Harrison and Borgia Conquer Goles as Wolfpack Nabs Team Bronze

12/29/24

By David Yaskulka
Photos from Jen Sheppard, Sheryl Reed

Led by champions Jacob Harrison and Tommy Borgia, the West Morris Central High School Wolfpack came from behind to take bronze at the historic John Goles Holiday Wrestling Tournament Saturday Dec. 28 at Warren Hills High School. Sixteen schools competed.

All I See is Gold

Sophomore first-time champion Harrison conquered an especially deep 138 lb. bracket which featured four top-50 wrestlers (RankWrestlers.com). Harrison came from behind to topple top-seeded 26-win senior Adam Ramadan of Kearny in the finals, 8-6.

“Winning my first tournament gold was a great experience,” said Harrison. “It felt amazing to see my hard work pay off. I focused on maintaining a steady pace throughout the match to maintain my endurance and stay in a strong position.”

The team’s future looks bright as a trio of freshman starters placed, including Chris Kowalik (190 lb. weight class) with bronze, Deacon Frayne (175) fifth, and Jacob Reed (106) sixth. Former Goles champions sophomore Brody Neill (120) and senior Mark Montuore (126) took bronze and 4th respectively as they are adjusting to their higher weight classes.

All 13 Pack participants contributed as sophomore Kurtis Beyer (150) and junior Robert Fazzino (165) placed sixth.

Sophomores Jack Sheppard (215), John Garcia (157), and Mason Vazquez (132), and junior Hayden Hurst (144) had two critical bonus-point wins each, contributing a combined 23.5 team points.

“The team is looking as solid as ever, really putting it together over the past few matches,” said co-captain Borgia. “But there is always room for improvement as a unit. We need to focus a bit more on technique, while also improving our work ethic in the room. If we get to a level where we are all training like we want to place down in AC, our team will be unstoppable.”

Borgia won his first Goles at HWT after taking bronze as a freshman, and silver last year at 215. He is 9-0 and hasn’t yet been tested by anyone on the young season, ending every bout early including first period pins in every Goles match. Borgia was just named NJAC Conference wrestler of the week by NJ.com.

“In the upcoming weeks I have some guys on the schedule who should test me,” he said, pointing to Caldwell, Delbarton, and the Morris County Tournament.

Team Scoring

WMC finished strong with 172 team points to pass Hopewell (4th) and Warren Hills (5th) for team bronze. St. Joseph’s Metuchen, currently ranked #17 in New Jersey, dominated with 256.5, followed by perennial power Delaware Valley, finishing second out of 16 with 193. WMC, Hopewell and Warren Hills were neck-and-neck all day.

WMC also finished third last season behind championships from Neill and Brandon Dean.

Next Gen Power

Young upperweights Kowalik and Frayne again looked special Saturday, losing only once each. They are already New Jersey’s #1-ranked freshmen at their respective weights, according to RankWrestlers.com.

“I feel honored to place at these tournaments,” said Kowalik. “The whole team is making huge strides and there is a bright future to this team especially in the lower grades.” Kowalik defeated fellow freshman phenom Gavin Barker of Hopewell by pin for bronze.

Frayne entered the tournament with the best record (5-1) and third highest rank in his bracket, but was given the seven seed, one of the worst seeds of the entire tourney, based on RW. That set him up to face senior top-seed #13 ranked district champ Andrew Bouchard in pre-quarterfinals, dropping Frayne out of contention for top-four.

“Even though I lost my match I battled back and tried the absolute hardest I could,” said Frayne. “My season is going better than I anticipated. I just go out and try my best to get it done and wrestle my match.”

Frayne pinned everyone else he faced in a bracket of eight seniors, three juniors, one sophomore, and freshman Frayne. He’s now 9-2.

Team Points Up and Down the Lineup

WMC received contributions from every single starter, and needed every one of them. The two lowest-scoring starters combined for 10 points, which is more than the margin of victory over Hopewell and Warren Hills. WMC would have placed fifth without them.

Reed won by major decision over Dover’s Juan Torres, 15-4 in consolation semis to secure his 6th place position.

Neill competed in possibly the strongest bracket, falling to eventual champion and tournament Most Outstanding Wrestler Nico DeRado, before returning to deck senior Luacs Byers for third.

Co-captain Montuore delivered two pins for the Pack while giving up a fair amount of weight to his opponents on his way to fourth.

Vazquez fell to the top-ranked wrestler in NJ Jaden Perez, while delivering a pin and a major for the Pack.

Hurst should ascend the rankings after giving the Pack two major decision victories in his first wins of the year, both against wrestlers ranked well above him.

Beyer was outstanding, giving coach Marold 12 team points with a pin and two tech falls on his way to sixth – placing second among all 168 competitors in most-tech-falls-least-time.

Garcia provided a tech and a fall for the team, including possibly his best-ever win, pinning Verona junior Logan Knoetig in 3:10. Knoetig was 11-1 last season.

Fazzino notched his first three wins of the young season to place sixth, with three falls on the day, good for fifth best of all wrestlers in most-pins-least-time.

Sheppard stepped up Michael Borgia’s usual slot, and delivered by decking Butler’s Nate Ezzo in the first period.

