Jankos hoping for wrestlers return to give late boost to Steinert’s tough season

Anthony Verdi Steinert Wrestling
Anthony Verdi continued his strong season for Steinert with a pin at 126 pounds against Princeton Wednesday night (Photo by Amanda Ruch). 

By Rich Fisher
Fish4scores.com
Jan. 23:
Injuries and youth hit every team sooner or later, but they have hit Steinert wrestling all at once this season.

The Spartans 47-33 loss to Princeton on Jan. 22 dropped Steinert to 0-13 as they once again forfeited four weight classes.

Steinert already started the season with holes to fill, and injuries to such upper weight standouts as Dante Hawkins, Will Laster and Savion Cooper did not help. Hawkins returned last week and notched a pin against Hopewell and took a major decision over Princeton. Cooper is out for the season as he focuses on preparing for the track & field season after committing to Hartford for that sport.

“Hawkins has only been working out a week so he’s a little out of shape,” coach Adam “The Postmaster General” Jankos said after the Princeton match.  “He’s getting there, we managed to get a major out of him tonight.  

“We’ve got some guys who are making their move to come back. We’re not gonna say who they are yet but we want to surprise a few people in some of our coming matches. We think we can squeak out a few wins. We were looking to get a win tonight, unfortunately things didn’t go our way. Now we’re gonna have to piece something together and see if we can get one next time.”

Steinert has been getting solid years from Louis Balardo, Anthony Verdi and Nick Ricigliano. Balardo won by technical fall and Verdi pinned against Princeton. But the remainder of the team is giving up too many bonus points.

“A lot of times when we lose we’re getting pinned,” Jankos said. “You gotta stay off your back. We need to get things in the right order. Hopefully we start getting some guys back and we get less forfeits.”

About The Author


Rich Fisher has been around the Hamilton Township sports scene for so long that he actually got Rich Giallella’s autograph when Giallella was still a player! Proud product of Hamilton YMCA and Lou Gehrig baseball leagues and former teammate of Jim Maher on a very average Barton & Cooney rec basketball team, Fish graduated from Nottingham Junior High and Steinert High school and has covered township sports since 1980. His goal in life is to convince Maria Prato that Jersey tomatoes are at least 100 times better than California tomatoes.