Neill Nabs History on NJ Wrestling State Championship Podium

3/3/24

By David Yaskulka
Photos from Jen Sheppard, Tom Borgia and the WMC Parents Club

Fighting back from injury, Brody Neill won seventh place at the NJSIAA/Rothman Orthopaedics NJ Wrestling Championship Saturday, becoming West Morris Central High School’s first-ever rookie to ascend the historic Boardwalk Hall podium in Atlantic City.

Tommy Borgia continued re-writing WMC history books as well, becoming the first upper weight underclassman to finish in the top-16. He’s also the second to ever win matches at States in his first two years (Michael Campanaro was first).

“It feels great going into freshman year and working hard to make it onto the podium,” said Neill, who placed seventh as the 16-seed. Out of 112 medalists and 448 competitors, Neill placed fifth overall in “seed-place difference” (exceeding expectations). Unlike nearly every other State Championship competitor, Neill left the sport for two years before returning for this season.

Neill also set the all-time WMC freshman wins record with 38, just passing Campanaro’s 37.

“I'm super happy for Brody,” said Borgia. “He's a hard worker and great kid. Over the next few years he is going to continue to mature and get physically and mentally sharper. I’m lucky I’ll be around for most of his high-school career. Hopefully you will see both of us on top of that podium next year.”

Brody Braves Injury in Gut-Check for the Hardware

It was uncertain if Neill (106 lbs., 38-8 record) would wrestle Saturday Mar. 2 after being injured in the fourth round of wrestle-backs (WB4), which caused him to forfeit Friday night’s WB5 match.

“In the morning, I was debating if I could wrestle,” said Neill. “I stretched out my shoulder to get it ready. I wanted to wrestle, and so I tried. And when I took the mat against [Jake] Holly, I knew what I had to do because I wrestled him before.”

Holly (32-10), the 7-seed, is the junior Pope John two-time State qualifier who defeated Brody in a Dec. 19 dual, though Neill avenged that loss by pin in the Region 3 consolation finals. The high-stakes rubber match was set for Boardwalk Hall.

With Wolfpack faithful fans in the NJ.com video feed, and Coach Chris Marold in his corner, Neill came out shooting. Literally. Neill took the first five shots of the match, getting Holly an early stall warning before Neill took him down.

Holly took bottom in the second and escaped, then Neill took him down again, adding back points for a 6-1 lead. After a restart, Neill recounted, “I got him in a power half and pinned him” at 3:39 for the medal.

“He is a good wrestler and it felt good to win.”

Tommy Tackles the Team History Book

Borgia (215, 36-7) is only the second WMC wrestler to ever win matches at States his first two years, winning twice this year. After winning silver at Districts and Regions last season, this time Borgia was champion of both, and went 2-2 at States.

Borgia pinned Colts Neck’s Amir Shakhnavazov (31-9), and majored Howell’s Dane Colfer (32-5) by 10-1 with possibly five minutes of riding time. Borgia completely dominated both seniors.

“Improving from last year was great, but I was not happy,” Borgia reflected. “I’m a better wrestler than what I showed, and I know I can hang with everyone on that podium at 215.”

“I can promise you, no stone will be unturned this off-season, and next year is going to be a different story. It's heartbreaking to lose when you know you can perform better,” said Borgia.

“After my loss I had a feeling I have never had before, something clicked in my head, and that was that I never want to have that feeling of losing in that arena again. And I'm going to do my absolute best to make sure of it.”

While Borgia’s wins were dominant, his losses were nail biters. The 4-seed Governor Livingston junior Nathan Faxon (39-2) narrowly prevailed 8-5 in pre-quarters. Alex Grippo (34-6), a Delsea junior who had upset the 5-seed, fell behind to Borgia, but came back to win 4-3 despite the WMC sophomore’s desperate escape attempts at the buzzer.

Borgia has five collective career losses to the eight medalists by minor decision. Five of those medalists will graduate this year, including Delbarton champion Vincent Lee who pinned Borgia early in the season, and then Borgia narrowed the margin for a minor decision in their second bout at Counties.

Neill’s Podium Path

Neill advanced to States taking bronze in the Region 3 championship consolation finals against Holly last week.

In Neill’s first AC match Thursday (the round of 32), he faced 16th-ranked sophomore Greyson Pettit (26-6) of Delsea, giving up a first period takedown, and then escaped. Starting second period on top, Neill turned Pettit for a dramatic pinfall at 2:39.

Neill faced 32-seed Nicolas Rivera (27-11) from St. Thomas Aquinas in pre-quarterfinals after Rivera advanced by forfeit.

Neill attacked immediately for a three-second score, followed by back points and then more back points as the WMC frosh was nonstop aggressive for a 9-0 first period lead. After nearly pinning Rivera, Neill gave up a reversal that started a comeback. But Neill remained in control and prevailed for the 12-7 win.

Neill faced NJ #6 ranked 9-seed senior Alex Esposito (29-7) in quarterfinals. After multiple timeouts for blood and injury, Neill was within a takedown of the Region 3 champ with seconds remaining, but fell 6-2.

That dropped Neill to the fateful WB4 blood round, where winners advance to the podium, and losers end their season. He faced NJ #7 ranked Teaneck junior Oumar Tounkara (24-3), somehow just the 14-seed. Tounkara fell victim to his terrible seed (the bracket’s single lowest compared to rank) in pre-quarters, while giving NJ #1 ranked eventual State Champ Cameron Sontz (39-4) his closest match of the day.

