Cherry Hill West Wrestlers Earn First-Ever Playoff Win

It was the kind of moment Matt Howe lives for.

With Cherry Hill West's wrestlers trailing Lacey, 27-29, going into the night’s final bout Monday, Howe, a 126-pound backup who’s amassed 20 wins this season filling in at three weight classes, headed out on to the mat with a win his only option.

The capacity home crowd, which had been whipped into a frenzy repeatedly through the night, cranked it to eleven as Howe walked into the circle.

And as the crowd brought the thunder, Howe brought the lightning.

Howe went from fill-in to hero in just seconds, lunging forward and taking down Lacey’s Kyle Brandt for a quick two points.

It was a lead he’d never give up.

Howe went on to score a reversal in the third period to clinch the bout and the match for the Lions, giving West a 30-29 home victory in the team’s first-ever playoff match.

“As soon as I got that takedown, I knew I had the match—I just needed to ride him tough,” Howe said. “I just knew I had to man up for the team…you’ve got to put the team bigger than yourself.”

While Howe might’ve been somewhat of an unlikely hero, head coach Zach Semar said the sophomore’s efforts through the year made it an easy call to insert him into the lineup.

“If we had anyone that it had to come down to, he was the man to step up,” Semar said. “He’s worked very hard all year…he’s lived for a moment like that. I’m just proud to be his coach.”

Though he basked in the moment, Howe was quick to deflect much of the credit, lauding his teammates, especially the handful who wrestled just before him, setting up the do-or-die final bout.

“A big part of it was our 113-pounder, John Gibson, not getting pinned,” Howe said. “That was huge…he fought as hard as he could off his back and saved us the point there that ended up winning the match.”

Gibson not only staved off several pin attempts by his opponent, Ben Mrozinski, he also managed to stymie Mrozinski’s late attempt to turn what ended up being a major decision into a technical fall, and a team bonus point.

That performance was indicative of the Lions’ overall performance and was the ultimate reason they came away with the win, Semar said.

“It was a total team effort—even the kids who lost, they kept the matches close to avoid giving up big points,” he said.

The final drama came out of a match that was back-and-forth all night; Lacey took an early lead with a couple of wins and a major decision, before West’s Mike Marini came in and pinned Lacey’s Cody Alvarez at 160 to cut the lead to just one, followed by Tucker Patten’s major decision over Lacey’s Dave Prapota to give West its first lead of the night.

“It was a total team effort; every single point mattered,” Marini said. “I just rely on my teammates—I know how hard we work in the room, I know how awesome they are, and I know that they’ll take care of business when it comes down to it.”

When Nick Mohrfeld put together a technical fall over Lacey’s Anthony Datello at 106, the momentum seemed to be shifting just slightly in West’s favor—but having the final bout be for everything wasn’t exactly the script West had written before the match.

“We knew they were going to be tough…we were going to have to make up some points somewhere,” Semar said. “That’s not how we planned it, though.”

Now, the Lions move on to face No. 1 seed Toms River South, with the hopes of parlaying a first playoff appearance into a South Jersey final.

“This gives us big momentum…they’re a very good team, and I know we’re going to have to wrestle much, much better than we did tonight in order to knock them off,” Howe said. “We’re just going to try to swing this momentum right into that match and get fired up coming off this win.”