Big Men Borgia and Codella Win D11 Championships, Pack of 7 Advance

2/18/24

By David Yaskulka
Photos from WMC Parents Club

West Morris Central sophomore twin towers Tommy “Moose" Borgia and AJ “Big Business" Codella won their first NJSIAA District wrestling championships Saturday Feb. 17 in Morristown. WMC topped all public schools, and Chris Marold repeated as District 11 Coach of the Year.

Freshman Jacob Harrison won silver, as Brody Neill, Mark Montuore, Jacob Fahmi and Sam Rizzuto won bronze to total seven wrestlers (half of the starting lineup) advancing to the NJSIAA Rothman Orthopedic Region 3 Championship.

“It felt good to help the team. If we had a few different outcomes we would have blown the doors off Pope John,“ said Borgia. The private school came from behind to edge WMC for the overall team win, 161-154.

Home team Morristown (132), St. Benedict’s Prep (116.5), and Hackettstown (112.5) filled out the top half of the 10 team tourney.

Finals

“After losing in the finals last year I knew I needed to bring back a District title this year,” said Borgia (215 lb. weight class, 31-5 record, NJ rank #15*), who cruised with ease to the top of the podium with two first period pins. Last season he became WMC's second ever freshman to qualify for States.

Codella (HWT, 24-12, #78) decked all three of his opponents, one of only three wrestlers in the 120 man tournament to do so.

“It feels amazing to win my first District championship,” he said. “I really wanted this win and a good seed in Regions. “ Codella flattened Whippany Park’s Leo Lima in the finals, sinking the half nelson for the pin.

Semi-Finals

Harrison (126, 19-17, #101**) also came away victorious in semifinals, pinning St. Benedict’s Merlin Dilone in 1:39.

“I feel I've come a long way this season so I am excited and proud to place 2nd,” he said. “The key was going out there with confidence and being strategic with my next moves. I’m excited for Regions.”

The Pack lost six of nine in semifinals, with multiple grapplers visibly impaired by illness.

Blood Round

The Pack started the bronze medal round on fire with four straight victories to take the team lead.

Freshman Neill (106, 30-5, #17), sleeping between rounds and looking ill in semifinals (losing to Hackettstown’s Joe Rowinski, whom he had previously beaten), rallied to dispatch Columbia’s 17-win Oliver Kleizman with a first period pin.

Montuore (113, 28-8, #43), who had just fallen to the highest-ranked wrestler (and eventual champion) in the tournament's most brutal bracket, rallied with a 6-0 shutout of Morristown’s Gavin Rivera, making him the tourney's highest ranked wrestler (#50) to be sent home.

WMC junior co-captain Montuore becomes the team’s only three-peat Region qualifier.

Sophomore Fahmi (120, 12-19, #147) has now qualified for Regions in both his seasons by virtue of a 31 second pin of PJX’s Matthew Reilly. He also had a 73 second pin in quarterfinals.

Senior co-captain Rizzuto (138, 23-10, #77), seeded third in the tourney’s second most brutal bracket, pinned Morristown's 70th ranked Oliver Aung, the second most accomplished wrestler whose season ended Saturday.

Last season it was Rizzuto who had the dubious honor of being the highest ranked wrestler to be denied Regions.

Robert Fazzino (150, 23-12, #79), who has had a breakout season since transferring from Perth Amboy, could not overcome a week of high fevers and bedrest leading to Districts, getting pinned twice in matches in which he had the lead.

The same thing happened to Henry DeFrance (157, 13-16, #209) in this round, ending a resurgent season. He and Fazzino both placed fourth by winning quarterfinals with pins.

Some Senior Farewells

Fourteen WMC starters – the full lineup – ranked within the top 250 wrestlers in their weight class – which at minimum means top-45% of all NJ high school grapplers. All contributed to an outstanding 15-10 season (after starting 2-8). But District losses end seasons, and four WMC high school wrestling careers ended Saturday on the Morristown mat.

Luke Barisonek contributed a prelims-round D11 pin for the Pack, then was eliminated by eventual champ Temuulen Mendbileg. He’ll conclude his career with a second prestigious varsity letter. Career highlights include an incredible sixth place medal at the grueling X-Calibur Tournament.

Vince Caruso has been a strong starter for the Pack this year and last, with wins at the X-Calibur, Goles and MCT tournaments. He received a prestigious All-Conference nod last season.

Defrance placed fourth at D11, and will also become a three-time winner of the toughest varsity letter in sports, with wins at the Goles Tournament.

Brendan McBride also concludes his career as a three-time winner of the toughest varsity letter in sports, and has earned wins at the Goles and Morris County Championship tournaments.

WMC will lose five starters to graduation, a sizable percentage. However, only Rizzuto and DeFrance were District placewinners, and all three WMC D11 finalists were underclassmen, as were two of four bronze medalists. The Pack future is bright, with JB Wagner and Michael Borgia (the only underclassmen in his 190 lb. bracket) gaining valuable postseason experience.

What did these seniors mean to the team? From Coach Marold:

The group had a huge impact on this team. Filling the lineup is something we have struggled with as a program for years. This group has been more than willing to do whatever it takes to accomplish that.

Vinnie Caruso completely dedicated himself to a diet last year that allowed him to drop down and maintain making 126 pounds for the team. McBride and DeFrance put on weight, or bumped up one or two weight classes to prevent team forfeits Lucas Barisonek has a great pace and work ethic in the practice room and is always trying to help out newer wrestlers with their technique. Henry DeFrance is someone that has always been very good technically, but hasn't been able to translate that to the mat during matches. In the past couple of weeks it seems like something has clicked and he was able to win some huge matches for us that ended up winning a few dual meets for the team. If only he would have been able to get another week or two of practice I am sure that he would have qualified for the Regions.

