Thursday, Jan. 10, 2008
Dealing with pain is nothing new for wrestlers. But pain has followed Ben Hatef during his athletic career at DeMatha High School. Both his wrestling and lacrosse seasons at the Hyattsville school were cut short last year due to injury, but it would be difficult for the casual observer to notice that while watching him perform this winter.
Hatef, a junior, went 7-0 at last weekend’s Fifth Annual Pallotti Duals, raising his record this season to 17-2. He has compiled his impressive record moving back and forth between 215 pounds and heavyweight, despite weighing between 200-210. His wrestling season was cut short in January a year ago with a bad back, then his lacrosse season was halted by a knee injury a few months later. Hatef has overcome the odds and helped DeMatha to a 12-0 start after winning the Pallotti Duals for a fifth consecutive season.
The Stags finished with seven wins and a tournament-record 430 points Saturday in the eight-team field, edging runner-up South Carroll, which had 414 points. Eleanor Roosevelt (255) and Pallotti (244) were third and fourth, respectively, even though the Panthers defeated the Raiders by two points head-to-head.
Hatef won six matches at 215 and one at heavyweight. A year ago this month, his back began hurting while wrestling at heavyweight all season. By the end of the month, his season was over.
‘‘I don’t want to make it sound too bad, but I had broken off something on my disk on my back,” said Hatef, who lives in Bowie. ‘‘It was a pretty serious injury, but my doctor let me go play lacrosse [in the spring]. It was OK with lacrosse, but during lacrosse, I tore my posterior cruciate ligament on my right knee, like two weeks after I started that. So last year was not a very good year for me.
‘‘The [back] pain kind of goes away when you’re wrestling because you get all pumped up. But toward the end of the month [last year], it was really bad. I had to drop out of a tournament and then I went to the doctor.”
His back forced him to miss the rest of the wrestling season after compiling a 28-9 record, and he also was out for the first half of the lacrosse season. Upon returning to lacrosse, his knee buckled during a game after he said he took a bad step. Just like that, his lacrosse season also ended.
Hatef admitted that when he initially hurt his back, he never knew how serious it was. He had wrestled nearly a dozen matches that month. But so far this season, he feels no pain at all. His knee is also healthy.
His only losses this season came in tournament finals at Milford (Del.), 6-2 against a Delaware state champion, and at Berkeley Springs (W.Va.) last month on a 3-2 decision in overtime. He also won the 215 title Dec. 27 at Arundel.
‘‘He’s a coach’s kind of wrestler,” said DeMatha coach Dick Messier. ‘‘He does what you ask him to do and he works hard in the room. A lot of times, he plays with enthusiasm, so he doesn’t feel the pain. He gets his adrenaline flowing. He doesn’t even think about it. He’s the kind of guy you love to have on your team.”
Hatef joined the wrestling team two years ago with his older brother Jeff, who now attends the U.S. Naval Academy. Ben would like to stay in the 215 division the rest of the season. He won at Arundel while weighing in at 203. He was 210 for the Pallotti Duals. His one match last weekend at heavyweight resulted in a second-period fall against Spalding’s Beau Haworth.
‘‘When you bump up, the skill level goes down,” said Hatef. ‘‘It gets easier, but they’re also a lot stronger. Most of the heavyweights aren’t too big. The guy from Spalding weighed about 250. But I’d definitely like to stay at 215.”
Hatef said one goal this season is to get to the private schools state tournament Feb. 17 and win it. It would be his first time competing in the event. He beat two 2007 state placers last weekend and feels he can be a major factor if his health holds up.
‘‘My doctor said it really can’t get worse,” said Hatef. ‘‘It’s just a matter of pain. If it doesn’t hurt, I’m good.”
E-mail Adam Rubenstein at arubenstein@gazette.net.