Tounkara was aggressive and dominated Neill, rushing to a 9-0 lead. At 3:31 Tounkara had Neill on his back again, but was called for an illegal move that injured Neill’s shoulder and left him writhing in pain. After an extended wait, the incapacitated Neill was awarded the injury forfeit victory, per NJSIAA and NFHS rule.

Neill did not return for his Friday night WB5 match, dropping him to the seventh place medal match if he could return Saturday morning.

“It was hard to think I would get hurt and not be able to wrestle later that night,” said Neill. “I wanted to wrestle, but I didn't want to hurt my shoulder more or make me not be able to wrestle in the 7th place match.”

Neill’s Two Unusual Encounters

As the 16-seed, Neill was scheduled to wrestle the 1-seed in pre-quarterfinals, usually a mismatch. But that wrestler forfeited out just before the start, putting the 32-seed in Neill’s path instead. Oddly, this writer predicted Neill would have defeated that 1-seed, who RW ranked NJ#21, vs. Neill’s #11.

Then in WB4, Tounkara’s illegal move incapacitated Neill, leaving the WMC prolific pinner (26 this season, among the most in NJ), with no chance for a dramatic comeback. Neill advanced with this rare occurrence which this writer has only seen once before, when WMC was on the other side of this rule in its 2018 Section Championship loss to Roxbury.

Luck may have been involved in Neill’s ascent, but we’ll never know what would have happened without it. The words of famed film producer Samuel Goldwyn apply: “the harder I work, the luckier I get.” Neill’s hard work yielded one of the most dominant seasons in school history, putting him in the place to achieve that medal in unusual circumstances.

Neill emphatically erased any doubts with a dominating performance against Holly.

Local Teams

Among local teams, Mt. Olive’s Tyeler Hagensen starred, winning the 113 lb. championship. Tyler Bienus placed third. Anthony Piemonte reached top-12. Brandon Beres and Tanner Perez saw their hands raised, as Nicolas Gonzalez and Tyler Cummings also competed for the Marauders, which finished 11th based on unofficial team scoring.

Hackettstown's Nicolas Balella climbed the podium, placing 5th. Mendham’s Rafe Fonte competed, but did not advance. Delbarton draped the podium, including providing a competitor in half of the tournament’s finals matches, crowning four champions.

WMC State Championship History

WMC has two state champions in its wrestling history, Mike Mulrooney in 1991, and Greg Cholish in 1973. Neill’s is the 26th State Championship medal in school history overall.

Before Borgia and Neill, Campanaro was the only Wolfpack wrestler to qualify for the State Championship his freshman year. Camp’s also the only WMC wrestler to qualify all four years, something Neill and Borgia aspire to.

Only one underclassman in school history had ever medaled, and that was sophomore legend Shane Metzler, who was also the first to medal three times.

Last season, Dean placed sixth in Atlantic City where Borgia became one of two WMC freshmen to ever win a match. Michael Campanaro completed an illustrious career with his fourth State championship appearance, but was denied the podium with a devastating injury (for the third year in a row).

In 2022, Campanaro and Henry Frayne competed at States, with one Campanaro elbow-injury-hampered victory between them, and WMC girl’s wrestling pioneer Marisa DiPaolo ascended the podium for the second year in a row, an accomplishment only matched by Metzler on the boy’s side. In 2021, this time wrestling with one eye pounded shut, Campanaro placed top-12 in the state.

Colin Loughney ascended the legendary podium in 2020, placing eighth to culminate his outstanding Wolfpack career. Justin LeMay reached the podium in 2019, placing seventh in his third trip to States.

Marco Gaita overcame injuries to place fifth in Boardwalk Hall in 2018, the culmination of his legendary career.

Shane Metzler nabbed the last win of his record-shattering WMC career to place seventh in 2017, an unprecedented three-peat on the podium. Gaita, Kade Loughney and LeMay placed top-12. In 2016, Metzler became WMC’s second to repeat on the podium, placing fifth. Greg Cholish last accomplished a WMC podium repeat 43 years prior. Metzler placed fourth in 2015.

Jesse Windt had one of the great seasons in WMC history in 2014, but it ended with an illness-impaired top-12 finish. Nick Matthews ended a Pack podium drought with a sixth place finish in 2013. The only prior 21st Century WMC podium ascent was Dillon Landi’s 2006 fourth.

Final Word

“The best moment this season was just seeing the team progress,” said Borgia. “Everyone worked super hard and improved tremendously. I'm excited to see what we are going to have next year.”

Next Up

The West Morris Central Wrestling family will celebrate its strong 2023-24 season and its seniors at its traditional season-end banquet March 20. There, Parents Club President Mark Montuore, Sr. will thank the extended wrestling family. Chris Marold, Tom Borgia, Tom Nicolicchia and John DeVito will hand out the coveted MVP, Blue & Gray, Coaches, Rookie and JV awards. They’ll also bestow the most difficult varsity letter in sports to deserving recipients.

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, passionate sustainability advocate, and also serves as Board Chair of the Pet Sustainability Coalition, and as Board Director at Greater Good Charities.