Dupont ready to rebuild Colonials
YORK RUN – Albert Gallatin head wrestling coach Duane Dupont finds himself in a position many coaches would like to be in. He must do some rebuilding with the squad as graduation has taken some veteran wrestlers from the program, but he has the luxury of having a few bodies to fill those slots. “Graduation has forced us to have a large turnover of kids the past couple of years. But in some ways that’s good because you’re always getting new kids to teach,” he said. “We’ve got some holes to fill, and should be able to. The kids we lost performed well. We will miss them and wish them all the best, but it is time to rebuild.”
One of the biggest losses will be lightweight Jon Bittinger, now wrestling at Duquense University. Other seniors lost from last year include Tom Karpency, Andrew McIntyre, Justin Williams, and Jason Williams. Dupont said that group took over 150 wins with them when they graduated.
Dupont is looking forward to this year, and feels he has a great nucleus of kids and plenty of experience returning.
“The kids we have coming back are working hard, and the young men joining the team are following their lead,” he said. “We have developed a good feeder system from the junior high, so we should be fine for a good while.”
Dupont has four WPIAL qualifiers returning for the Colonials. Senior Charlie Belch returns at 171 pounds where he was the section runner-up. Junior Dave Bryson is a returning section champ at 145.
Junior Mark Brown was the section runner-up at 152, while fellow junior Rob Blosser was third at 215. Sophomore Brad Zitney also provides some youth and experience following a fourth place section finish at 119 pounds. Other seniors returning are Grovan Lang, Mike Myers, and Chuck Myers.
Dupont said the Colonials should be solid from 145 through heavyweight, and should be able to win a few matches with that group alone.
His main concern is filling in the lower weights with pressing needs at 103, 130 and 135 pounds.
“We have some kids available, but it’s going to take time to drop some weight. They should be able to help us later in the year.”
Dupont says he has a couple of kids coming up from the junior high that did well in the Junior Olympic tournament last year, and could press some the veterans for mat time.
“These guys have a great work ethic, coming in from the junior high, which should pay off with some of the older guys looking after them.”
One freshman Dupont wanted to get a good look at was Jeff Dulany, who is lost for the year because of an injury.
Dupont feels Section 2-AAA will be a little more competitive this year.
“Connellsville is still the front runner,” he said.
“With their increased numbers, their practices will be more competitive, which will help them individually.”
Dupont feels the Colonials schedule will pay off for them later in the year. He said McGuffey, normally a top 10 program, will be a good test for Albert Gallatin.
The Colonials will also be in field at the Powerade Tournament. Dupont said the Chartiers-Houston Tournament will be a good opening tournament with a good mix of Class AA and AAA teams. Also on the schedule is a return to the Sharon Duals, where the Colonials will be one of eight teams. New on the schedule is a trip to West Virginia for the Winners Choice Tournament in Fairmont.
“One goal is to return to the WPIAL tournament for a sixth straight year,” he said. “One of my main goals is to get as many kids as I can to the state tournament. Physically we’re in good shape. The key this year is getting the mental edge. If we can do that, I look for things to get better for us this year.”