TOMS RIVER - Despite a furious Knights' comeback late in the NSIAA Group 2 title match, the Knights never came all the way back and dropped the Group 2 championship, 42-27, to Brearley on Sunday afternoon at the Poland Spring Center in Toms River.
"They have some studs in their lineup," said West Essex head coach Greg Ruggiero. "They were really ready to go."
Going into the match with Brearley, the number one seed, the second-seeded Knights had avenged last season's group semi-final to Long Branch.
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For this season, West Essex defeated the third seed, Long Branch, 28-21, in the Group 2 semi-finals earlier in the day on Sunday.
West Essex's Paul Cafone held a 4-1 lead on Brearley's Dillon Geoghegan in the third period. But one move by Geoghegan erased Cafone's lead and pinned the Knights' senior in the first minute of the third period of the 171-pound bout.
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If Cafone had defeated Geoghegan, it would have been an upset of one of the best 171-pound wrestlers in the state and would have sliced the Bears' lead to 21-6 instead of the 27-3 deficit that the Knights faced.
"He got caught," said Ruggiero. "That was definitely a match that we should have won."
After the loss to Brearley, Ruggerio raved about his seniors, including Cafone, Anthony Perrotti, Jimmy Ciampi, Mark Dipsey and Nick George.
"They really motivated these guys," said Ruggiero. "They (underclassmen) want to be like them. They all bring a different leadership quality."
Down 36-3, the Knights put on a furious last minute splurge that started when junior Dominic Valeriani pinned Brearley's Mike Christian just before the end of the first period at 1:59.
"I wanted to get things going and give us a spark," said Valeriani. "We were down and I wanted to get things going."
Valeriani's pin led to both Knights' Chris Caputo and Carlo Zazzara registering some very quick pins at 103 (23 seconds) and 112 (26 seconds).
West Essex had chopped the Bears lead to 36-21 and kept the Knights alive if they could get a few pins.
At 119 – even if Mike Marotti could collect a win – West Essex could get a pair of pins in the last two matches to gain a tie for the match.
Unfortunately for Marotti, he lost the second, one-point loss in the match, 2-1, to Anthony Madonia that clinched the Group 2 title for the Bears.
The other one-point loss came from Mike's brother Frank Marotti at 152, 4-3, to Devin Geoghegan.
Against Long Branch, the Knights led most of the way, but West Essex was down 18-15 halfway through the match.
But Valeriani helped get the Knights at least back to tying Long Branch as the junior heavyweight won a 2-1 victory over James Parnell of Long Branch.
West Essex took the lead for good as Carlo Zazzara rang up a major decision over Long Branch's Nick Menkin, 12-3, that put the Knights ahead 22-21.
NSIAA Group 2 State Finals
Brearley 42, West Essex 27
135, 3-0, West Essex, Anthony Pompei, West Essex defeated Andrew Carillo, Brearley, 7-3
140, 6-3, Brearley, Nick Lospinso, Brearley, pinned Jimmy Avraamides, 4:46
145, 12-3, Dan Ries, Brearley, pinned Mark Dipsey, West Essex, 2:48
152, 15-3, Devin Geoghegan, Brearley, defeated Frank Marotti, West Essex, 4-3
160, 21-3, John Balboni, Brearley, pinned Joe Velardi, West Essex, 1:37
171, 27-3, Dillon Geoghegan, Brearley, pinned Paul Cafone, West Essex, 4:45
189, 33-3, Anthony Tancs, Brearley, pinned John Herbach, West Essex, 2:12
215, 36-3, Greg Rice, Brearley, defeated Grant McGuire, West Essex, 6-1
Heavyweight, 36-9, Dominic Valeriani, West Essex, pinned Mike Christian, Brearley, 1:59
103, 36-15, Chris Caputo, West Essex, pinned, Giovanni Fillipone, Brearley, 23 seconds
112, 36-21, Carlo Zazzara, West Essex, pinned, Dylan Oliva, Brearley, 26 seconds
119, 39-21, Anthony Madonia, Brearley, defeated Mike Marotti, West Essex, 2-1, tiebreaker
125, 42-21, Anthony Rice, Brearley, defeated Jimmy Ciampi, West Essex, 10-7
130, 42-27, Anthony Perrotti, West Essex, pinned Dom Martinez, Brearley, 1:06
Group 2, semi-finals
West Essex 28 Long Branch 21
130, 6-0, West Essex, Anthony Perrotti, West Essex pinned Gavin Pejakovich, Long Branch, 2:12
135, 6-3, Matt Eggie, Long Branch, defeated, Anthony Pompei, West Essex, 1-0
140, 9-3, Jimmy Avraamides, West Essex, defeated Joe Ciroalo, Long Branch, 6-4
145, 9-6, Ryan Festejo, Long Branch, defeated Mark Dipsey, West Essex, 6-4
152, 12-6, Frank Marotti, West Essex, defeated Jake George, Long Branch, 7-0
160, 12-9, Alberto Plaza, Long Branch, defeated Joe Velardi, West Essex, 3-1, overtime
171, 15-9, Paul Cafone, West Essex, defeated Joscil Jackson, Long Branch, 5-1
189, 15-15, Paul Tracey, Long Branch, pinned John Herbach, West Essex, 2:57
215, 18-15, Long Branch, Markas Moya, Long Branch defeated Grant McGuire, West Essex, 2-1
Heavyweight, 18-18, Dominic Valeriani, West Essex, defeated James Parnell, Long Branch, 2-1
103, 21-18, David Carmona, Long Branch, defeated Chris Caputo, West Essex, 9-3
112, 22-21, West Essex, Carlo Zazzara, major decision Nick Menkin, Long Branch, 12-3
119, 25-21, Mike Marotti, West Essex, defeated Luke Balina, Long Branch, 3-2
125, 28-21, Jimmy Ciampi, West Essex, defeated Nick George, Long Branch, 10-3
