Pack is Prepped for Postseason After Pummelling Four Teams in a Row

2/11/24

By David Yaskulka
Photos by Jen Sheppard

Boom! 50-24 over Hackettstown. Boom! 57-22 over Butler. Boom! 42-32 over Northern Highlands. Boom! 60-19 over Lenape Valley. West Morris Central made a statement in its last week of the dual meet season with four straight wins. Pack wrestlers are looking well prepped for an individual postseason run. After a 2-8 start, WMC has won 12 of its final 13 to finish 15-10.

Red-hot Robert Fazzino (150 lbs., 22-10 record, ranked #71 in NJ) pinned three opponents on Saturday, five this week, and 11 straight dual meet opponents whose days were ended early by WMC’s sophomore transfer.

“I’m more than proud of the team and the hard work they put in,” said junior co-captain Mark Montuore (113, 26-7, #28), who has won eight straight without letting an opponent go the distance.

Pack Sweeps Quad Fest Behind M. Borgia, Fazzino and Codella

Sophomore big man Michael Borgia (190, 8-16, #234) also dominated Saturday with three pins at the Roxbury Feb. 9 “Quad Fest.” “I definitely give the credit to the guys that wrestle before me and get points on the board. The energy my teammates brought helped my matches a ton,” he said.

AJ Codella (HWT, 21-12, #87) joined Borgia and Fazzino with wins over Butler, Northern Highlands and Lenape Valley. Brody Neill (106, 28-4, #20) and Montuore were also 3-0, though all by forfeit, with the exception of Neill’s masterful pin of Butler’s tough 20-win lightweight. Neill’s won eight in a row (seven delivering max points for the team), and Codella seven straight with six pins.

Tommy Borgia (215, 28-5, #16) had the biggest win of the day, pinning Butler senior state alternate Luca Toriello (29-5, ranked #25 in NJ). But Borgia also had the toughest loss, by 5-2 to N. Highland senior state Ethan Mandel (29-1, #13) in a meeting of state championship qualifiers.

Henry DeFrance (157, 12-14, #206), Jacob Fahmi (120, 10-18, #133), and Tommy Borgia had two wins each Saturday.

Asked about district breakout candidates, Montoure pointed to Fahmi. “He’s struggled the second half of the season, but Jacob is looking to show off his true talents in the postseason.”

Against Butler, Brendan McBride (144, 6-11, #217) delivered a big pin over Ramiz Shehadeh. Neill, Fazzino and both Borgias pinned as well. Codella delivered a thrilling 3-1 win over an 18-win senior.

“I think McBride is going to surprise a lot of people as his technique has been improving and he's looking to make it past districts,” said Montuore.

Michael Borgia, Fazzino and Codella delivered pins against Northern Highlands, with freshman John Garcia getting his hand raised for the first time (by forfeit), as did three teammates, to account for WMC’s scoring.

Against Lenape Valley (which at first seemed ready to leave), Jacob Harrison (126, 17-16, #94) started the match with a pin, but WMC fell behind with three straight losses. Then it was virtually all Pack, with pins from DeFrance, Fazzino, Michael Borgia, and Codella plus, sadly, five forfeits.

Showing that success is earned from hard work over time, Michael Borgia said “Coach [Tommy] Nicolicchia and I were drilling a specific move in practice, and I ended up getting it against Lenape Valley.”

Team Tames Tigers 50-24 with Six Pins and a Tech

On Wolfpack Night Wednesday, with hundreds of future WMC wrestlers, parents and friends in attendance, WMC delivered a convincing 50-24 victory over Hackettstown Feb. 7.

Twelve WMC wrestlers either won (nine) or denied points to their opponents. WMC’s Lucas Barisonek (175, 5-23, #225) battled district medalist Jose Alvarenga (20-6) to a major decision when the Tigers needed a pin, setting the tone even with a loss. Later, Fahmi fell 6-2 to Giovanni Gutierrez (23-7). Hackettstown’s best, Nick Balella (25-5, ranked #8 in NJ) was even denied a pin, settling for a tech fall over Vin Caruso (132, 8-19, #227). That’s six team points saved.

With Hackettstown up 10-0 to start the match, sophomore twin towers Tommy “Moose” Borgia and “Big Business” Codella delivered pins, Codella delighting the crowd with a powerful lift and mat return of the impressive 265 pound freshman Samir Mrad.

In the night’s best match, Neill escaped Hackettstown’s second-best wrestler, Tri-County champ and HWS bronze medalist Joseph Rowinski (22-7), by 1-0.

Montuore delivered one of the most impressive wins of the night, pinning a 14-win wrestler in 46 seconds, and Harrison delivered a tech fall.

Up just 26-18 with five bouts to go, Sam Rizzuto, McBride, DeFrance and Fazzino dropped the hammer with consecutive pins, securing the Wolfpack victory.

Hackettstown’s future looks bright with five strong freshman starters, despite this loss.

Wolfpack Night: WMC Future is Bright

The mat was covered with the WMC Wolfpack wrestlers of the future, who paraded in, announced one at a time before Wednesday’s match. According to Long Valley Wolfpack Youth Wrestling president Lloyd Fleming (yes, related to all-time great Pack wrestler Cory Fleming), there are over 110 wrestlers now in the youth program. That’s up from 65 just a couple years ago.

