As freshman Zoya Wexler attempted to pin his opponent, the timer for the period ran out. Nonetheless, he was able to “tech fall” his opponent, which is the term for scoring 15 points more than an opponent, by a score of 16-0 in his match against one of the Covenant Life Cougars.

The wrestling team doesn’t compete often, with one tri-meet this season against Washington Latin and St. Anslem’s prior to facing Covenant Life on Jan. 18. The Lions were forced to forfeit the meet because they didn’t have a full team. The Cougars beat the Lions 51-5 from the collective 15 matches, which started with the lowest weight class and ended with the highest.

Prior to meets like the one against Covenant Life, Wexler likes to do some specific preparations before his match to ensure he is in the right mindset.

“I usually try to find a wall to look at, and I tell myself that I can win, and I’m a good athlete and wrestler, and that no one can get in my way,” Wexler said. “I usually close my eyes and just talk to myself.”

Three more wins were achieved by seventh grader Saylor Abramson and eighth grader Ben Cashon: two for Abramson and one for Cashon. Most wrestlers on the wrestling team participated in one match; however, Cashon and Abramson participated in two because Covenant Life had more players than JDS in their weight class.

Freshman Jacob Sheib, who is in his second season on the team, lost against his opponent 6-8. His opponent got two takedowns worth two points each, a reversal worth two points and an escape worth one point. His opponent got his eighth point off of Sheib trying to do a half nelson to pin his opponent. However, he accidentally did a full nelson, which is illegal in wrestling and gives the opponent one point.

“I could have won that [match] because I had the half nelson, but I just couldn’t finish it, and I ran out of time,” Sheib said.

Covenant Life has had significantly more meets than JDS, with greater experience as they compete often and have practice five times a week, as opposed to the Lion’s four practices a week. Given the circumstances, Coach Chuck Woolery was proud of his team’s performance despite the gaps in training between the teams.

“We got a lot of pins against us at the moment off so we got we know what to do. And in about two weeks, we’re gonna wrestle them again,” Woolery said. “And now we’ve got the videos on them, and we can coach them… at this point it’ll be good. I’m thrilled with this team, I am just ecstatic.”

While the CESJDS Lions did not win the meet at Covenant Life, Woolery said that he was impressed with the team’s performance. At their next meet, the Lions are participating in a tri-meet at the Maryland School for the Deaf on Jan 30.

“I think being relaxed and being relaxed and not worrying about who you’re wrestling with [is important during matches],” Woolery said. “If you’re winning or losing, just go out and do your best [and] throw everything you have at them so that when you’re done with the match… you want to share what you did.”