Frayne and Harrison Perfect Week, Win Over Pascack Valley, Vault Pack Wrestling to State Section Lead

2/1/26

By David Yaskulka
Photos from Jen Sheppard, Sheryl Reed

Special thanks to team statisticians Adriana Georgiev, Alexa Moscotello, Kaylee Viera and Tilly Vazquez

With three big wins each, Deacon Frayne and Jacob Harrison powered the West Morris Central wrestling team to an 11-6 record after facing three of New Jersey’s top squads. In the Wolfpack’s biggest win of the season, WMC prevailed 41-33 against the Pascack Valley (PV) Panthers Saturday, Jan. 31. PV was 13-1 going in.

The powerhouse schedule and Pascack win boosted WMC to first place in the North Jersey Section 2, Group 2 Power Point standings, which determines team playoff seeds.

“Pascack Valley has a great record,” reflected WMC head coach Chris Marold, “But I thought we matched up pretty well with them, and some guys really stepped up. Overall, Deacon had a phenomenal day. You know, he beat a state qualifier against Howell and then sealed the deal for us there.”

Senior captain Tommy Borgia said, “We went out and fired on all cylinders [against PV]. We needed pins, so that's what we did. We stuck guys where we needed to – you can't ask for anything better than that from our team. We’re getting after it day in and day out, and we make it happen."

Prior, WMC fell 49-20 to NJ #10 powerhouse Howell at Saturday’s tri-meet. Then host squad PV had a nail-biting 39-33 loss to Howell. The Pack started the brutal week against #11 Pope John at home Wednesday (Jan. 28), falling 41-24.

Van Muttart (120, 4-8), Brody Neill (138 lbs., 24-3 record), Jonathan Cabarle (150, 12-6) and Borgia (285, 25-1) delivered two wins each against the elite squads.

Ranked Wins by Harrison and Borgia Power Pack Over Pascack Valley 41-33

After losing two in a row, WMC faced its biggest match of the season (so far). Marold sent out freshman Muttart to lead it off against the Panthers.

Boy did he deliver, with a rapid headlock into the pinfall.

“Huge win by Van,” said Marold. “He’s inexperienced, and he's essentially bumping up a weight class. Pinning a guy to start the dual meet really set the tone. Huge win for him."

Lucas Harrison (126, 14-11) followed with a dominant 13-1 major decision to give the Wolfpack an early 10-0 lead.

But momentum in this dual kept shifting, like the arctic winter winds outside. Half of the bouts shifted the lead or tied the score.

The #31 ranked Adan Cedeno (15-4), Mason Vazquez’ (132, 9-11) second top-31 opponent of the day, pinned. Then #11 Jacob Inserra (23-0) left the mat as the tri's only undefeated wrestler, coming from behind to major Neill 17-8.

Jacob Harrison (144, 20-8) wrestled one of the best bouts of his career versus #29 ranked district finalist Dylan Biegel (17-4), holding on for the 4-3 decision.

“My goal was to keep constant pressure on him while maintaining my pace from start to finish,” said the WMC junior. “I focused on staying in good position, controlling the ties, and wearing him down as the match went on. My focus at the end was to keep him down so we didn’t go into overtime.” Wolfpack up 13-10.

Cabarle followed with a 58 second pinfall.

Then there were two more Panther wins – #7 Luke Stempkowski (25-1), John Garcia’s (157, 13-15) second top-10 opponent of the day, and #21 Lukas Van Veen (24-4).

Robert Fazzino got the lead back with a major. But PV would take it back again thanks to #27 Alex Bainbridge (21-4). Panthers up 27-23.

Kurt Beyer (165, 15-12) fell to his second top-30 opponent of the day. Alex Dymnicki (190, 8-11) fell to PV’s #27 ranked district champ Alex Bainbridge (21-5).

Frayne’s dramatic third period pin of senior #51 Delvin Oxman (20-5), the TCNJ Pride Tournament champion, gave the Pack the lead 29-27.

Having lost his first bout of the year earlier, Borgia would not be denied, pinning #23 Jason Fouch (18-3), the 288 pound TCNJ champ, in the first period.

Marold pointed to Borgia’s win, saying, “Tommy, I mean, that's a very good heavyweight he faced. When the pressure's on and you need that match for the dual meet, it adds a little something to it, so that was big."

Ryan Tie (106,16-12) put the match out of reach with a swift 52 second pin in the penultimate bout before the Pack ultimately prevailed 41-33.

NJ #10 Howell Handles WMC 49-20 Despite Frayne Signature Win

In a showdown of two of NJ’s top underclassmen at 215, Frayne delivered yet another signature victory, prevailing 6-2 over #11 ranked Rebel and Shore Conference Champion Timmy O’Rourke (18-3).

If that wasn’t exciting enough, an even bigger showdown materialized at HWT where Howell bumped their usual 190 pounder, national U17 champion and world bronze medalist Tanner Hodgins, to face Borgia.

David and Goliath…and Goliath?

It looked like David vs. Goliath as the two state medalists, ranked #2 and #3 in NJ respectively, sparred, with NJ state finalist Hodgins prevailing 4-1. That gave Borgia his only loss of the season.

