La Salle captures Catholic wrestling title

EVERY DAY in practice, Luke Ratchford and his La Salle High School wrestling teammates enter the gym staring at a newspaper clipping hanging from the door.

The story of last season's loss in the Catholic League championship has served as a constant reminder of the night Father Judge High School snapped the Explorers' 5-year streak as league champs.

For the sophomore wrestler, the clipping led to what he said was La Salle's biggest meet of the year, ending in a 40-38 victory last night over Judge and a sixth league championship in 7 years.

"This is the highlight of the season so far," Ratchford said. " was deflating to our program and to our momentum as a team.

"We came in from last year looking for revenge," said Ratchford, who all but ended things with his late-meet pin at 152 pounds. " was a real blow, just because we had so much momentum, it was a hard one to swallow."

La Salle enjoyed the lead through the majority of the meet, following up a first-match loss to Judge senior William Burger at 182 pounds with three straight pins.