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"It's a lot to lose but we're kind of looking forward to this season," McCusker said. "We have some young kids and we're just the type of team that is just trying to get better as the season goes on. We have a very tough schedule. We wrestle some of the larger schools. The kids are working really hard and the goal is just to get better and shoot for that Class S title."
John Bonilla, Mike Caturano, Matt Delehanty, J.D. Ingalls, Scott Heffernan, Kyle Peatfield, Adam Renfrew, and Carlos Velez graduated giving younger wrestlers the chance to step up to the varsity level.
"We've got some good juniors and some good sophomores who just haven't had a shot to wrestle varsity because they've been behind those other kids," McCusker said. "They've had a lot of JV experience and they've been wrestling for a couple years, we're just going to see how they step it up at the varsity level."
Leadership will come from two seniors, Aaron Cramer and Greg Kramer . Cramer came in second at the Class S state tournament and fifth in the State Open in the 189 lb. weight class. He will wrestle at 215 this year.
Kramer came in third in Class S last season at 125 lbs. and will wrestle at the same weight this season. Senior Rob Norman, who wrestled as a heavyweight JV last season is the mix to wrestle at that class this season.
"The seniors provide great leadership and they're not going to settle to not finish as high as they possibly can," McCusker said. "They've definitely set some high goals and when the Class S tournament roles around, we want to wrestling at our best."
The junior class is led by two returnees with experience, Eric Delehanty and Dave Iaquinto . Delehanty was fifth in Class S at 119 a year ago and will step up to the 130 lb. weight class this season. Iaquinto, a second place finisher in the 135 lb. in Class S last season will wrestle at 145.
After that a lot of new names and faces will help fill out the varsity squad. McCusker is still trying to figure the lineup but will have plenty to chose from.
"We're a little bunched up in the weight classes but every kid we have is working real hard," McCusker said.
As usual the Huskies will have a tough schedule which should help the team get ready for the state tournament at the end of the season.
"We've got some real tough matches," McCusker said. "It one of the tournaments we're in we have to wrestle Danbury which has been one of the top teams in the state the last couple years. The matches help us prepare for the tournament which is what we're building for."
