One last look at the MCT

You know that Jefferson won the Team Championship. You know who was in the finals and who medaled. But no one told you what else happened, that is unless you were logging onto MorrisCountyVarsity.net all day long.

First, I want to apologize for any mistakes! Most off, posting the MOW incorrectly. I have no idea how I did that except that maybe my eyes were blurry, my fingers achy and my mind just mush after 3 straight nights of Morris County Wrestling stuff. So I must first apologize to Frank Perrelli and Trevor Melde.

I know that I made a handful of mistakes, typo’s etc. It was a first attempt at this and we were extremely lucky to get internet/cell service inside the gym. We must all consider ourselves lucky on that one. Any mistakes that I made, were simply that, mistakes.

An upset before it begins:

Joe Sweeney from West Morris registered the first “upset” of the tournament before the first matched of the tournament. Sweeney, the 20 seed, advanced over #13 Delbarton’s Eric Gobbo, who withdrew Friday. Maybe not an upset, per say, but an advancement is an advancement.

Fastest Pins and then some:

The fastest pin was recorded before another match even got underway. The 1^st match (103) on mat #1 between (16) Vincent Ranieri and (17) Anthony Marshello started and finished before any other match had begun. Ranieri recorded a fall in 13 seconds, and the time held as the fastest pin of the tournament. Ironically, Marshello was then pinned by Dave Standridge in the next round only 15 seconds into the match. You guessed it, for the second fastest pin. The third fastest pin involved Marshello, that is Senior Joe Marshello of Boonton at 145. Joe pinned Tim Kennedy from Kinnelon at 0:18. Zac Walsh pinned in 18 seconds in his first mat at 285. Joe Marshello then pinned 3-seed JP Davidson in 19 seconds. Ken Johnson (Kinnelon) at 189 pinned Blaise Rosati (Mt. Lakes) in 19 seconds.

The upsets – Pig Tails

(119) Kevin Weiss from Morris Knolls entered the tournament at 2-11. The 22^nd seed defeated 11-seed CJ Outwater with a 5-3 decision.

(140) Vinny Lizza of Montville came in at 6-13 and was put in the 19^th spot. The Sophomore defeated the 14-seed James Hunter 10-6.

(171) 20^th seed Dan Zappulla (MK) pinned 13-seed Joe Taggert late in the second period.

(171) Kinnelon’s 18-seed Steve Zafarino pinned Par Hill’s Hannes Dawid midway through the third.

(189) 18-seeded Tom Paniconi of Mendham pinned 15-seed Greg Chapman (Peq) just 12 seconds into the third period.

(189) Blais Rosati, a 19-seed from Mtn. Lakes ponned Andy Pavlak 1:01 into the second period.

The upsets – Round 1

(103) Matt Armbruster from Montville pinned Pete Tropona from Pequannock for the second time this year. Armbruster, the 12 seed advanced and recorded the first upset of Round 1.

(140) Chris Tracy of Hanover Park used a late takedown to upset the #6 seed from Delbarton, Michael Cargo.

(140) 10-seed Mickey McGraw from Morristown wasn’t about to left Tracy be the only spoiler in the bracket. McGraw knocked off Whippany’s CJ Engelberger 8-5.
(152) #11-seed Josh Arnay was leading when #6 seed Shane Brennan of Mtn. Lakes had to withdraw by injury default.

(171) 14-seed Adam Hodge of West Morris held off Kyle Tufts from Randolph and pulled the greatest upset of the day.

(171) 10-seed Brain Byrne of Mendham defeated Hanover’s Ron Landy (7-seed) 6-4

(215) Chase Csabai of Morris Hills pinned 6-seed Billy Haug from Kinnelon. The 11-seed recorded the upset pin at 1:07 of the second.

What happened at 103?

Nick Bolio from Morristown made it down to 103 after missing the beginning of the season with a knee injury. The Junior and returning 3^rd place Finisher improved to 10-8 on the season with a 14-3 over Joe Brennan from Mtn Lakes. Bolio was in the third period with Standridge and giving the undefeated a freshman some trouble before Standridge stuck him at 3:09. Why is this important? District 9! Bolio (Motown), Savino (HP), Godine (WP) and Standridge (Par) will all be battling to move on in the state tournament. #6 seed, Mt. Olive’s LeGrande was able to knock off the 3-seed, Brian Wrede from Randolph. Savino and Standridge will meet again Tuesday in the Sectionals at Mendham.

