Plymouth Whitemarsh’s Marco DiBattista off to a sizzling start

WHITEMARSH >> Marco DiBattista has a plan, and it’s one from which he’s not about to deviate.

The plan is to earn a berth at the PIAA State Wrestling Tournament this March.

It’s hardly a novel plan.

Most Pa. high school wrestlers begin their season dreaming of wolfing down a Hershey bar a week before the state tournament begins.

But with the Plymouth Whitemarsh High sophomore lightweight, it seems his dreams of state stardom are a bit more realistic than most.

After reaching the Southeast Regional Tournament as a freshman, DiBattista has begun this season with 11 straight wins, including a nail-biting, 5-4 decision over highly regarded Neshaminy freshman Colton Jordan in this past week’s Governor Mifflin Tournament.

While DiBattista isn’t about to toot his own horn, others have no problem hailing the coming of a potential standout.

“He’s really good,” Norristown head coach Mark Harner. “He’s one of the best kids in the region.”

“I don’t think that’s an overstatement at all,” added Colonials head coach Justin Giovinco when Harner’s praise was relayed to him. “I think he’s going to surprise some people.”

While it becomes almost a cliché in the scholastic wrestling world, DiBattista’s best weapon may be his personal engine, which rarely is caught in idle.

“He’s probably the most disciplined kid on the team,” Giovinco said. “He wrestled his last few matches at 113, even though he was on his way down to 108.

“Our problem is we can’t find enough practice partners for him.”

DiBattista, however, is not about to bemoan his lack of practice partners, or anything else.

He’d prefer to just keep working toward his goal.

“I try and work hard at practice,” the Colonials sophomore said. “Whenever I wrestle, no matter who I’m wrestling, I try and keep my goal in mind — to try and make it to states.”

He kept that goal at the forefront of his thoughts recently, even when he was on his way down to 106 and wrestling 113 pounders.

“It was something I felt I could do,” he said. “I don’t want to over think it. I try and wrestle my match every time out.”

That was a plan the then-freshman took into last year’s postseason, which ended in disappointment for the Colonials, who saw one of the program’s best dual-meet teams in recent memory go down in a series of district-tournament disappointments.

Among the disappointing performances was that of Marco’s older brother Gianpiero, whose senior season came to a crashing halt in the district consolation matches.

“His whole high-school career ended there,” Marco said. “He had too much pressure on him and he didn’t have a good day.”

His younger brother, however, learned a lesson that day.

“It’s really a mental thing,” Marco said. “You can’t go into matches thinking I’m going to do this, or I’m going to do that. You have to wrestle your match and take advantage of what you’re given.”

The younger DiBattista’s season ended a week later. And while he was not pleased with the regional ouster, he was happy with his brief offseason.

“I was glad to get a little bit of a break,” he said, “but I took about month off and got right back into it.”

After a summer with a full wrestling dance card, DiBattista got right back into competition, and he has no plans to slow down.

His preference is to wrestle against those better than he is — and to not let up.

“If I’m not wrestling good kids, I’m not getting any better,” he said.

“He’s quiet,” Giovinco said. “He’s a lead-by-example kind of a kid. But he never stops working hard.”

There are still some mountains to climb, and DiBattista is more than a willing volunteer to do what’s necessary to take his place among the peaks.

“My goal is to do better than I did last year, and that’s a goal I always want to have,” he said. “I always want to go further than I did the year before.”