New Trier’s Joe Modica gets in position to pin Glenbrook South’s Edgar Borun in the 195-pound final at the Central Suburban League Tourney. PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOEL LERNER
Joe Modica wanted to be a captain for the New Trier wrestling team. That was the 195-pounder’s primary goal nearly a year ago. Goal No. 2: finishing his senior season, this season, with a record slightly above .500.
One lofty goal. One modest goal.
A Central Suburban League Tournament referee grabbed Modica’s left arm after a wrestling bout and held it up, way up, for a while last weekend. Football has its victory formation; wrestling has its victory lift. Modica had just pinned Glenbrook South senior Edgar Borun at 1:42 for the title at 195 pounds. A smiling Modica, most of his left arm still north of his head, spotted four family members sitting in the bleachers at Deerfield High School on Jan. 23. He saw his mom, Deb, his dad, Joe, and his grandparents, Jolene and Bob.
The wrestler’s smile widened.
Modica then left the mat, headed toward a wall in the bright, new gym, removed his headgear and casually flipped it. The headgear hit the hardwood. Clop. There he stood alone for a spell, hair disheveled, face flushed, a satisfied varsity champion at a big meet for the first time in his prep career.
Modica had been named captain in late 2015, before the season opener. Goal realized.
About that other aim, achieving a so-so record, a head-barely-above-water mark … Modica’s championship win last weekend upped his 2015-16 season record to 29-11. Goal obliterated.
“I entered tournaments in the offseason, trained hard, went to camps,” Modica said minutes after his second pin of the tournament; he had notched his first fall (at 2:09) in a quarterfinal against Glenbrook North freshman Michael Friedman. “I thought doing all of that would help convince the coaches to name me a captain, or at least seriously consider me. I wanted to take a big step.
“Fun match,” he added, referring to his title match. “Used a regular cradle to pin him. The first time I wrestled him, I pinned him in the second period. Sped it up today.”
Modica’s confidence this winter grew as his victory total grew, steadily and impressively. The 2015-16 Modica is much more aggressive than the 2014-15 Modica was. What also helped: the presence of New Trier junior Jake Lowell, Modica’s practice partner and an all-CSL South defensive tackle/fullback for another successful football team last fall. Lowell qualified for a Class 3A sectional last winter, taking runner-up honors at 170 pounds at a regional. Modica is lanky. Lowell is not. Contrasting frames can be a good thing in the practice room, beneficial for both partners.
“I train hard with Jake, and he’s taught me a lot,” Modica said of last weekend’s CSL Tournament champion at 182 pounds. “My style … it’s a little different than most of the guys I wrestle in meets. I’m not as strong as many of them are, so I have to pick other moves, use other moves. I’ve been focusing on executing technical moves.”
Joe Modica, not strong like most 195-pounders? Trevians wrestling coach Marc Tadelman isn’t buying it, not for a second. He essentially said so after the league tourney last weekend, when his CSL South champions finished runner-up (214.5 points) to CSL North champion Deerfield (255) at the 12-team gathering. Tadelman has wrestled Modica in the Trevians’ room. Modica owns strength.
“Joe is strong,” the coach said. “Maybe he’s underestimating his strength. He is solid, a pinner, and he’s very competitive when he practices. He gives us huge points, pinning guys. Last year he got us some crucial wins, but he wasn’t a main guy for us. He is now at a point where qualifying for state is an achievable goal, as long as he brings his ‘A’ game [in the state series, starting next month].”
Modica’s ‘R’ game is rugby. A flanker for the New Trier rugby club, Modica can’t wait to spend his 2016 spring break playing in rugby tournaments in Ireland. His mom and dad will be there, too, watching scrums and drop kicks and mulligrubber kicks. Maybe, just maybe, Modica’s parents will get to see and hear NT club members perform some kind of version of haka, a loud, intimidating pregame dance made famous by New Zealand’s national rugby union team. From bleachers in a Lake County gym last weekend to seats somewhere in an Emerald Isle stadium … that’s quite a difference for Mr. and Mrs. Modica.
Joe Modica, the junior wrestler.
Joe Modica, the senior wrestler.
Also quite a difference.
Notable: Seven Trevians, including champions Joe Modica (195 pounds, 29-11 record), Jake Lowell (182, 27-4) and Jack Alcantara (152, 27-12), reached a flight final at the CSL Tournament last weekend at Deerfield High School. NT received runner-up efforts from junior Nick Elias (120 pounds, 27-10 record), sophomore Jack Tangen (126, 16-19), senior Willem Kupets (160, 27-11) and sophomore Patrick Ryan (132, 31-7). Sophomore Andrew Moy (106, 13-18) and seniors Jack DeBlasio (138, 22-16) and Andrew Papoutsis (170, 3-2) took fifth in their respective weight classes. … Ryan secured a Class 3A regional championship (113 pounds) at Glenbrook South last winter. … New Trier’s CSL South division title in wrestling this year was its fifth straight and fourth outright championship in five years. New Trier tied Niles West and Maine South for first-place honors in the division in the 2012-13 season. New Trier went 5-0 in division duals this winter, runner-up Evanston 4-1. NT edged Evanston 35-34 in a dual meet earlier this month. … NT vies for Class 3A sectional berths at the Glenbrook South Regional on Feb. 6. … Lowell, on Modica’s rugby abilities: “He’s good. He’s fast, and he brings the boom. You know, with his shoulders.”