Rocco Mansueto admitted Tuesday evening that he beat his twin brother Phil only once in their wrestling careers.
"And that," he said grudgingly but with no ill will, "was an exhibition match in high school."
Rocco, the former University of Tennessee at Chattanooga assistant in his second year as Notre Dame High School's coach, evened the coaching score Tuesday as his Irish rallied for a 40-32 victory over Signal Mountain. where Phil is an assistant coach.
After both teams scored four-match victories over Brainerd, Notre Dame by 24-0 and Signal Mountain by 12-10, the two A/AA teams settled in for a forfeit-shortened match of their own. The Irish spotted Notre Dame four forfeits yet rebounded via bonus points and pins in the last three weights - Doogan Boyd (195), Jacob Brigman (220) and Kobe Bragg (285) - to pull out the eight-point victory.
Boyd got the ball rolling when it counted and brought the Irish to within four points by pinning Davis Payne.
"We had a great weekend at the Walker Valley duals, beating Walker Valley and Ooltewah. so I knew we would be a tired team tonight," Rocco Mansueto said of his Irish. "Doogan, though, is a fighter. The kid wrestled Saturday with the flu. He just doesn't stop fighting."
Not only was his team tired but handicapped with several starters out with the flu or strep throat.
"I knew it was going to be a tough dual regardless of whether we had forfeits, but at this (A/AA) level you have to have a full team and an able team. You have to prepare properly and then fill the roster, and that's very difficult," he added.
The Irish won eight of the 10 bouts that were contested, which didn't sit well with Signal coach Joe Jellison.
"We only won two matches, other than the forfeits. You don't deserve to win if something like that happens," he said. "We work too hard in the wrestling room to wrestle like that. I don't know. I mean it's a little embarrassing. Yeah, we bumped some guys (up) and we were out-strengthed in some places. With all the young guys we have, though, the future is looking really good."
The Eagles have four eighth-graders on the varsity. Right now, though, Signal is still in the "could have" and "would have" stages which, as Phil Mansueto said, "leaves you with nothing but empty pockets. We have a lot of energy and we're putting forth a lot of effort, but we're still learning how to wrestle."
David Hodges and Neil Warwick also had pins for Notre Dame, while Grant Speer added a major decision.
The two non-forfeit winners for the Eagles were Daniel Uhorchul - one of the eighth-graders - at 106 and Paul Tate at 120.
Contact Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com or 423-886-4765. Follow him at Twitter.com/wardgossett.