Among them were 11 members of WMC’s next freshman class, including Erik Forsbrey, Lucas Harrison, Jonathan Cabarle, Jake Reed, Brennan Taylor, Nicholas Galvin, Liam Ryan, Grant Baker, Payton Andrich-Carbon, Deacon Frayne (brother of Pack legend Henry Frayne), and Steven Paris.

Most won’t start next year, but if they ask new assistant coach John DeVito, they’ll know they shouldn’t be discouraged. DeVito wrestled JV freshman year, qualified for the state championship as a senior, and won over 60 matches for Wilkes University from which he just graduated with an engineering degree.

On the negative side, WMC will lose five starters to graduation, a sizable percentage. But there’s only one District placer in that group (so far). On the positive side, freshman and sophomores delivered an incredible 59% of team wins, versus 23% for seniors. In contrast, in this writer’s first year covering the team (2012-13), the numbers were reversed: freshman and sophomores contributed 26%, and seven graduating senior starters (five District placers) amassed 55% of team wins. Simply put, the future is incredibly bright for this team.

Team Playoffs: Passaic Valley Prevails 52-30 Despite T. Borgia Bump Up

Coach Chris Marold’s opening chess gambit at NJSIAA/Rothman Orthopaedics 2024 Team State Tournament quarterfinals versus Passaic Valley (PV) Feb. 5 was unique. For the first time in star sophomore Tommy Borgia’s career, the coach bumped him up a weight class to HWT, where he promptly delivered the desired pinfall for the Pack.

Things continued on plan as Neill delivered a pin against 14-win sophomore Jeremiah Gonzalez, and then PV bumped their 20-win sophomore Shane Singh away from Montuore, who delivered an 18-0 Wolfpack lead with an easy-looking pin – his tenth straight in dual meets.

Underdog Fahmi almost pinned, then had Singh in a cradle for another near-pin, which would have jolted Pack momentum. But Singh survived and prevailed with a pin of his own, and the Hornets were off to the races. PV snagged two pins from underdogs, and bundles of bonus points, culminating in a WMC forfeit at Borgia’s usual 215 slot, and fast-charging HWT Codella bound to the bench.

Rizzuto and Fazzino (sporting a mask to wrestle through a deep facial laceration) were the remaining bright spots for WMC with pins to complete team scoring in the 52-30 defeat.

Marold’s move may have saved nine or more points for the Pack, which lost the coin toss. One scenario had PV bumping its lineup to potentially sweep up top. Its two best wrestlers are state top-12 placer Frankie Martino (190, 21-1, #7) and Region qualifier Brandon Vaneziano (215, 20-3, #28), with firepower remaining at 190 where Richie Breitweister is 7-2. But tonight PV’s overall strategy and execution prevailed.

D11 Individual Playoffs Preview

An early and wildly speculative look at the NJSIAA/Rothman Orthopaedics District 11 Championship has Pope John favorites to repeat, but WMC in the hunt for a team medal (and D11 public gold). Note that: predictions are based on RankWrestlers.com weights and ranks, weights can (and likely will) change, St. Benedict (oddly missing from RankWrestlers) ranks are estimates, and ranks are correlated with but different from seeding criteria.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1hjgWnoIUbOTDzap6etIfSxYi8Y-nnz85BQqPoG5t0sc/edit?usp=sharing

Tommy Borgia and Codella are top-ranked. Borgia would be an overwhelming favorite for gold unless some of the daunting 190 pounders bump up, which is a possibility. Codella on the other hand looks like a slight favorite for gold, but even advancing will not be easy with six decent wrestlers in the bracket.

Neill, Montuore, Harrison, Rizzuto and Fazzino are predicted to join them in the finals as second-ranked in their brackets. Neill would need to avenge his loss to Jake Holly for gold, and also faces a bracket with four top-50 grapplers – with only three advancing. Montuore is almost dead-even to win, with advancement very likely in this bracket.

Harrison has little chance to defeat NJ’s top-ranked Dalton Weber, but should be comfortably second or third to advance. Rizzuto looks like a solid silver the way the bracket looks now, so advancement is likely (unlike last year when he faced the most brutal of D11 brackets). Fazzino could win it all with a minor upset, but there’s also a stack of six grapplers in the bracket making advancement far from certain.

Right now Fahmi ranks a very solid third at 120, with tough odds to place higher, but similarly tough odds for other contenders to keep him from his second Region qualification. DeFrance’s recent win streak makes advancement possible as an apparent third-ranked wrestler, with second in reach – but advancement will still be tough with five real contenders. Barisonek looks like he’ll be fourth-ranked, with a decent chance for third – but there are as many as eight contenders with a chance to advance.

McBride looks fifth-ranked, but there’s a brutal top-four. Mason Vasquez, based on his early-season accomplishments in the lineup, would be fourth-ranked at 113 if he replaced Montuore! Caruso and Michael Borgia look seventh-ranked, but in brackets that are brutal up top.

Next Up

The NJSIAA District 11 (individual) Championship is Feb. 17 at Morristown. Top-three medalists advance to 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, among current wrestlers, Borgia, Montuore and Fahmi advanced from Districts (where Chris Marold was named Coach of the Year); 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 freshman to ever win a match.

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. 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.