By Logan Stolberg

The Oswego State men’s wrestling team is coming off a disappointing loss against SUNY Cortland 12-32 on senior night.  Six of those who competed celebrated senior night and were honored on Feb. 4.  Many of the senior Lakers are very proud of what they have accomplished while at Oswego State. Senior Isaac Matthews was very impressed by the group of guys on the team. 

“This group is awesome, everybody including all the freshman up to the seniors,” Matthews said. “It’s been a great experience here; I can’t complain at all. Senior night was the best turnout we’ve ever had.  It’s good to see wrestling gaining some popularity.”

During his time as a wrestler, Matthews has seen the wrestling team gain more attention among members of the community.

“It’s good to see wrestling gaining some popularity,” Matthews said. “You know a lot of people I talk to don’t even know we have a wrestling team and now it’s becoming like a cool thing where people are interested in it.  I just think where our culture’s at right now.  I think people need some healthy conflict in their life and this shows them a good way to get their frustrations out.”  

Matthews during his time as Laker has compiled a noteworthy list of accolades including three-time ECWC all-team honors. Matthews is proud of these accomplishments since his freshman year at Oswego State.

“I’ve gotten better every year I have been here,” Matthews said. “My freshman and my sophomore year I didn’t even start. I have really good guys ahead of me.  I had wrestled completely differently. I’ve been developing new shots. It’s been a lot of different elements in coming into play. This sport would be really boring if you just did the same things every year and you never could find a way to evolve.  It’s all about creativity.  It’s a combat art. We’re just trying to get in here and be artistic.”  

Head coach Mike Howard says it has been a privelege to share his wrestling knowledge with this group of seniors.

“Obviously they’ve had a tough go with COVID,” Howard said. “Last year we basically had no season or mat time.  That’s a lot of adversity that these guys had to face to come back and put themselves in a position to compete.  A lot of our competitors were able to get on the mat and unfortunately, we weren’t.  That set us back a little bit.  So, I think as the season went on when we were closing the gap, but we still have ways to go.  These guys have been able to fight and stay committed to their goals and what they want to achieve in the sport.” 

Moving forward into the tournament round, Matthews and the Lakers are hoping to ride the success they had during the regular season.

“We’re not really concerned with the wins and losses,” Matthews said. “We’ve had some guys get injured and get out. We’re not too concerned with the dual team stuff; we’re just concerned with getting better every day and winning every position along with every situation. It’s just about winning the small battles. That’s really all we think about day by day and doing things to the best of our ability.” 

Photos provided by Oswego State Athletics