Jan 6, 2021 3 min read

It’s not the best of circumstances, but Ron Tarquinio sees it as a good first test.

Tarquinio, the new head coach of Trinity High School’s wrestling team, had to put his plans for the program on hold for a month because of the coronavirus.

Now, the restart begins with a date at the North Allegheny Duals this weekend.

“We want to get in some matches to see where we are at this point,” said Tarquinio. “Before we went on the layoff, I thought we were in a very good spot. I knew it was going to be hard to get everybody in the same point we were in a few weeks ago.”

This year’s Trinity team has promising young talent and some strong heavyweights.

“I think we are like a lot of other programs that have some people banged up and others not coming out because of the virus,” said Tarquinio. “We have a good mix of talent.”

Senior Micah Finley (26-15) leads a group of veterans that includes junior Andrew Gonzales (11-7 at 138), sophomore Tyson Banco (18-9 at 215) and Tyson Brophy (25-16 at heavyweight). A knee injury in the football season has robbed the Hillers of junior Drew Cain (21-13 at 160) for the season.

Mix those wrestlers in with promising freshmen Blake Reihner (120 or 126), Cody Morgan (145) and Cael Nicolella (152), the future looks bright.

Trinity lost four wrestlers to graduation, including Cole Whitmer, who went 29-8 at 220. The others were James Porter (19-15 at 152); Hunter Frantz (8-7 at 182), Regis Seng (8-9 at 189) and Mason Clemens (3-4 at heavyweight).

“It’s going to be tough going against a team like Waynesburg,” said Tarquinio. “I told our kids that it’s going to be tough to beat a team with a full lineup. We might not beat them on the scoreboard but we’re going in and wrestle as hard as we can, and make improvements over the course of a year. We’re going to try to get better every day.”

Tarquinio wrestled for West Allegheny and Pitt and began his coaching career an assistant coach with the Panthers. He spent three years as head coach at West Allegheny. He had stops at Franklin Regional, where he helped coach Spencer Lee, and Trinity, where he helped in the junior high program.

“We tell our kids that in practice, they should try to improve one percent every day,” said Tarquinio. “I’ve seen a lot of young guys come in and beat seniors. We can only focus on the things we can control.”