Codella and Neill Walk Offs, Plus Plenty of Pins, Deliver WMC Sweep

1/14/24

By David Yaskulka
Photos by Olivia Montuore

At 2-8 entering Saturday’s tri-meet at Roxbury, the wrestling Wolfpack needed wins. Both matches came down to underclassmen in ultimate winner-take-all bouts, as West Morris Central’s AJ Codella delivered against Livingston, and Brody Neill secured the sweep against Roxbury Jan. 13.

“You will never be in that situation if your teammates don't put their all out on the mat before you,” said Neill. “It’s impossible without your teammates and their efforts.”

Indeed, teammates Mark Montuore, Jacob Fahmi, Sam Rizzuto and Tommy Borgia were the most dominant wrestlers at the tri-meet, each delivering pins against both opponents. Neill and Robert Fazzino also went 2-0 with bonus points.

“Today felt great for the guys,” said co-captain Montuore. “The team did a great job getting bonus and saving points when they could. Fahmi in particular was electric today. Pushing through sickness, he looked great on the mat.”

“Fahmi showed he is a very solid wrestler,” agreed Borgia. “Getting two pins for the team was huge. We need those kind of matches to win duals and Jacob did exactly that today.”

“The whole team stepped up today,” said Neill. “But Jacob Harrison stood out. They said he was too light against Livingston [WMC forfeited 138 based on Harrison’s weight class descent plan], which upset Jacob. Against Roxbury he went out back at 132 and pinned his kid with a headlock. That really helped us get the win.”

Codella’s Pin Turns Vasquez, Montuore, Fahmi, Rizzuto and Borgia Pins Into a 44-36 Win Over Livingston

WMC jumped to an exhilarating 22-0 lead behind a Neill (106 lbs., 14-2 record, ranked #15 in NJ) major, and consecutive pins from Mason Vasquez (113, 5-13, #143), Montuore (120, 11-6, #39) and Fahmi (126, 6-9, #170). Three bouts later, Rizzuto (144, 11-6, #69) stalled a Livingston comeback by decking a District medalist.

“Rizzuto pushed through illness and has looked good against quality opponents,” said head Coach Chris Marold. “Fazzino has been working hard and showing potential.”

Fazzino (150, 9-8, #91) followed with a major victory for a 32-12 Wolfpack lead, but Livingston roared back with 24 consecutive points from their top four grapplers.

“Coach Borgia came up to Brody and me before we wrestled and told us we both needed to pin for the team to win,” recounted Tommy Borgia (215, 14-3, #17). “We just nodded and got to our warm up. We work hard in the room so we are well prepared in those situations.”

In the penultimate bout, Borgia’s dad proved prescient as Tommy took 39 seconds to deliver the pin WMC needed, giving fellow sophomore big man Codella a chance for heroics.

“It felt great having it all on the line,” said Codella (HWT, 9-9, 118). “ I feel like I work best when there's pressure on my shoulders.

“My strategy was to go out and be dominant and physical. I took my opponent down and used a power half to turn him to his back. I knew there was a short time left so I had to secure the pin fast before the period ended.”

With two seconds remaining in the period, Codella delivered the deciding pinfall and a much-needed victory for the Pack.

Pack Rocks Roxbury With Seven Pins for 42-37 Victory

Neill stepped to the mat for the morning’s ultimate bout to face talented Roxbury fellow freshman Jaedon Reilly. “It is stressful when you are the last one to wrestle and the match is on you,” said Neill. “If you win you get to celebrate a team win together. But if you lose you feel like you let your team down.”

Neill scored early and often before executing the Pack’s seventh pin of the match for the sweep.

Marold said a freshman “looking undaunted like that is impressive. That composure comes from all the high level matches he wrestled in his youth career.”

Montuore, Fahmi, Harrison (132, 7-10, #97), Rizzuto, Fazzino and Borgia all delivered pins for the Pack. Just as critically, Henry DeFrance (157, 3-10, #210) and Codella avoided pins against two of the Gaels’ best. The points they saved proved to be the difference in the match.

Zane Pershaud made his varsity debut for the Pack, falling to Roxbury’s best wrestler, District champ William Knapp in front of a sparse Roxbury home crowd with plenty of Wolfpack faithful.

Roxbury and Livingston History

The Roxbury - WMC rivalry has a rich history.

Last season WMC prevailed 39-37 in the first round of the North 2 Group 3 playoffs, with Rizzuto, Dean and Henry Frayne pinfalls securing the victory. But at last year’s MCT, four Wolfpack wrestlers fell to Roxbury, including Campanaro to eventual County and State champ Luke Stanich. Now Stanich is the #1 ranked NCAA 125 lb. freshman (FloWrestling #6 nationally) for Lehigh. Just prior, WMC prevailed 48-30 over the Gaels to take the conference championship with a big win from Montuore. That broke a two season losing streak to Roxbury.

In 2017-18, Roxbury was the rivalry of the season. After beating Roxbury convincingly in the regular season dual, WMC fell to the Gaels in heartbreaking fashion in a controversial playoffs match.

Last season Livingston narrowly escaped WMC 42-41, despite big wins from Montuore, Rizzuto, Dean and Borgia.

Next Up

“As far as our schedule I have been preaching to our team, especially the younger kids, to not worry about records,” said Marold. “We wrestle a very tough schedule that was front loaded this year with a lot of the better teams early in the season. I keep telling them that they are going to be battle tested and prepared for anything once the postseason starts and that is what we train all season for.”

Tuesday’s home match Jan. 16 is Wolfpack Night vs. Hackettstown, with youth wrestlers competing on an adjacent mat. On 1/20 the squad returns home for a quad that includes Montville, Caldwell, and a team TBA. The Pack visits Sparta on 1/23, its last prep for the Morris County Tournament 1/26-27 at Mount Olive. January concludes with Senior Night vs. Mendham at home 1/31. The D11 championship is 2/17.

Ranking and records based on RankWrestlers.com’s algorithm, which pulls from TrackWrestling.com data.

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. His day job is Senior Vice President Corporate Social Responsibility for Mid America Pet Food, whose family of brands is led by VICTOR Super Premium Pet Food and Nature’s Logic. He also serves as Board Chair of the Pet Sustainability Coalition, and as Board Director at Greater Good Charities.