How is this important? A wrestler is a different breed of athlete. There is no one else on the mat but you and the man than wants to pins you. You can only rely on yourself, your training and your instincts. The Wildcats returned to the mat with a 44-31 victory over Bernards. This used to be a bitter rivalry before Bernards bailed on the Colonial Hills Conference last year.
Starting at 160, Ray Protasiewicz pinned Alvero Gonzalez midway through the third period, giving the Wildcats a 6-0 lead. Bernards took the next two bouts, a one point loss at 171 as Mountaineer Marty Faulborn used 4 late points to erase a 3-0 deficit. A pin at 189 gave the Somerset County School a 9-6 lead.
Dave Crotty pinned Max Fawcett at 215 as the Wildcats regained the lead, 12-9. Crotty lead 2-1 at the end of the first. Fawcett started on defense and managed to escape knotting the match at 2. With less than ten seconds left in the second, Crotty went for a head lock and sunk it in throwing Fawcett to his back and securing a pin just tenths of a second before the buzzer sounded. The Mountaineers quickly took back the lead with a second period pin at 285.
Steve Godine took a forfeit at 103 and an instant lead swap went right back in the Wildcats favor. Chris Mignone at 112 made sure that Wildcats would add to the lead. The Senior Captain lead 5-0 after the first, nearly pinning Clay Schaufler. Mignone started on top and put Schaufler to his back and worked for the pin.
The next match proved to be a tough fought battle by both wrestlers. Bernards’ Justin Schuler held a decisive edge in the first period but lead only 2-1 after two minutes. Second period saw the wrestlers starting in neutral and Schuler earn
ing his second takedown of the match. Wnek was careful not to give up any points, but could also not manage any points. Trailing 4-1 at the start of the third, Wnek used a burst of energy and a bit of dynamic quickness to earn a reversal with 1:07 left in the third. Not a few seconds later, Wnek nearly pinned Schuler and earned 3 near fall. The five 3rd period points stumped any momentum that Bernards seemed to regain during the match and the victory gave Whippany a 27-15 lead.
Anthony Palma majored Kevin Prosicki at 125 as Bernards began to mount a comeback. Prosicki was strong the entire match and refused to be pinned by the strong wrestler.
Bernards, who had choice at 130, sent out Rich Russenello (ranked #2 in the state by the Gannett – behind Milanos from Jefferson & 5th by the Star Ledger), looking to neutralize Ficchi. But the Whippany Coaching staff pulled a great coaching move and bumped Ficchi to 135. The Mountaineers received the desired result, a Russenello pin and thus closed the team score gap to 27-25. But, the move may have took the match for the Wildcats. Joe Ficchi led 13-0 over Alex Zorrillo, before winning by fall with just 2 seconds left in the match.
Bernards took a stunning win at 140. CJ Engelberger was controlling Joe Homza. Engelberger had taken down Homza five times, and earned back points on three of those occasions. But Homza, a great athlete at Bernards, was strong enough to fight off each pin attempt and either reverse Engleberger to his back or escaped. Homza had nearly earned pins twice, after nearly being pinned himself. But, a third period reversal by Engelberger was countered with a headlock and resulted in a surprise pin for the Mountaineers. The pin gave the Mountaineers their first lead since 285.
Rob Hernandez at 145 locked up the team victory for the Wildcats. Hernandez used a series of takedowns and ensuing cuts to tech Billy Youngblood. The five team points gave Whippany a 38-31 lead with one match left. Mike Riccardi, who was in control the entire match, pinned Dan DeDiego near the end of the second period to end it with a final score of 44-31.
The win set up a match between Brearley (#11 by Gannett and #10 by the Star Ledger) and Whippany Park.
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