Optimism is permeating the pungent air of the Perryville wrestling room. The Panthers have 24 wrestlers, about two-thirds of whom are freshmen or sophomores. Perryville also returns all four of its wrestlers who qualified for last winter's region tournament. Zac Zacerous, sixth in the state at 152 pounds last year, leads the way. The junior was second in both the UCBAC and region tournaments last season. "Our goal is to turn a lot of those second place finishes into firsts," Perryville coach Thad Gough said.
Aengus Vervier (220) was the other Panther who qualified for the state tournament. "Aengus has worked hard and he's stronger and in better shape," said Gough. Region qualifier Ryan Berger is moving up from 106 to 113. Region qualifier Hunter Zacerous was hampered by injuries last season but is healthy now and poised to have another good season. Returner Brady Krahn will contribute in the middle weights. Heavyweight Teryl Cain is "picking up things fast", said Gough. Perryville struggled in dual meets last year in large part because it was forced to forfeit as many as eight matches. This season, the Panthers could field a full line-up. "There are a lot of things pointing in the right direction," said Gough. "It's the biggest team we've had in years. I'm optimistic we'll have a more complete roster. We'd like to win more than two dual meets last season and we're hoping for a strong showing in the postseason. We expect to improve on the number of wrestlers to qualify for the region tournament. If we can get six that would be awesome." Comments are closed.
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