LHS Wrestler Jason Estevez Headed To Atlantic City

Jason Estevez took home the Region 4 crown in wrestling and brothers Jason and Ray Cai, along with Ed Chin, just missed out on first place at the squad championships in fencing to highlight a busy weekend of sports for Livingston high school.

Estevez, a sophomore, earned his first region title and earned his way to the state final which begins on Friday at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City at 5 p.m. Estevez downed Jimmy Ciampi of West Essex, 10-8, in the 125-pound final on Saturday in West Orange. Estevez punched his ticket to A.C. with a 7-2 defeat of Tyler Loughlin of Becton in the semifinals. The top three finishers in each weight class advance to the state final.

Estevez, who won his first District 14 crown last weekend, upped his season record to 30-2.

“Jason was dominant in the match,” said Livingston coach Pat Trabucco. “He was up big and then gave up two late takedowns. That’s something that has to be worked on. He can’t wrestle a good five minutes and 30 seconds; he has to wrestle a full six minutes.”

Estevez was Livingston’s only finalist, but the Lancers had a chance to send two other wrestlers on to Atlantic City, but unfortunately, both lost in third-place bouts.

Keith Arlotta dropped a 6-3 decision to West Essex’ Mike Marotti in the 119-pound consolation and Brad Krosser fell, 4-2, to Brian Merkel of St. Peter’s Prep in the 145-pound consolation bout.

“Its tough for Keith because he’s a senior,” said Trabucco. “But he made some mistakes in his semifinal match which cost him.

“Hopefully, Jason will go down and represent us well.”

FENCING

The Cai-Cai-Chin trio continued what has been a breakout season for the Livingston fencing teams. Jason Cai finished 13-2 on the B strip and Chin went 14-1 on the C strip to help LHS tie Ramapo for first place in sabre at the squad tournament on Sunday at North Hunterdon high school in Annandale. However, Ramapo was awarded the title based on indicators, the difference between touches for and against. Both schools had 36 victories, but Ramapo was plus-92 and Livingston plus-80.

Ray Cai ended up 9-6 on the A strip in helping the second-place finish, the highest in school history at squad states.

 “I think we’ve been successful because we support each other,” Jason Cai said. “We’re always standing next to the strip coaching and cheering for each other. We want to win ourselves, but we want our teammates to win just as much.”

Livingston’s boys sabre squad had already won the first District 3 title -- the first title of any kind at the districts -- and finished fourth at the Cetrulo Tournament, while helping the school win a round of the state team tournament for the first time.

 “I feel like we’ve accomplished so much and it’s just my freshman year,” Chin said. “The program only started six years ago and now we’re starting to accomplish more and more. I hope each year we get better.”

The girls fencing team’s foil squad ended up in 11^th place at squad states on Saturday. Jeannette and Kelly Ng both provided seven victories.