Garnet Valley coach Chris Tate savors share of his first Central League title

CONCORD — The year without a Central League title seemed like an eternity for the Garnet Valley wrestling program, which Wednesday wrapped up at least a share of the pennant this season with an emotional 46-15 decision over Ridley.

Coach Chris Tate knew it wasn’t going to be easy succeeding legend Rocco Fantazzi, his mentor and long-ago coach at Garnet Valley who stepped down after the 2021-22 season.

Tate just didn’t realize how difficult it would be replacing the man who left behind a streak of five Central League titles and 42 straight dual-meet wins against league competition.

“This feels good,” Tate said. “We wrestled very well last year. We were just young. We’re still young, to be honest. I don’t know how many people thought we’d be in this spot, so it feels good to kind of prove some people wrong. Last year people talked about us being in a rebuilding phase, which I didn’t like. So, it was good to turn it around. It wasn’t where we wanted it to be.”

Ethan Bliss, who gave the Jaguars their first points with a major decision at 145 pounds, couldn’t speak enough about the unity among teammates and the coaching staff. The new regime seems to be picking up where Fantazzi left off, after fashioning a record of 271-132 and seven Central League titles.

“I knew it was going to be rough after Rocco left,” Bliss said. “We lost him and a lot of good guys. Last year was more of a building year. We kind of knew that we weren’t going to win (the league title) last year. Coming into this year we knew it would be tough. After a couple losses early in the season, we didn’t know if we were going to get it. But we’ve been really working hard in the room. We’ve picked ourselves up recently. Now, it’s like good to win again.”

Bliss knows Fantazzi and Tate well, having wrestled under each for two years on the way to an 87-34 record, including 20-6 as a senior. They are their own men.

“They have similar coaching philosophies, but Coach Tate really emphasizes living by the circle, which means character, courage and commitment, and I feel like we’ve really been preaching those values recently,” Bliss said. “We talk about those every day. Each year we have a new team motto. Last year it was ‘pound the stone.’ This year we do ‘hold the rope.’ It means teamwork and picking each other up when you lose.”

The scrum before the match is the same, the Jaguars wrestlers taking the mat interlocking arms in a dense circle to hype themselves up. The slow start to their showdown with Ridley was a lot like their season. The Green Raiders won two of the first three matches before the Jaguars shifted gears and won all but one of the remaining bouts, Delco Times reigning wrestler of the year Curtis Nelson winning by fall at 121 pounds.

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Garnet Valley wrestling coach Chris Tate gets involved while watching the action of Wednesday's match against Ridley. (MediaNews Group staff photo)