Campanaro, Montuore, Dean, Frayne win Goles; Rizzuto pins High Point

By David Yaskulka. Photos by Olivia Montuore, Lisa Montuore and Laura Ferrante.

12/30/22

West Morris Central wrestlers went 8-0 in medal rounds at the historic Goles tournament Dec. 27 as Michael Campanaro, Mark Montuore, Brandon Dean and Henry Frayne won championships and the team placed third at Warren Hills High School.

“The entire team showed what we could do on Tuesday,” said Frayne (285 lbs). “Big matches and tournaments are definitely indicators. But as long as you are putting the work in every day, you should end up where you wanted to end up.”

“It just shows we have the guys to put out there and they will do their job,” said Campanaro (132), who also won gold two years ago.

Montuore (106) and Dean (144) won gold in their first Goles tournament. The dynamic sophomores set rookie records last year, and “go over stuff together and have fun” in the room, according to Montuore. It’s paying off.

Frayne, who took fourth as a freshman big man, won it all this year, along with the Goles award for most team points.

Seniors Michael Hare (120) and Dean Muttart (138) placed sixth as freshmen, but came away with bronze in their final Goles. So did Sam Rizzuto (150) and freshman Tommy Borgia (215) – who some credit with the tournament’s most impressive performance.

Vincent Caruso (126), Jacob Fahmi (113), and Henry DeFrance (157) took fifth/sixth.

Pack Goes 4-0 for Goles Gold…

Campanaro (8-0) remained undefeated on the young season. In a rematch of last season’s Region 3 semifinal (which Campanaro won 4-2 on his way to the title), Campanaro topped previously-undefeated Josh Lee of Warren Hills in the finals 3-1.

The forward-focused Campanaro said, “I'm looking forward to getting matches back that I lost in the past.”

Montuore (6-2) dominated, pinning every opponent, including Colt’s Neck freshman Ethan Michaels in a 45 second finals bout. His goals for the season? “Be better than I was last year, and get to Atlantic City.”

“But instead of looking too far ahead, I focus on the wrestler in front of me, and knowing I can compete with anyone that steps on the mat to face me.”

Dean (7-1) was also dominant, majoring District 15 finalist Ben Levy in the semifinals, and shutting out state qualifier and top-seed Tyler Russ in the finals, 6-0. Based on RankWrestlers.com, 144 was the toughest bracket to medal in, with Dean the fourth-ranked wrestler (previously).

Frayne (6-1) may have been the most dominant of all, winning the award for most team points. Del Val’s Kyle Cooke lasted 45 seconds in the finals – the best showing of any Frayne opponent.

…And 4-0 for Goles Bronze

Borgia, now 5-2, wrestled the tournament’s single highest ranked wrestler in the semis, Warren Hills senior Jarett Pantuso. Borgia gave him all he could handle, nearly edging the state medalist, but falling in overtime in what may have been the tournament’s best match. The WMC freshman opened some eyes against Pontuso, who pinned every other opponent.

Aside from two senior state medalists, Borgia pinned all his other opponents on the way to Goles bronze and X-Calibur silver last week.

Despite falling to top-seed and District 15 champ Jake Taylor in the semis, Hare was awarded with the tournament’s “most pins least time” award on his way to bronze. His flurry of pinfalls was capped by a 44 second consolation finals victory over District 18 champion Luke Caldwell. The senior tri-captain is now 8-3.

Muttart (4-1) majored Secaucus senior Bryan Lopez 12-4, and Rizzuto (5-3) dramatically edged Warren Hills senior Region qualifier Ryan Lundy 3-2 to make WMC 4-0 in bronze medal matches.

“Overall great showing at the Goles Tournament,” said head Coach Chris Marold. “ I thought tactically we need to create more motion on our feet with level changes and lateral movement and we need to be more aggressive hand fighting to wear down our opponents. We are in great shape and in big matches we are going to need to drag our opponents into deep water.”

Brendon McBride (165), Michael Borgia (175), Luke Barisonek (190) and AJ Codella (285) also competed for the Pack, with Codella adding a 6-0 victory.

Team Scores and Stats

Host school Warren Hills came from behind to edge Delaware Valley for the team title. WMC placed third, followed by Hopewell, Colt’s Neck, Ewing, Newton, Secaucus, Verona, and East Stroudsburg North.

WMC took an early lead with a parade of pinfalls, including DeFrance, who joined his teammates in the semifinals.

The Wolfpack topped the tournament in “most pins least time” with 21 falls in 26 minutes and eight seconds. Del Val also had 21 pins in virtually twice the amount of time (51:49).

Hare led the tournaments 141 wrestlers in most pins least time, with teammates Frayne (three in 1:43) and Tommy Borgia (three in 2:23) second and third. Montuore (7th), Muttart (9th) and Rizzuto (14th) also made the leaderboard.

Rizzuto, Frayne Pins Lead Pack to 36-30 High Point Victory

On Dec. 30, Sam Rizzuto’s pin helped the Pack conquer High Point 36-30 in the home opener. He and Frayne pinned two of the Wildcat’s four returning District 1 medalists.

After Tommy Borgia delivered six to bring the Pack an early 6-3 lead, Frayne set the tone by pinning Arik Hums. Then Montuore topped one of High Point’s best.

Later, down 24-15 with five bouts to go, High Point bumped up highly-ranked junior Ty Woods in hopes of splitting their matches vs. Dean and Rizzuto. Dean did his part with a pin.

Rizzuto foiled the Wildcats’ plans with a dramatic pin over Woods to secure the Wolfpack win.

Campanaro joined Borgia, Frayne, Dean and Rizzuto in delivering six for the Pack. Muttart prevailed over a tough freshman.

Former head coach Ken Rossi recalled that WMC last beat High Point six years ago. John DeVito, who won a key tossup bout in 2016, was in attendance for this Wolfpack win.

Perennial power High Point lost three-time state champion Brian Soldano to graduation. He’s 9-1 and ranked number 14 in the nation (InterMat) as a true freshman for Rutgers.

“It's great anytime you can beat a state powerhouse like High Point,” said Marold. “It was a total team effort today. We made a statement today that we are a team that is going to be tough to beat.”

Codella Wins Roxbury JV Crown

AJ Codella took gold at the challenging Roxbury JV Tournament Dec. 30. Connor Daly took silver, and both Hayden Hurst and Erin Vallanueva took fourths.

Next Up

Next in January is @ Hackettstown 1/3, a home quad vs. Delaware Valley, Morris Knolls and Kittatinny on the 7th. Marold said “we lost a few matches in the Goles semis that I thought we could have won. A lot of those matches were against Del Val and I told the guys they will get a chance to avenge some of those loses.”

The Pack visits Morristown on the 11th and Sparta 13th, then another home quad on the 14th vs. Cranford, Livingston and St. Thomas Aquinas.

About David Yaskulka

David began living his sportswriter dream to avoid concession duty when his sons Noah and Ben began wrestling for the Wolfpack in 2012. His day job is Senior Vice President Corporate Social Responsibility for Mid America Pet Food, whose family of brands is led by VICTOR Super Premium Pet Food and Nature’s Logic. He also serves as Board Chair of the Pet Sustainability Coalition, and as Board Director at Greater Good Charities.