Four Hopatcong Youth Wrestlers Shine at States

The Hopatcong Jr. Chiefs' Anthony Mastroeni, Max Schuman, Mickey Mastroeni and Anthony Rodriguez each battled at the 2011 NJ Kids State Championships last weekend at Union High School.

• Anthony Mastroeni won his fisrt match against Gabriel Dollard from Wrecking Crew, 6-4. In the second round, Mastroeni won big against Richie Koehler from BYAA, 15-1. In the semifinals, Mastroeni lost a tough match to second-place finisher Mark Salvatore from Malvern Prep, 6-3. In the consolation rounds, Mastroeni lost a close match to Dominick LaRusso from Standridge, 6-4. In the fifth-place medal round, Mastroeni wrestled Richie Koehler from BYAA again and won, 2-0, to capture fifth place in the 70-pound class.
• Schuman had a tough opening draw against second-place finisher Michael O’Malley from Apex, losing via pin late in the third period. In the consolation rounds, Schuman won his first match against Brandon Epstein from Shawnee, 5-0. In Schuman's second match, he lost a close one to Ryan Karsen from Wrestling Plus, 4-2.
• Mickey Mastroeni won his first match against Justin Stacknick from Pennsville via pin in overtime. In his second match, Mastroeni drew top seed Michael Cetta from Apex and was pinned in the first period. Cetta went on to take place. In the consolation round, Mastroeni faced Joseph Cangro from Passaic Valley. The match was tied, 7-7, with under 50 seconds left and Cangro scored three on Mickey. Desperate to score, Mickey was caught on his back and was pinned with 14 seconds left in the third period.
• Rodriguez lost his first match to eventual champ Andrew Kanski from BYAA, 4-3. The match was 4-0 in the third period and Anthony scored three early points, but could not tie it up. In the consolation round, Rodriguez won his first match against Michael Toranzo from Lyndhurst via pin early in the third period. Rodriguez won his final match against Michael Monetti from Marlboro via pin early in the second period to capture third place in the heavyweight class.

Editor's note: Special thanks to Elvis Rodriguez for the information.