This month, the OPRF boys wrestling team is looking forward to returning to a normal season and their winning ways.

“The OPRF wrestling program is cultured around work ethic and hustle. Unlike other sports, most of our guys only started wrestling when they were freshmen,” says junior Faris Dispensa. “When it’s game time, our hard work ethic in practice essentially translates into us being able to overcome and beat teams who may have the ability to recruit wrestlers who have been wrestling their whole lives.”

“To get ready for the regular season, we hit the mat to wrestle on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. On Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays we’re in the weight room or at RC Fitness.” says senior Jalen Dunson. “I’m really excited to see how my teammates perform this year. They’ve been training super hard for months and are gonna be putting people on notice.”

As a winter sport, wrestling was hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. Last year, their season was initially delayed as it was labeled a high-risk sport.

“Having a full season (means a lot) for sure. Just being able to travel again. To participate in matches and tournaments, get guys real experience is huge. We get the chance to participate in a tournament in Granite city and Minnesota with top-ranked national teams from over six to seven states, which is something we couldn’t do a year ago,” says head coach Paul Collins. “The short season really inhibited our development as a team and a program, we only had 53 kids participate last year, whereas right now we have 95 boys and 25 girls who have signed up. It will be a bounce-back year for our program.”

“I am very hopeful that our team will have a successful year and bounce back from the awkwardness of last season, which was shortened due to COVID,” says Dispensa.

The Huskies will waste no time diving into the action, participating in yearly traditions that were lost during the pandemic last year. They will face off against conference rival Downers Grove North, a competition they do every year to open the season and have lost the past 2 years.

The team will face off against Batavia on Nov. 24, which they have not been able to do for the past two years. Batavia’s girls team is the reigning state champion, and the OPRF girls will look to get revenge after finishing second.

Nothing will come easy this year for the Huskies. They will have to fight and claw for every win.

“Usually, everybody expects us to win. That’s the reputation we’ve earned through our success. We’ve got a young team, we just need to get back into our rhythm. We don’t have the usual superstars this year, we have a couple, but we still need to develop our guys. It’s a process,” says Collins.

The Huskies compete in a competitive conference, facing off against teams like Downers Grove North, Lyons Township, and Glenbard West.

“Our conference is wide open this year, we will really have to earn our place. It’s hard to evaluate our opponents with numbers fluctuating throughout the programs because of COVID,” says Collins. “We want to compete, we want to win our conference championship, we want to win regionals, we want to win sectionals, and we want to be at state. But, it’s gonna be a process. It’s a long season, especially since we haven’t had a full season in two years. But we expect to be at the top, competing for titles at the end of the year.”