DeAugustine already seeing progress in 1st season at Norwin

By: HSSN Staff
Tuesday, December 18, 2018 | 4:30 PM

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Before Vince DeAugustine accepted the Norwin wrestling coach position, he met with school board members and told them he needed their cooperation to make changes.

When he was confident he had their backing, the former Hempfield coach started to implement his plan.

He moved practices from the high school to the middle school because he felt the high school room had to little privacy and too many distractions.

Then he started changing the attitudes of the wrestlers in the room.

“The transition has been really good,” DeAugustine said. “I have great support here, the administration has been awesome and the athletic director (Brandon Rapp) is a great guy. There is a lot of support for wrestling, and it’s a program, for sure, that is waiting to explode.”

While he was pleased with the team’s effort in last week’s 40-27 loss to No. 1-ranked Kiski Area, DeAugustine doesn’t want his wrestlers to enjoy a moral victory. The Knights won six of the 14 bouts and were leading in another.

“The bottom line is, we lost,” DeAugustine said. “We had a chance to win the match if a couple things break our way. I don’t want them to be satisfied with the performance.

“Matches are won in the practice room. If you prepare the right way and give it your best, the team will get better. That’s what we did at Hempfield; that’s want I want to do at Norwin.”

Norwin (4-2, 1-0) is competing in Class AAA, Section 1-A with Kiski Area, Franklin Regional, Penn-Trafford, Central Catholic and Plum. The Knights finished 4-1 at the Hampton Dawg Duals, losing to Thomas Jefferson, 34-33, but defeating North Allegheny, 40-30, Ligonier Valley, 73-6; Avonworth, 82-0; and General McLane, 43-27.

The goal is to qualify for the WPIAL playoffs, something Norwin has managed just twice since 1992.

To do that, DeAugustine said the team must continue to work hard in the room.

“Our biggest thing is being able to take that next step,” DeAugustine said. “The next step revolves around being able to get out of mediocrity and not accepting mediocrity in the room.

“That’s where it starts. We have to compete hard in the practice room. Matches are won in the practice room, not on Wednesday or Friday.”

Three wrestlers DeAugustine expects to be leaders are juniors Kurtis Phipps and Ryan Weinzen and sophomore John Altieri. All three are performing well in the practice room.

Phipps was an escape away from being Norwin’s first PIAA champion in 2018. The WPIAL champion at 106 pounds dropped a heartbreaking, 1-0 sudden victory decision to Seneca Valley sophomore Alejandro Herrera-Rondon in the state finals. Phipps defeated Herrera-Rondon in the WPIAL finals, 1-0, and at Powerade in the semifinals, 4-0.

“Kurtis is working hard,” DeAugustine said. “There are things we need to refine. Going up from 106 to 120 is a little bit of a challenge, but anytime you have a kid that works as hard as he does, we can overcome those challenges.”

DeAugustine said he wants Phipps to work on getting off the bottom, setting up different shots and being more aggressive on his feet.

Phipps said he already sees a difference in the practice room, which will benefit him and his teammates.

“We have good partners in the room and are working hard,” Phipps said. “I work hard here and at Young Guns. I just want to get better.”

Phipps will be competing at 120 pounds this season and said he’s excited to battle some new opponents.

“(DeAugustine) knows what it takes to be a champion,” Phipps said of the two-time state and three-time WPIAL champion as a wrestler at Hempfield. “He was a champion himself and coached guys at Hempfield to titles.

“He’s pushing, but not only me, he’s pushing everybody. He’s bringing everyone to a new level and everyone is responding and getting better. We were close to Kiski Area; maybe the next time it will be different. We want to make the playoffs.”

DeAugustine said Altieri and Weinzen also are working hard in the room, and he expects big things from them.

“We have a lot of guys who are showing me in the room that they want to complete and compete hard,” DeAugustine said. “John is a sophomore who I think underachieved a little last year, but he has shown me he is willing to do whatever it takes to get to the podium.

“Ryan is making the jump from 170 to 220. It’s going to be an adjustment, but he’s very athletic, and anytime you’re athletic at 220 you can be successful. Combine that with the work ethic we’re trying to instill in him, I think we can be successful.”

And if DeAugustine can get the commitment at Norwin that he got at Hempfield, the Knights could make history sooner than later.

Paul Schofield is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Paul at pschofield@tribweb.com or via Twitter @Schofield_Trib.

Tags: Norwin