NORRIDGE — Ridgewood junior Vinny Scaletta made steady progress in each of his first two seasons on varsity, but he was lacking something important after he finished up his sophomore season — a second takedown move.
So Scaletta, who wrestles at 220 pounds, spent all summer working on offense.
He went to wrestling camps at Oak Park-River Forest, started taking training classes at the Rhino School of Wrestling in Chicago and competed for Team Illinois at the 2014 Greco-Roman and Freestyle Junior Nationals in Fargo, North Dakota.
When he came back to Ridgewood, coach Jared McCabe noticed the key difference.
“He’s improved so much on his feet and he’s got more than one takedown now,” McCabe said. “If you can take someone down, you can beat anyone. That’s our philosophy. He needed to have that second move because once they blocked his first move he had nothing. Now he has multiple moves on his feet. If you block one he’s going to another.”
All the hours spent with different wrestling coaches were an eye-opening experience for Scaletta. He gave a little bit of credit to each of the places he wrestled last summer.
“The OPRF camps are pretty tough and you get to wrestle a lot of great wrestlers and learn your weaknesses,” Scaletta said. “At Rhino, Tim Duggan is such a great coach and he teaches the simple techniques that you don’t think about that help you get so much better. Doing Greco and Freestyle helped a lot, too. Those are highly based on offense and pushing the pace more. I was more of a defensive wrestler last season.”
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The time Scaletta devoted to getting better is reflected in his record this season. He improved to 22-5 after pinning Elmwood Park’s Jaime Galo in the second period on Jan. 22. However, Ridgewood suffered a 31-24 Metro Suburban East loss to the Tigers.
Scaletta moved up to heavyweight to wrestle Galo because Elmwood Park didn’t have a wrestler at 220.
“It was a pretty good win,” Scaletta said. “My speed helped, but sometimes you have to fight inside, control the center of the mat and push the pace. That’s what I did.”
Also picking up win for the Rebels — all by pin — were Rocco Caringella (132), Anthony Giovannielli (160) and Mohammed Diab (170). Excluding its two forfeits, Ridgewood outscored Elmwood Park 24-19.
Scaletta’s coaches and teammates have high expectations for him after his hard work in the offseason and a stellar season of work.
“I expect him to get to state and possibly even place,” McCabe said. “It’s awesome to see him grow because he’s a great kid and he wants it. He listens and that’s the most important thing. You teach him once and he does it.”
“I’ve seen amazing growth in Vinny,” said Nicholas Acevedo, the Rebels’ lone senior wrestler. “Last year he went to JV state and wasn’t good at riding kids. This year he’s amazing at it and he hits his takedowns a lot more. He just needs to keep working hard like he is, keep drilling his moves and stick to what he knows.”
Scaletta shares the same goal as many of the wrestlers in Illinois.
“Everyone’s goal is to win state, isn’t it?” Scaletta said. “I have to do regionals and sectionals first, but obviously winning state is the goal I have, just like every other wrestler.”
Scaletta and his teammates will compete in the Class 2A Fenton Regional on Feb. 7. The Rebels will have their work cut out for them because defending state champion Montini is in the same regional.
Rob Valentin is a freelancer for Pioneer Press.