Feb. 8, 2026
By Leah Campos
Staff Writer
With a record of 2-11 as of Feb. 8, the 23 LHS athletes on the wrestling team, which is co-oped with North Arlington High School, are powering through a challenging season. Due to their size, with only 10 varsity members but 14 available spots, they enter each match giving up 14 points.
Senior Nate Boyd, a four-year varsity member, said mindset matters, but it is not necessarily enough to beat the opponent.
“You can be really bad but have a good mentality and beat better kids, [or] you can be really good, but things don’t go your way,” Boyd said.
In addition to wrestling, Boyd is also on the varsity football and outdoor track and field teams. Of these three sports, he said wrestling is the most grueling.
“You can have four or five matches in one day if you’re in a big tournament, [and] you have three duels a week,” Boyd said. “With football, I just have one game once a week, and for the rest of the week I can chill.”
Sophomore Nicolas Pipher, who is in his first year on varsity, said he contributes to the team dynamic by motivating and uplifting his fellow wrestlers.
“I like to be there for every single player on the team. I like being that person who congratulates you or brings you up if you lose or if you win,” Pipher said. “[If] my confidence gets picked up, I think the whole team’s confidence should be picked up too.”
“You can be really bad but have a good mentality and beat better kids, [or] you can be really good, but things don’t go your way.”
Pipher said he likes being on a team but competing individually.
“It’s really an individual sport where you want to win for yourself, but you also want to care about the team and your team points,” Pipher said.
Freshman Joseph Sapone, who joined varsity this year, also said he finds the individual aspect of the sport appealing.
“Wrestling is great because the only person you depend on is you. You have the team, but when you’re on the mat, you don’t depend on anyone else,” Sapone said.
He said that despite the team’s weak record, the wrestlers always push themselves.
“Even if we lose in matches, we do our best,” Sapone said.
He said the team’s strongest traits are its hardworking and close-knit nature.
“[The team] has great relationships,” Sapone said. “It’s a small [team], so everyone that’s on it is really close.”