What happened at 112?

Another District 9 final, Colwell of Madison and Mariano of Parsippany. Runner-up Mariano had a strong tournament. The Red Hawk freshman pinned his way into the finals before losing a tough decision to Colwell.

What happened at 119?

Heavy favorite Frank Perrelli worked his way through the bracket. But freshman Mike Johnstone, turned in a great performance in defeat against the #1 ranked 119-pounder in New Jersey. Montville’s Cody Philips and Kinnelon’s Evan Feliciano had a great match, won by Feliciano 4-3. Steven Vitale from Randolph upset #3 seed Christian Mazzochi of Madison. The 6-4 victory at the buzzer allowed Vitale to make a run to the finals and aided Randolph in a huge way in team points. Vitale then upset Parsippany Hills Ben McNeil with a 8-7 decision. The bottom bracket in 119 was so stacked that the three matches in the quarters and semi’s were all decided by one or two points. McNeil had a great match with Roxbury’s Bryan Palanchi. That was a great match to watch. Palanchi had all he could handle, edging Dover’s Byron Contreras 9-7.

What happened at 125?

#6 seed Rob Smith advancing to the finals proved to be another key to Randolph finishing a close second. Smith had to beat West Morris’ CJ Carcuffe for the second time this season. The first match Smith won 6-4, this time, a 6-2 win started his run. Smith then edged the 3-seed Kyle Hussey 11-8 in another great match to watch. Smith’s quarterfinal against 7-seed Anthony Johnstone was another battle. Smith used a 3-1 victory to advance. Look for good things from these two freshmen the future. Johnstone had knocked off the 2-seed, Mt. Olive’s Alan Niederlander 7-2.

What happened at 130?

Tropona topped Randolph’s Kyle Bieg 6-1. Dattolo (Roxbury) and Bieg will be a collision course in District 2. Unless Hopatcong’s Nick Pastore drops down for states, these two will be the top two seeds in D2. Tropona had a nice tournament and a well deserved 2-seed. Definitely a tough group of wrestlers just think about it, the 10-seed was last years’ 103 MCT Champion. Kyle Bieg advanced to the semi’s with a quality pin over Kinnelon’s Mark Urban.

What happened at 135?

Ponomarev had a nice tournament. The junior tech’d Julian Berzak of Montville before knocking off 6-seed Aaron Valacquez of Morristown, 8-1. A 6-2 victory over Kinnelon’s Maroldi sent the Pequannock wrestler to the finals. Maroldi advanced on what was one the best matches of the day. Maroldi battled Rich Szymczak from Hanover Park for six full minutes. Maroldi led the entire way and Szymczak battled back. With between 3 and 5 seconds left, both wrestlers fell to the mat with Szymczak on top of Maroldi and Marodli on his back. The buzzer sounded and the ref had not awarded any points. Many thought it was two and two, but no points were awarded. Maroldi prevailed 5-4. The same type of call was later seen in the semis at 215. We’ll get to that later.

What happened at 140?

Some may say, and I will agree that the semi’s maybe the most exciting part of the tournament Another match for the archives. #3 Bach (Parsippany) v. #2 Collins (Randolph) Collins takes down Bach; Bach escapes in the last 5 seconds 2-1; This was a huge point.Collins takes bottom after riding out the second; Bach tilts can manages two near fall for the lead 3-2; Bach locks hands and its now 3-3 with 17 seconds left! We’re in over time as Bach almost got caught too high on the restart, but was bale to hold in legs to avoid the third period reversal. OT: Bach’s in on a single and hooks the near leg for a 5-3 OT win!

Tracey had a buzzer beater on edge at the buzzer to beat Cargo (Delbarton). Brandon VanSetters had a quality victory over Boonton standout Nick Questa.

What happened at 145?

Karchich from West Morris and Stasiak from Pequannock battled to a 13-10 match. Matches like this make this the best time of the year in Morris County! This was the second epic battle between Karchich and a Pequannock standout. Nick Ponomarev defeated Kevin Karcich, 7-4. This time the West Morris Senior came out on top. Conley had a great tournament with his toughest match before the finals against Rob Hernadez from Whippany Park. The match ended in neutral for the final minute of the third period.

