‘POPS’ PASQUALE
Back from a football injury, senior heavyweight settles in for Lemont: ‘The dad of the team’
When his days as a football player and wrestler are done, Lemont senior Alex Pasquale doesn’t plan on saying goodbye to sports.
Pasquale believes he has the leadership skills perfect for a career on the sidelines.
“Once I’m done playing, I want to stick around sports and coach,” he said. “It’s definitely my attitude toward kids. I’m always looking to push people in the room. There’s a younger heavyweight (sophomore Noah Telitz) in our room, and I’m always working with him and making sure he’s getting better.
“I push him hard because I know he wants to be great. That’s something I want to do with all my teammates. I want to make sure all the younger kids work hard.”
Pasquale is ranked No. 4 at heavyweight in Class 2A by Illinois Matmen. After he missed the start of the season because of an injury suffered during football, he’s back and looking to do big things.
“I obviously want to win state,” he said. “I also want to beat our in-season pin record and our career pin record. I think I need 16 pins to get the career one, so I think that’s doable.”
Pasquale had a big pin in Thursday’s 36-29 win over Oak Forest, a key victory in the South Suburban Blue title chase. Lemont gained some revenge after the Bengals won last season’s dual meet between the two rivals via a tiebreaker and won the SSC Blue championship.
While he remains focused on improving on his 1-2 finish at the state finals as a junior, Pasquale is also determined to help his teammates get better.
“I was injured at the start of the season and I was more nervous for their matches than my matches,” Pasquale said of his teammates. “I’m always trying to support them and help them any way I can.”
Lemont coach Erik Murry can certainly see Pasquale following in his footsteps.
“Wrestling is a long season and we’re kind of starting the second season now,” Murry said. “I have big expectations for Alex, not only for himself, but for him to be a leader in the room.
“He leads by example too. Once he gets his lungs going, I have no doubt he can get on the podium at state.”
As far as getting those lungs going, Pasquale feels he helped himself with that by playing on both the offensive and defensive lines this fall in football.
“That was my first time playing both ways in football,” Pasquale said. “I’m feeling good after that. That helped a lot with my conditioning.
“It was fun. I couldn’t ask for anything better than to play the whole game my senior season and to be on the field for every play. It was a blast.”
Pasquale plans to play football in college. He said Wisconsin-Whitewater is one of the schools he is highly considering.
First, he has some big things he