growth and lead the team to greater levels of success?   Stay tuned to Patch this season for the Hills West wrestling report and find out.