New kids on the mat

Local wrestling teams would be well served to take notice of a brewing storm on Common Road in Warren.

The Warren De La Salle wrestling team, in its fourth season of existence after coach Dennis Parks started the team in 2005-06, has all the makings of what could be a major player in Macomb County.

Much like Pilots football coach Paul Verska changed the face of metro Detroit prep football when he turned the De La Salle gridiron program around, Parks seems poised to make a splash in the wrestling world.

He only has one grappler, junior 130-pounder Adam Masakowski, on his roster that had mat experience before stepping into the Pilots' wrestling room, but his team has already taken home the 2008-09 Warren City Championships and placed second in two other tournaments this year.

Because Parks pulled his team out of the county meet Dec. 20 because of a conflict with De La Salle's final exams schedule, no one will know how the Pilots measure up to the top teams in Macomb County until the Michigan High School Athletic Association team and individual district tournaments Feb. 18 and Feb. 21, respectively, but if the way wrestlers like senior 215-pounder Padriac Berlin attacks opponents is any indication, the Pilots could pull off a number of perceived upsets in districts and possibly regional tournaments.

Parks has enlisted the help of recent Warren Woods Tower grad Kyle Lowry as an assistant coach, a move that could be very shrewd.

As the Pilots fight to prove themselves in a crowded wrestling county, they could be very comparable to the Tower teams on which Lowry, his twin brother, Kenny, and current Old Dominion grappler and two-time state runner-up Brennan Brumley starred.

After all, just as coach Greg Mayer and former coach Pat Threet built the Titans from also-rans to regional champs, Parks has already built the Pilots from never-weres to city champions.