Hard work pays off for Sec. VII champion Peru

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Peru's Max Maute (bottom) competes in the Section VII wrestling championships on Feb. 11. P-R Photo / Rob Fountain

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February 21, 2012

JOHN CORYER Press-Republican The Press Republican Tue Feb 21, 2012, 02:23 AM EST

PERU — The Peru wrestling team graduated a Division II state champion in Arik Robinson and a state runner-up in Patrick Hogan last year.

The Indians graduated seven seniors in all, representing nearly half the weight classes.

That, however, hasn't slowed down Peru this season as the Indians repeated as Champlain Valley Athletic Conference and Section VII champions.

The Indians, who were unbeaten in the league with an 8-0 record to go along with a 19-4 overall mark, will send eight wrestlers to this weekend's NYSPHSAA Championships in Albany.

"We lost a lot to graduation, but we had four or five back-ups who paid the price and did the work," Peru co-coach Mike Hogan said. "Wrestlers like Nick Forget and Jordan Bushey, who weren't in the line-up last year, won sectional championships this season.

"It also helped us that other teams in the CVAC lost some good wrestlers as well. Beekmantown had seven or eight seniors last year and just don't have the depth we do right now.

"I was expecting us to win both the league and sectional championships. Our overall record could be a little better than it is. But, overall, it has been a great year for us."

Senior captain Jacob Goddeau, a sectional champion at 132 and a previous state champion, feels the same way.

"We expected to be successful this year," he said. "We didn't feel a lot of pressure as a team after how well we did last year. But it has been a younger team this season.

"Once we got our order down, we felt we would be pretty good. We had other guys to put in the line-up after losing a lot of seniors. But we weren't the only team that lost some good wrestlers."

Junior captain Troy Seymour, a sectional champion at 170 this year, wasn't quite as sure at the beginning of the season.

"At first, I thought we might be a worse team than last year because of all the wrestlers we lost," he said. "I know some people didn't expect us to be this good.

"But we have a great modified program and have good wrestlers coming up all the time."

The Peru wrestling tradition is a good one and Hogan says it's a tribute to how hard the wrestlers work and the support from the community.

"We have a good cycle of athletes right now — we have guys chomping at the bit to get into the line-up," he said. "We have a couple of stars in Jacob Goddeau and Troy Seymour, but we also have five or six other kids who are good enough to have their day on any given day.

"Our kids wrestle year-round and the Peru community is passionate about the sport. The last names of the kids don't change much around here — you see the same names 30 years ago. We have a strong tradition in the sport."

And although the Indians have already won their share of championships this season, Hogan looks back on CVAC matches with Saranac and Northern Adirondack as being highlights to the season.

"Our second duals with Saranac and Northern Adirondack were outstanding," he said. "That's the way wrestling is supposed to be. The fans were great for both teams and I really enjoyed those matches."

"We had a close match the second time around against Saranac," Goddeau said. "We were behind and coming back to win was one of the highlights for us this season.

"Now we're looking forward to the states."

For Seymour, what Peru did at the sectionals sticks out in his mind.

"We've had a lot of great matches this year," he said. "But the biggest highlight is having eight of our wrestlers win sectionals and go on to the states."