A couple of days before the start of last year’s Monterey Bay League Wrestling Championships, San Benito High wrestler Patrick Ippolito — then a junior — was on cruise control.
Having started on the varsity since he was a sophomore, Ippolito more or less assumed he was going to get another shot at winning a league title followed by a chance to improve in the Central Coast Section Championships, where he went 0-2 as a sophomore.
It never happened. Ippolito lost a challenge match to teammate Jaime Aleman, lost his starting spot and didn’t even get to compete in the league finals. His season was prematurely over.
It was a humbling experience for Ippolito, and at the same time it was the best thing that could’ve happened to the 5-foot-8 senior.
“Losing the challenge match made me realize what I had to do,” said Ippolito, who earned the biggest tournament victory of his career when he won the Pittsburg Pirate Invitational on Dec. 28, beating the top two seeds in the process. “I knew I had to train harder and start taking things more seriously. I took every opportunity to get better.”
Did he ever. Ippolito went into the offseason with one goal in mind — making state in 2014. Ippolito spent an entire month at a wrestling camp in Minnesota, participated in a couple of other camps, attended several clinics and competed in several open-house wrestling sessions.
The hard work has paid off, as Ippolito showed in the Pirate Invitational, where he came in unseeded only to go 4-0 en route to earning Most Outstanding Wrestler of to the Tournament honors.
Ippolito, who improved his record on the season to 9-3, upset No. 2 seed Tyler Bennett of Freedom-Oakley in the opening round, 9-7, in overtime, then won his next two matches by technical fall before earning a thrilling 7-5 overtime decision over top seed Tommy Elizaga of Northgate in the championship match.
Against Bennett, Ippolito actually trailed the entire match before rallying for several points in the final two periods to cap a stunning comeback win, and he needed an equally epic rally to knock off Elizaga in the finals.
In the latter, Ippolito scored a two-point nearfall with two seconds left in regulation
to force overtime before going on to victory. In both matches, Ippolito saw his opponents tiring near the end, which gave him confidence.
“I saw the guys getting tired and I knew they were at the breaking point,” Ippolito said. “I wasn’t really nervous when I looked at the brackets and realized I had to wrestle the second seed right off the bat. I feel like we’re training harder than other teams, and our team’s conditioning is a lot better than most teams.”
Haybalers coach Brian DeCarli said Ippolito’s biggest attribute is his mental toughness, the trait that often separates the merely average wrestlers to the most outstanding ones.
“A lot of times for wrestlers, it’s the mental side that’s the handicap and holding them back,” DeCarli said. “Wrestling is a sport that is easy to walk away from because of the time you have to put in it and how hard it is. A lot of people give up and walk away from the sport before they have a chance to truly realize what they could’ve accomplished had they just stuck it out a little longer. To Patrick’s credit, he’s stuck it out for the long haul, and it’s a testament to his fortitude and toughness.”
Ippolito’s mental toughness was forged at an early age — being the youngest of four brothers will do that to you.
“A big reason why I’m tough now is because my older brothers would wrestle and beat me physically,” Ippolito said. “Not anymore, though.”
Ippolito has also added an extra dimension in terms of the technical aspects of the sport, as he’s become more efficient at shooting and taking down his opponents from a standing position.
“What Patrick has done a great job of this year is finishing a lot of leg attacks and positioning himself to score points at a higher rate,” DeCarli said.
It’s no surprise that Ippolito is enjoying a breakout season. He just needed a wakeup call to get him going.
“Losing that challenge match was humbling, but I don’t have to be angry about it anymore because I wouldn’t be where I am today had I not lost that day,” Ippolito said. “I just want to stay healthy, keep training hard and get one closer to winning CCS and to make it to state.”