What happened at 152?

A stacked weight class with just strong wrestlers. Offerding from Mt. Olive and Mastrabuono of Mendham made this a quality Semi’s! Mastrabuono and Anest went into the third 4-3, but Anest used a great hip toss to land the Mendham Senior on his back and grab enough points to secure the win.

What happened at 160?

#8 seed Vince Capaccio wrestled a great match and gave Geata made Geata work hard to advance to the semi’s. Mike Lomio, a freshman from Hanover Park, was in control 8-2 when #2 Bill Mauro had to withdraw due to injury. The Freshman took a bronze and will have to battle Brooks for District 9. Lomio gave Garripoli a great match, losing 3-2 to the senior from Roxbury. Gaeta (Mont), Garripoli (Roxbury), Capaccio (Dover), Cordasco (MK) will make District 2 fun to watch!

What happened at 171?

Salvaroe just racked up points. The 2 seed beat Steve Zafarino (18-6); Brain Bryne (Mendham) 11-1 and Morristown’s Marcus Cook 10-4 before yielding to Kaufmann is a great final bout. Hodge pulled the upset of the day knocking off Randolph’s 3-seed, Kyle Tufts. Roxbury’s John Costanzo used two pins to advance to the Semi’s against Kaufmann. The second was against Chatham’s Jim Warburton who recently returned from injury. Look for Warburton to make a run in District 10 as he gets back to mid-season shape.

What happened at 189?

Great weight class. The finalist, Suk and Pych, had all they could handle in the Semi’s. Here’s the recap from the Semi’s:

1. Suk (Ran) v. Veselinoski (Par) Suk gets two 1:05 into the match; Veselinoski escapes; (2-1) Suk rides out on period 2 and the scores stays 2-1; Period 3 Suk sprawls out and ties up as the clock winds down. A restart with 18 seconds left results in no change; Final Suk 2-1

3. Johnson (Kin) v. 2. Pych (MO) Period 1 ends 2-2; An escape and it's 3-2 Johnson with 1:25 left in the second; Period three starts with no scoring change; Period 3 - Pych gets two points on a locked hands and an escape off the free move and holds a 4-3 lead with 1:00 left. No change and its final. Final: 4-3 Pych

Mat 4 had Dover’s Mike Kannaley giving Pych a run for his money. The Dover Senior left it all on the mat and both wrestlers were exhausted after a 15-8 battle was a lot closer than the score looked.

What happened at 215?

This was another great weight class. Mangiro (RX), Garone (RAN) & Leka (MONT) all will meet up at District 2. Leka and Garone went to the final over time with Garone holding on and riding out for the win. Here’s my recap of the match: Leka escapes and leads 1-0; Period three starts with Leka on top leading 1-0; Leka cuts with 1:44 left; and its tied at 1; 35 seconds and a restart in neutral; A Leka takedown at the buzzer is overturned after an officials conference and we’re in OT; OVERTIME:

No score in the 1ft OT; 1st Thirty Seconds: Leka escapes with 22 seconds left the 1st OT ends 2-1;

2nd Thirty Seconds: Leka cuts and its tied at 2; Last Overtime - 30 seconds; Randolph on top: Garone rides it out and win; 3-2;

This was the same call that we say at 135 and the refs stayed consistent. As the buzzer sounded and on the edge of the circle, the ref put up two at the end of regulation. Leka had thought he had won and had gone back to the center. The refs met and waved off the points forcing overtime. This just enforces my argument that tenth of a second are essential for county matches. This was the third match that day that tenths of a second would have helped make the outcome less controversial and making the ref life a little easier. I am not complaining about the refs, not at all. Just telling you what happened. The overall refereeing was excellent all weekend and all year (for the matches I have seen).

What happened at 285?

The weight class with the least amount of entries (only 17). The best match of the Opening Round saw Al Fenske-Williams (Peq) edge Mt. Olive Kevin Fenty 4-2. Fenske-Wiliams then defeated Andy Kriskewic of Kinnelon, 7-1. Most knew it was just a matter of time and we should just stay out of the way of Hohn and Walsh. Spencer Williams had three pins on the day, improving to 23-3, and placing third.