JV boys wrestling won the duel against LaPorte in a home match on Jan. 9.

“We did good. We almost destroyed them. We got a couple pins in, but some of us had our weak points, so we could have done better with that,” John Rizzo (9) said.

Those weak points led to some individual losses, although the team had an overall win.

“I lost my match, but I feel I fought as hard as I could,” Joshua Taylor (9) said. “The kid was a little better than me. Maybe he had a little more experience, but I did my best. That’s all that matters, I guess.”

The teams, however, aren’t to be blamed completely for mistakes made. The past few weeks were a disruptive combination of holidays and dangerous weather.

“[The weather] hurt us a little bit because we weren’t allowed in the building Monday or Tuesday, and leading up to that we gave them six days off for the break. Then, the weather hit. It affected us a lot with our conditioning, and getting their weight down. A lot of our guys gassed early in the match, but we were alright,” JV coach David Gnaden said.

Despite these difficulties, the team overcame them and pulled ahead with a win. JV’s last duel was held on Jan. 15 against Merrillville. Rensselaer holds an annual tournament that will be held the Jan. 25 for freshmen and sophomores.

“My goal is to always have a few champions [in the tournament],” Gnaden said, “That leads us into the next season and shows us where we’re at and what strides we’ve made throughout the years.”