Bohr, Caso, LeMay, Gaita lift WMC to 4-2, Pin Cancer @Mendham 1/9

General Colin Powell said success follows “preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.” The whole West Morris Central wrestling team evoked that ethos after Saturday’s Mt. Olive quad brought both success and learnings.

“We started the day strong, beating Paramus and Mt. Olive, but we need to keep the intensity up until the day is over,” reflected junior captain Justin LeMay on the team’s 2-1 showing. Powerhouse Southern Regional (#16 in NJ by Full Circle as of 1/7) swept.

LeMay, Robby Bohr, Mike Caso and Marco Gaita went 3-0 on the day to lead the Pack. Luke Stefanelli took down two Regional qualifiers, Colin Loughney and Robert Rosen took down one with two wins each as Eli Shepard, Jonathan Vazquez and AJ Hill also won twice.

“We are focusing on improving each match, but … you need to make sure you are not satisfied being close,” said Coach Ken Rossi. “We are improving and our strategy is on target, but we need to refine to improve and compete with the best.”

WMC 42, Paramus 27

Bohr started the day with a pin, then Caso topped District finalist Thomas Casey in overtime. The Spartans needed a pin from #6 ranked Kyle Kaiser, but Loughney lanced their hopes, denying bonus points in a 7-2 loss.

“Hanging with Kaiser just shows that all of my hard work in the off season is starting to pay off,” said Loughney.

WMC piled on with a Shepard win and pins from Chris Parisi, Vazquez, Hill, LeMay and Gaita. Jack Lyden denied bonus points to state-ranked Spartan Kyle Jacob in a valiant 8-2 loss.

“Lyden and Parisi allow us to move wrestlers up and down to collect extra wins,” according to Rossi. “Both are dedicated to the team’s success and have contributed key results in our dual meets this season.”

WMC 49, Mt. Olive 18

Mt. Olive’s senior District placer David Mathusek spoiled Jayden Melicharek’s varsity debut, but it was the Marauder’s only wrestled victory. Gaita, ranked #4, majored #20 Alfonso Pinto 9-1, and LeMay pinned District finalist Anthony Spera.

Stefanelli and Rosen also topped Regional qualifiers, and Caso and Shepard dominated District placers by fall and tech fall respectively. Loughney added a pin, Shepard a major, and Hill and DeVito wrestled to victories.

“Rosen showed some real grit wrestling sick,” said Rossi. A stomach bug kept him out of the Paramus match. After two wins, Rosen emphasized he wants to “open up on my feet and improve my transitions to turns on top.”

Southern 37, WMC 28

Loughney announced WMC was there to compete, majoring senior District finalist Owen Kretschmer 12-2. The Wolfpack sophomore said his highlights were “just competing with my teammates and dominating my last match.”

Gaita said “Colin upset his kid and sparked the match for us, even though the rest of the bouts didn’t yield the results we wanted.” Indeed, the Rams won the next four, culminating in state-ranked Matt Barnett handing Hill his only loss of the day.

LeMay stopped the bleeding with a 7-1 victory over District finalist Dan Gorman. DeVito yielded only four team points to #2 Nick O’Connell, the highest-ranked wrestler at the quad. Gaita pinned again.

Stefanelli avenged last year’s 5-1 loss to senior Regional qualifier Vin Miele with an impressive 7-2 victory.

Rosen defeated one of the Ram’s winningest wrestlers, as did Bohr – by fall. Caso topped Regional qualifier Jayson Scerbo 5-0, bringing the score for bouts wrestled to 31-28.

General Reflections

Caso said “the team has put everything we got into practice, and today it showed. I like seeing the moves we worked on in practice work on the mat.”

Rosen reflected that “the team displayed a holistically high level of toughness and grit against some traditionally robust opponents.”

Asked to tell fans something “behind the scenes” they might now know, Rossi said:

“Billy Apostolico has been working tremendously hard in practice [but] is stuck behind a logjam of very talented individuals. Some individuals wither and quit in that situation. Billy has supported his teammates and been a positive influence at practice. Those are the types of kids that help win team championships.”

Every wrestler interviewed focused on learning from failure. “I think we performed well today, but definitely did not perform our best in the last match,” said Hill. “I think we just can compete harder in general.”

LeMay said “Rossi was happy but not satisfied and we need to work on a few things to try to get into the top 20 team rankings.”

Rossi’s reflection? “We had a pretty good day.”

Next Up

On 1/9 the team wrestles arch rival Mendham on Pin Cancer Night. Saturday 1/13 the team travels to West Orange for the Sam Cali Tournament, then visits Randolph 1/17.

Credits

Photos by Susan Hill and JoAnn Vazquez