Overall this group of seniors that just finished their careers should not be defined by their wins and losses, but their willingness to do whatever it takes to help the team win. The long term impact of that on the program is almost immeasurable.

And Coach’s reflections on his own award?

It shows what a great mentor I had in Ken Rossi and that our team has been very successful over the past two years. I look at this award as something that really goes to the team. The work that the team as well as my assistants have put in are the reason why I was presented with this award.

D11 Fun Facts and Stats

Only 22 (of 120) wrestlers had two or more pins Saturday, including five WMC grapplers, led by Codella’s three, and two each from Borgia, Fahmi, Harrison and Rizzuto. WMC was one of only two schools to bring a full lineup, and delivered the most pins of any team (15). Borgia’s 13 second semifinals pin was tied for fastest of the day.

Only four wrestlers delivered maximum team points, and Borgia and Codella were two of them. Montuore tied for the 14th-most total match points. Only 13 (of 56) placewinners exceeded their seeds, including second-seeded Codella. While St. Benedict’s led Districts in seed-place difference (exceeding expectations), WMC was last with a negative-4 despite Codella’s plus-one.

106 and 190 were the only brackets with three 20-win wrestlers. 113 and 138 were the two toughest brackets from which to advance. No other bracket had more than three top-120 wrestlers, but 113 featured five top-100 wrestlers.

132 was the toughest up top, with two top-10 wrestlers. On the other hand, 157 did not have a single top-120 wrestler

If you were betting on likely champions, it would have been hard to bet against NJ #1 Dalton Weber at 126, NJ #2 Carson Welsh at 132, or #6 Jack Meyers at 144, the highest ranked wrestlers on the mat. But the smart money would have been on our own Tommy Borgia, who at #13, was ranked 115 places above his nearest competition at 215.

WMC played a part in the two weight classes with the greatest level of seeding errors, 150 due partly to Fazzino’s illness, and HWT, where a PJX wrestler became the top seed by virtue of catching Codella in an early season pin, but went 1-2 on the day.

WMC District History

Last season, WMC crowned four D11 champs, but Henry Frayne, Michael Hare and Michael Campanaro have graduated, and then-sophomore Brandon Dean moved to Colorado (where he has become the top-ranked USAW 16U Future Olympian from NJ, and #2 ranked nationally at 152). Coach Marold was named 2022-23 D11 Coach of the Year. Tommy Borgia took silver (losing only to arch nemesis Rocco Salerno). Montuore took district bronze for the second time in his two seasons. Fahmi joined Borgia as freshman district medalists.

In 2022, Campanaro, Dean, Malachi Shepard, and Frayne took gold, and freshman Montuore bronze. In the 2021 Covid year, there were no districts, but freshman Rizzuto was among six WMC wrestlers chosen for “North 2 Regions” including Hare, Campanaro, Michael Ferrante, Shepard and Frayne.

In 2020, Robert Bohr, Colin Loughney and Eli Shepard defended their District 12 crowns as Malachi Shepard won his first championship. Senior first year wrestler Mike Battaglino was the breakout star, topping all 108 wrestlers in “seed-place difference” (overachievement), winning silver as the 5-seed. In 2019, Robert Bohr, Eli Shepard, Colin Loughney, Justin LeMay and Luke Stefanelli won championships, and the Wolfpack its first ever team title. Coach Ken Rossi won Coach of the Year, and LeMay Outstanding Wrestler.

In 2018, WMC nabbed a team-best 12 medals at the District 11 tournament with four champions: Robert Rosen, Stefanelli, Marco Gaita and LeMay -- won championships, tying the school record. In 2017, Gaita was D11 champ, and Rossi was coach of the year. Shane Metzler lost to fellow future NCAA Division 1 wrestler Nick Raimo in the finals. In 2016, Metzler and Kade Loughney won championships as five advanced to Regions.

Next Up

The Region 3 championship at West Orange Feb. 23-24. Top-four placers there advance to the NJSIAA/Rothman Orthopaedics State Championships in Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall Feb. 29 - Mar. 2 where the best of the best compete for wrestling history.

Last season, Brandon Dean was Region 3 champ, advancing to States with Michael Campanaro, Michael Hare and Borgia; and Dean placed sixth in Atlantic City where Borgia became one of two WMC freshmen to ever win a match.

*Ranking and records based on RankWrestlers.com’s algorithm, which pulls from TrackWrestling.com data. For reference, on average (mileage varying greatly by weight, team, District and Region), about 550-600 wrestlers compete in each weight class, those ranked top-400 are generally varsity starters who compete at Districts, top-96 ranked advance to Regions, top-32 advance to the State championship, and top-8 reach the podium in Atlantic City. But again, there is wide variance by weight, team, District and Region. But more importantly, the main way wrestlers improve their rank is defeating someone they were not expected to beat – which of course happens every day.

**One odd ranking note: St. Benedict’s wrestlers are not in Rankwresters.com. So for example, while this writer estimates Harrison might have gained 30-50 places in the ranking after pinning the (estimated) #35 Merlin Dilone (126, 24-11, estimated #35), it was not calculated in the rankings. St. Benedict’s returned to the NJSIAA this year after a long absence, and RW has not caught up. Dilone placed third, pinning all opponents but Harrison.

About David Yaskulka

David began living his sportswriter dream to avoid concession duty when his sons Noah and Ben began wrestling for the Wolfpack in 2012. He is a pet industry executive who also serves as Board Chair of the Pet Sustainability Coalition, and as Board Director at Greater Good Charities.