The Golden Hawk sophomore's father, Scott, was a 1992 state champion for Phillipsburg. Luca Frinzi, who won a key match in the defeat of Nazareth, hopes to follow Scott's path.
When your father was a state champion wrestler, the expectations for the son start high.
And in Luca Frinzi’s case, the Bethlehem Catholic sophomore may be starting to fulfill them.
“I have seen Luca progress so much since he was a freshman,” said Becahi head coach Jeff Karam after Frinzi played a major role in the Golden Hawks’ 40-20 defeat of Nazareth in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference wrestling championship Saturday night in front of a well-filled gym at Easton Area Middle School. “But I as start watching him more and more, I know he has a lot more left.”
Frinzi’s father, Scott, was a 1992 state champion for Phillipsburg at 125 pounds and serves as an assistant coach for Becahi.
“My dad just told me to go out and wrestle my match (against Nazareth),” Frinzi said.
That he did, and very well too.
Frinzi’s 11-3 major decision over Blue Eagle freshman Jake Dressler at 145 pounds came at the end of four straight decisions Becahi ground out at the start to the match to take a 14-0 lead. Nazareth did rally to take the lead twice, by one point, but the early wins provided the Golden Hawks, ranked #1 in the region by lehighvalleylive and #8 in the nation by Intermat, with a solid foundation for a big win over Nazareth (#2/#14).
“It was a spectacular start,” Frinzi said. “We didn’t know who it was going to go and we knew there were a lot of tossups. But we knew our teammates would come up to the occasion.”
It’s never easy for an athlete to be best known as somebody else’s son, brother, mother, sister, etc. It’s safe to say more wrestling fans know who Scott Frinzi is than Luca. It does probably helps the younger Frinzi that he wrestles at Becahi and not Phillipsburg, where the spotlight of the past would shine brighter.
But, as Karam noted, the spotlight may start shining on Frinzi more often. That’s fine with him.
“I could have that about having a father as a state champion as putting pressure on me,” Frinzi said. “But instead I think about it as a goal I think I can achieve, that I may achieve in my junior or senior year if I keep working hard.”
If it sounds like Luca Frinzi is pretty level-headed and thoughtful for a sophomore, he is. That shows up on the mat as well. In the third period against Dressler, Frinzi had just scored three back points to take a 9-2 lead, and a Dressler escape made it 9-3.
“I saw with about 45 seconds left it was 9-3 and I needed another takedown for the major decision.,” Frinzi said. “So I let the clock wind down a little bit until there was 20 seconds to go, time to take him down and hold him down for the major (at 11-3, the eight-point margin). I knew I had to get the bonus points.”
Frinzi may have been wrestling a freshman but he was prepared for a tougher assignment.
“I did think I might have to wrestle (Nazareth’s unbeaten and nationally-ranked) Sammy Sasso,” Frinzi said. “I was prepared to face him.”
After all, what Frinzi sees in practice can prepare him for anything.
“I work with (Becahi’s undefeated and nationally-ranked) Mikey Labriola in the room, and he pishes me to my limit,” Frinzi said. “Mikey has helped me a lot.”
And maybe Labriola has helped Luca Frinzi get ready to fulfill the expectations of being a state champion’s son as well.
Brad Wilson may be reached at bwilson@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @bradwsports. Find Lehigh Valley high school sports on Facebook.