Borgia faced Hodgins in the morning, before facing PV’s Fouch in the afternoon. NJ.com reported 88 pounds separated Borgia’s two opponents, with the WMC HWT in between.

Had Borgia ever faced such different wrestlers on the same day?

“I definitely can't say I have,” he said. “Those two guys are pretty much polar opposites. But they’re two really good, high-level opponents. Obviously, Tanner’s one of the best guys in the country, and in the world. So it’s great to get out there and just get competition every day, and those are the matches I need to get better.”

The match started with five straight Rebel victories, then WMC fought back with three straight.

Neill won by pinfall, Jacob Harrison by tech fall, and Cabarle by pin. Frayne’s huge win would be the Pack’s only other points as Howell prevailed 49-20.

Howell finished the day 15-1 after a winner-take-all final bout victory over Pascack Valley 39-33. Howell's only loss this season was to Delsea. Phillipsburg and North Hunterdon are among their many big-time victims which now include Pascack Valley and WMC.

Impressively, WMC had a larger margin of victory over PV than powerhouse Howell did.

Muttart Pin, Frayne Big Win Not Enough as Pope John Prevails 41-24

After NJ #11 ranked (NJ.com) Pope John won the first five bouts for a 21-0 lead Wednesday night Jan. 28, WMC outscored the Lions the rest of the way. Frayne got the Pack going by taking down Nick Mignone. At #58, Mignone is the highest-ranked Lion WMC defeated, by 9-7 in another impressive outing for the WMC sophomore.

Muttart got the Wolfpack home crowd faithful’s biggest cheers of the night when the freshman pinned Mason Zerden in 3:55.

Neill (by pin) and Jacob Harrison (by 7-1) both topped wrestlers ranked #85 in their respective weight classes. A forfeit to Borgia was the only other WMC scoring for a 41-24 win for the powerhouse parochial.

A number of Wolfpack wrestlers impressed even in defeat, especially Vasquez who excited the crowd with two near takedowns of Pope John's best, two time state medalist Dalton Weber.

Against such a top team, Marold was likely musing what could have been if the three closest losses (by a combined nine points) went the Wolfpack’s way. All three were within a takedown late.

Last year, Coach Chris Marold orchestrated the unlikely upset when WMC defeated Pope John 42-26 when Neill took down fellow state medalist Jack Holly. Prior to last year, the Lions had defeated the Wolfpack four straight years.

Ranks and Recognition Review

Tommy Borgia was named an NJ com wrestler of the week after defeating NJ.com #7 ranked Jared Martini at counties.

Frayne joins Tommy (#3) and Brody (#11) in the 1/27/26 Full Circle Wrestling rankings. He’s #16 at 215 after topping Wyatt Sisco in the county semifinals, and could go up again after this week.

As of 2/1/26 , here's where RankWrestlers.com ranks WMC:

Here’s our cheat sheet on Rankings.

Next Up

WMC hosts Hanover Park Tue Feb. 3, and then visits Morris Hills Wednesday Feb. 4.

There's a tri at Governor Livingston Feb. 7 with Old Bridge, and the Newton JV Tournament the next day, Feb. 8.

Senior night is home versus Jefferson Feb. 11, then the Pack hosts Morristown Feb. 13.

Sectional playoffs schedule follows (only for schools qualifying), Feb. 16 quarterfinals and semifinals (likely at WMC). Section finals are Feb. 18.

This is the State Section Championship that Coach Marold and the team have been gunning for!

If WMC wins the Section Championship:
State Group Semifinals: Friday, February 20, 2026.
Note: Hosted by the higher seed.
State Group Finals: Sunday, February 22, 2026. Location: Rutgers University.

Individual playoffs begin at the District 12 championship on Feb. 28 at Randolph for all WMC starters. Gold, silver and bronze medalists advance to Regions.

The Region 3 championship is March 6-7 at West Orange. The top four region placers advance to face the best of the best in Boardwalk Hall.

The NJSIAA State Championship is March 12-14 in Atlantic City.

Here’s our cheat sheet on rankings.

State Sectional (team) Playoffs and Power Point Standings

As of 2/1/26, WMC passed Caldwell for first place in Power Points standing in North Group 2, Section 2.

NJSIAA wrestling power points are a mathematical formula used to seed the team state tournament by awarding teams points for each dual-meet victory (Quality Points) plus additional points based on their opponents' success (Residual Points). For the 2025-26 season, a team’s final ranking is determined by averaging the values of their best nine power-point-producing matches through the February cutoff.

You can track WMC’s Group 2, Section 2 power points (which determine playoff seeds) here.

And here’s a cheat sheet on tournament and playoff structure for the season:

Districts? Goles? Sections? AC? Oh My! A Guide to WMC Wrestling's Road to Glory

About David Yaskulka

To avoid concession duty when his sons Noah and Ben joined WMC in 2012, David revived his sportswriter dream, and still covers the Pack. He’s a sustainability advocate and pet industry executive, having served as CEO of Nature’s Logic, SVP of Mid America Pet Food, and Board Chair of the Pet Sustainability Coalition and Greater Good Charities. He currently advises Love, Nala cat food, Archway Pet Food, rePurpose Global plastic action platform, and New Zealand Trade & Enterprise. He invites all WMC wrestlers and their families to connect with him (and with each other!) on LinkedIn.