By TERRY NAU

Sports writer

CUMBERLAND — Wrestling is an individual sport. And it is a team sport. Those two seemingly contrasting elements will come together on Friday evening and all day Saturday as unbeaten Cumberland High tries to win its third team title in the 41 years Steve Gordon has been coaching the Clippers.
Cumberland last won a state team championship in 2005. The Clippers came excruciatingly close to knocking off four-time champion Cranston West last winter, losing by one point when the Falcons’ heavyweight won the final bout of the tournament.
This season, Cumberland is the clear favorite after completing a 16-0 dual-meet season and winning two out-of-state tournaments along with its own Cumberland Invitational.
“We don’t allow our kids to get cocky,” Gordon said earlier this week when asked if his squad had developed some “swagger” while mowing down its in-state opponents. “We want them to wrestle with confidence. They have proven themselves at a high level of competition this season. What I like about this team is everyone pulls for each other. At the junior varsity and freshman state meets, we had 15 or 20 kids around the mat, cheering their teammates on. It has been a pleasure to coach this team.”
Cumberland earned three No. 1 seeds for the state tournament, which begins on Friday at 4 p.m. at the Providence Athletic Center. Defending state champions Shai and Shoneil Lariviere are seeded No. 1 at 112 and 119 pounds, respectively. They ruled the 103 and 112 classes last winter.
Senior captain Cameron Glad is the top seed at 171 pounds.
“Shai is undefeated for the season,” Gordon said of his junior lightweight. “I would expect the kid from Warwick, Devin Hurst, will get to the finals to face Shai.”
The slick and confident Lariviere handled Hurst by a 9-2 margin in their lone meeting this season.
Shoneil Lariviere could run into two strong opponents at 119 pounds – Hendricken’s Mike Gelardi and Coventry’s Nick Botella, who avoided Lariviere in last week’s regular season finale, choosing to move up to 125 pounds where he got flattened by Cumberland’s third returning state champion, Jaron Parent.
Parent, state champ at 119 last year, is seeded second at 125 behind Warwick’s Mike Myers, a two-time state champion who has lost only one match in three years, that one coming in the New England finals of his freshman season.
Glad, a freshman state champion three winters ago, wants to go out on top this weekend at 171 pounds.
“Cam is undefeated in the state and has had a great season for us,” Gordon admitted. “He is very solid on his feet. He is a strong and powerful wrestler. His technique gets better each time he walks on to the mat. He used to wrestle like a bull in the ring but now he’s a smart wrestler.”
Cumberland’s other captain, senior Ricky McCoy, is seeded third at 152 pounds.
“My captains have been phenomenal this season,” Gordon said. “Ricky is going to be heard from at 152. The kid from Westerly, Taylor Caputo, is seeded second. The top seed is Coventry’s Colin Cocaine, who beat Ricky 4-3 in their dual-meet last week. I think Ricky can beat both of those guys if he wrestles to his potential.”
Another Cumberland title threat is freshman Erik Travers at 103 pounds. This is perhaps the most interesting weight class in the tournament and not just because Katelyn Bouyssou of Cranston West is the top seed.
“Four kids have a chance to win at 103,” Gordon said. “Bouyssou is obviously pretty good. Erik (Travers) is the No. 2 seed. North Kingstown’s Christian Hiebner is an experienced senior who is seeded third. North Providence’s Michael Murphy, who beat Travers, is seeded fourth.”
The lighter weight classes often go against form because the wrestlers are so active and prone to big moves. The flip side is sometimes they make big mistakes.
Experience is important, and not just according to age or grade. Travers is exceedingly advanced for a freshman, having wrestled with the Lariviere brothers at the Northeast Elite school located in Woonsocket that is run by Bob Gibbons. That program provides year-round wrestling opportunities, a must for kids who strive to succeed at a higher level of competition.
The key to Cumberland’s success this season, especially in tournaments, has been the ability of its other wrestlers to earn points in the consolation rounds. The Clippers have several wrestlers who could bounce back from an early loss and place among the top six. Those would include freshman Jon Maccini (fifth seed at 130), junior Chris Smith No. 4 at 140) and lanky Tyler Duhamel at 189 pounds.
“Even if some of my kids lose, this team comes back in consolations,” Gordon said.
Don’t expect Cumberland to change anything it has done all season long. The Clippers will wrestle aggressively, always looking for follow a takedown or reverse with their patented cradles. The lightweights will provide momentum early in each round and then the team’s overall depth and competitiveness will take over.
“We’ve wrestled in a lot of tournaments and done well,” Gordon said. “This is just another tournament for us.”
Saturday’s semifinals will begin at 11 a.m. The all-important wrestle-backs take up the afternoon session with the finals scheduled for around 7:15 in the evening.