Lyden, Stefanelli, Loughney, Shepard and Ramos lead WMC to 9-6

By David Yaskulka

Jack Lyden, Luke Stefanelli, Colin Loughney, Eli Shepard and Kevin Ramos all went 2-0 on the week as West Morris Central wrestling enters the team playoffs with a 9-6 record. The Wolfpack topped Sparta and fell to No. 9 High Point this week as they gear up for sectionals.

WMC Tops Sparta 48-25 with Six Pins

Loughney (145, 16-10), John DeVito (160, 21-6), Stefanelli (182, 18-4), Lyden (195, 10-6), Jesus Montenegro (220, 14-11) and Michael Ferrante (106, 12-13) all delivered pinfalls for the Wolfpack as WMC defeated Sparta 48-25.

Matt Borgia (138, 11-15) won the night’s only coin-toss match, 4-2.

Malachi Shepard (113, 11-14) impressively kept Cooper Stewart (24-4) to a 9-5 decision, as Stewart’s brothers Spencer and Garret delivered bonus points. All three won Goles gold and are ranked top-20 in New Jersey.

Sparta’s Riley Kennedy delivered the only upset of the night, though the 3-5 senior’s record is deceiving, with all of his losses to top-50 wrestlers.

Eli Shepard (132, 19-7) took care of business by shutting out dangerous Sparta 18-win senior Christopher Huang 4-0. Ramos (HWT, 13-11) took a forfeit to complete Wolfpack scoring.

No. 9 High Point Dominates Shorthanded Pack 49-21

With senior co-captains A.J. Hill (170, 12-13) and Justin LeMay (152, 20-4) on the sidelines, Lyden and Stefanelli took down solid Wildcat wrestlers to bring the Wolfpack within 9-6. But the powerhouse home team would go on to hammer the Pack with seven pins from their bevy of highly ranked grapplers, highlighted by the dynamic top-10 freshman duo of Brian Saldano and Clayton Uber among seven top-25 wrestlers.

Eli Shepard and and Loughney did all they could do, bringing six each for the team with pinfalls. But Kevin Ramos 3-2 victory was the only other scoring for WMC.

Nicolas Kaltenhauser was solid for the Pack at 160, preventing bonus points against a 13-win wrestler.

WMC’s Brutal Schedule on Display

State qualifier Robby Bohr (120, 13-11) has lost four of his last six bouts, with all four losses coming to top-20 ranked wrestlers.

Since Daniel Kern (126, 5-14) started 4-3, he has faced just one wrestler ranked below average, which he won. Six of his last nine bouts have been against top-40 wrestlers.

DeVito’s four in-state losses have all been to top-20 wrestlers.

Eli Shepard has won 11 of 12, and Stefanelli 10 of 11, both falling only in the Morris County Tournament. Lyden has won six of eight, and Ramos three in a row.

WMC Connections to Rutgers’ Big Win Over Princeton

On Sunday Rutgers No. 2 Anthony Ashnault toppled Princeton’s No. 1 Matthew Kolodzik by eight points to take over the #1 ranking at 149 as Rutgers topped Princeton. WMC’s Shane Metzler fell to No. 10 Pat Glory in the match.

Six years ago, Ashnault majored WMC’s Nick Matthews by 10 points to lead the South Plainfield Tigers over WMC in sectional semi-finals. South Plainfield took the State Championship, as did Ashnault, becoming NJ’s first undefeated four-time champion on the way to becoming a Rutgers legend. Matthews went on to a successful academic and wrestling career at NYU.

Four years ago next month, Metzler took fourth at the NJSIAA state championships. Fittingly, the two wrestlers just above him, Jonathan Tropea, who starts for Rider, and Glory, join Metzler as accomplished NCAA Division I starters in New Jersey at 125. Metzler defeated Carmen Ferrante in that tournament – he now starts for University of Pennsylvania.

WMC Milestones

LeMay picked up his 97th career win at the Morris County Tournament, lifting him past WMC legends Cory Fleming (92) and Jesse Windt (94) into the top-10 all time for the Wolfpack. Last season LeMay notched 11 post-season victories between the team and individual tournaments. A similar showing this year would elevate him to #7 all-time for the Pack behind Shane Metzler (144), Nick Matthews (131), Marco Gaita (124), Kade Loughney (112), Dylan Luciano (111) and Brandon Carcuffe (110). David Migliaccio (107) and John Sickles (105) round out the Century Club for WMC.

DeVito ascended to the top-25 with his 67th career win, and Stefanelli reached #28 with his 62nd despite neither starting freshman year.

Bohr (61 wins), Shepard (53), and Loughney (49) have already cracked the top-50 as juniors, even prior to the post-season. Hill (43) could also reach the top-50 despite missing virtually an entire year with injury.

Next Up

Sectional (team) playoffs begin Monday 2/8 as second-seeded WMC hosts seventh-seeded Bogota/Ridgefield Park (8-9) at 7 PM. If the Wolfpack wins, they will host the winner of the six-seed Nutley (13-5) at three-seed West Essex (13-4) match on Wednesday 2/10. If WMC and Mendham (the top seed) both won their first two matches, Mendham would host WMC Friday night 2/10 for the North 2, Group 3 section championship. That would be one of best matches in the state, with WMC having a chance to avenge their recent 32-32 tie that Mendham won on tie breaker criteria. WMC would host the finals if they win in semi-finals, but Mendham does not.

The individual tournament road to Atlantic City begins 2/16 at the District 12 Tournament.

Photo Credits

Susan Hill, Mollissa LeMay, Margaret Stefanelli and JoAnn Vazquez