Goles Stats

For the entire tournament, freshmen from other schools amassed a total of five pins. Frayne and Kowalik combined for six.

WMC led the tournament with 20 pins. Frayne led the entire tournament in most pins/fastest time with four pins in a combined 4:34. Fazzino and Borgia were fifth and sixth respectively.

The Pack dominated the tourney’s fastest-pin list with Fazzino and Frayne tied for first, Frayne fourth, Beyer fifth, and Frayne eighth.

Not surprisingly, Frayne was among the largest-seed-place-difference leaders, which measures exceeding expectations. Beyer also made that leaderboard.

Six of nine WMC placewinners are underclassmen, including three of four top-three medalists.

WMC and Newton were the only two teams to bring 13 wrestlers. DelVal, Hopewell and St. Joe’s brought 12 each.

Rankings Update

12/23 Full Circle has Brody 3rd at 120, even after his loss to Augie Szamreta, who is now 2nd, with Jake Holly 4th. Borgia is 10th at HWT. NJWrestle.com has Neill at six and Borgia at 12.
FloWrestling has Neill fifth at 113, and Borgia 10th at 215.

RankWrestlers has both hammers ranked 7th at their respective weights. With some not-yet-recorded bouts from the Morris Knolls Tournament, Montuore is ranked 33rd, AJ Codella remains highly ranked at #48, Jacob Harrison ascends to 50, Fazzino remains un-affected by his losses to highly ranked competition at 53, Frayne is 74, Michael Borgia rises significantly to 107, Kowalik ascends to 118, Reed is 124, Fahmi 184, Vazquez 192, Galvin 261, Cabarle 293, Wagner 339, Lucas Harrison 352, Garcia 382. Note that the wrestlers with fewer matches in their careers are likely artificially low until they compile their best few wins. Further note that Garcia, for example, is ranked in the top 41% of over 900 wrestlers in his weight class, befitting a starter on a strong team like WMC.

WMC Goles History

Last season in 2023, Brandon Dean repeated as Goles champion (just prior to his family’s departure to Colorado), and freshman Neill won his second championship of his young career (Knolls was first). WMC placed third with contributions up and down the lineup. Sam Rizzuto and Tommy Borgia won silver medals, Montuore and Michael Borgia took fourth, as Fahmi, Jacob Harrison, Fazzino, Henry DeFrance and AJ Codella all placed sixth in the 13 team tournament – an exceptional 11 placewinners for the Wolfpack.

In 2022, WMC placed third behind Warren Hills and Del Val in a 10-team tourney. Montuore, Dean, Michael Campanaro and Henry Frayne took gold,. Tommy Borgia's OT loss to state medalist Jaret Pontuso was Goles' best match, taking bronze with Michael Hare, Dean Muttart and Rizzuto. Vincent Caruso, Fahmi, and DeFrance took fifth/sixth.

In 2021, the team skipped Goles during the epidemic, and in 2020 the entire tournament was canceled for the same reason. In 2019 the team took silver as Colin Loughney became a two-time champ, joined by Eli Shepard, freshman Campanaro and Michael Ferrante with gold medals.

WMC took silver in 2018 behind Luke Stefanelli, John DeVito and Colin Loughney gold medals, while in 2017 Marco Gaita completed a “three peat” with his third championship.
Shane Metzler, Kade Loughney and Marco Gaita became two-time Goles champs in 2016, joined by Mike Caso at the top of the podium, as the team took bronze. The Wolfpack won five golden rings at the 2015 holiday tournament, with Alex Kaltenhauser, Caleb Isemann, Gaita, Metzler and Kade Loughney crowned champions.

Dylan Luciano and Metzler were champs in 2014 as WMC won team silver. The team placed fifth in 2013 with Jesse Windt representing the Pack at the top of the podium. Nick Matthews and John Sickles were 2012 Goles champs, as future coach Isemann made his varsity debut as a freshman, and notably for this writer, freshman Ben Yaskulka took gold at 150 at the Roxbury JV tournament three days later (one of the event’s many champions to later become Wolfpack letter winners).

For terrific history of the Goles tournament, see Donald J. Brower’s 2013 article.

Next Up

Powerhouse Caldwell visits WMC Jan. 3, 2025 with #5 @ 106 Carmine Sipper (the only grappler to top Neill twice), #13 @ 190 Andrew Fonseca, #19 @ 175 Nicholas Mignone and #20 @215 Michael Mignone.

The Del Val quad is Jan. 4 with Kittatinny and Morris Knolls. WMC visits NJ #1 Delbarton Jan. 7 which could feature a rematch between nationally-ranked PJ Terranova, and Neill (who pinned Terranova last match). While WMC will not face Delbarton at the Morris County Tournament (Delby is going elsewhere), Pack District medalists will no doubt find Delbarton combattants as the Green Wave enters WMC’s Region 3.

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 passionate sustainability advocate and pet industry executive, serves as Board Chair of the Pet Sustainability Coalition, Board Director at Greater Good Charities; and Board Advisor at Arch Pet Food, rePurpose Global plastic action platform, and New Zealand Trade & Enterprise.

He invites all WMC wrestlers and their families to connect with him (and with each other!) on LinkedIn.