Edward Kensik, Correspondent / Record Sports
GARFIELD — With a bulk of the wrestlers returning, first-year head coach Aaron Khan was looking forward to the 2016-17 season, but a little bump in the road has hit that dream.
The bump in the road is injuries as three of the eight returning starters suffered setbacks before the first wrestlers hit the mat.
Fortunately for Khan and the Boilermakers who were 18-5 last season, two of the wrestlers, junior Josh Ferreira and senior Matthew Spoto, are expected to return between the first and second weeks of January.
Unfortunately for senior Kevin Castillo (All NJIC honorable mention last season) will miss the 2016-17 season after suffering an injury during the football season. Castillo was expected to be the Boilermakers 152/160-pound wrestler this season.
For this season Khan and Garfield, they are looking to win their third division title in a row and also make the state team tournament for third year in a row. Despite the injuries Khan believes his Boilermakers can do it.
And the Boilermakers started on a pretty good note as they finished second in their own Garfield Holiday Tournament on Dec. 18. The Boilermakers finished five points behind team title holders, Passaic Tech, 160-155, which was pretty good considering Garfield was without Ferreira and Spoto.
For Khan it was a little bit of a should have been without the two wrestlers in the Garfield Holiday Tournament.
“As a coach you never want to come in second, but considering we were without a couple of wrestlers, I thought we did well,” said Khan. “I’m proud of how our starters wrestled.”
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