Metzler Scores County Title in Final Seconds, WMC Wrestling Team Takes Sixth

(Mt. Olive, NJ) Entering the final period, Shane Metzler trailed Parsippany’s Kevin Jones 1-0 in the Morris County Tournament finals.

“I chose to wrestle on my feet,” explained Metzler. It’s a risky move – like going for a two-point conversion in football. Most would take bottom to force a tie.

Metzler shot and scored with seven clock ticks to go, seizing his first Morris County wrestling championship with a 2-1 victory at Mt. Olive High School Saturday.

“I was confident in my training that I would take him down, even with seven seconds left,” said the West Morris Central co-captain. “I expected to win that match.”

WMC placed sixth out of 24 teams. Delbarton won its record eighth straight championship, followed by Montville, Roxbury, Hanover Park, Morris Knolls and WMC. Locally, Mount Olive placed ninth, and Mendham 15th.

Caleb Isemann (21-4) and Alex Kaltenhauser (17-9) won bronze for the Wolfpack. Kade Loughney (16-8) took fourth. Michael Caso (17-6) and Marco Gaita (18-7) wrestled back to take fifth.

“I feel pretty good about the team placing sixth,” said co-captain Isemann. It just shows we have guys who know to wrestle in an atmosphere like the MCT.”

“The coaches felt like we wrestled well,” agreed head coach Ken Rossi. “Many of our guys wrestled to their seeds. It was great having Metzler win, especially scoring a last second take down to secure the victory. Isemann and Kaltenhauser should both be proud taking third in extremely tough weight classes.”

Isemann defeated Morristown’s Justin Contreras (16-6) 10-5 for his second consecutive MCT bronze. He lost only to NJ #4-ranked 160 pounder Craig Roumes of Roxbury, 4-2 in the semi-finals. Half of Isemann’s losses this year are to the undefeated Roumes, who cruised to his second consecutive championship 6-0 after narrowly escaping the WMC senior.

Kaltenhauser defeated Morristown senior Brian Fajardo in overtime to reach the HWT semi-finals before falling to eventual champion Parker Fox. Defending champion Jake Maciezewski of Delbarton was injured in the quarters, giving Big Kalt bronze.

Loughney pinned Matthew Karovic (19-5) to reach the 138 lb. semi-finals, where he was injured and left the tournament, taking fourth for the third consecutive year.

Caso defeated three winning-record wrestlers, including Andrew Joskowitz (17-6), on his way to a fifth-place finish at 106.

Gaita lost a heart breaking overtime 6-3 thriller to eventual 152 lb. champion Edward Marucci of Montville, who didn’t surrender a point to any other wrestler. The WMC sophomore wrestled back for fifth.

Chris Parisi (1-1) made his varsity debut at 126, contributing points for the Pack with a 3-1 victory. Justin LeMay (12-11) and Luke Stefanelli (2-3) contributed pins and Christian Trimarchi (11-9) a win toward the Wolfpack sixth-place finish.

Two former Wolfpack wrestlers – Delbarton’s Trey Zgombic at 195 and Matt Liberato of Hanover Park at 145 – both placed fourth.

It was the first County Championship for Metzler, now 23-0 and ranked #5 in New Jersey at 120 lbs by Full Circle. Last year Delbarton’s Pat Glory defeated Metzler and eventual state champion Gerard Angelo on his way to the 106 lb. County title. Glory won again this year at 113.

NJ.com called Metzler’s thrilling victory over #9-ranked Jones the tournament’s “best final.” Metzler also defeated #11-ranked Dylan Allison.

Atlantic City implications

A highly anticipated showdown between Metzler and NJ #1 ranked Nick Raimo never occurred. The Hanover Park freshman pulled out of the tournament with a reported nagging injury.

“I was disappointed that I didn’t get to wrestle Raimo,” said Metzler, “because I had prepared to wrestle him. But I’ll see him in March,” at the State Championships in Atlantic City.

Isemann could face Roumes again at the Region 1 Championship. “I’m training with nothing else in my mind. I’m going to drill twice as hard and condition so I can make a statement,” said Isemann.

“I think I’ve shown I can compete with the highest level wrestlers in the state, but it’s about time to show I can take down some ranked opponents.” Only four of Roumes’ bouts have gone the full six minutes this year, including both with Isemann.

MCT Wolfpack history

Last year, Kevin Sears won MCT silver for the Wolfpack, with Dylan Luciano, David Migliaccio and Metzler taking bronze. In 2014, Jesse Windt became the Wolfpack’s first-ever two-time MCT champion. WMC placed second in 2013, tops among public schools, with Windt’s gold, silver from Brandon Carcuffe, and bronze from Cory Fleming, Nick Matthews and Adam Kratch.

Metzler is the tenth WMC wrestler to win a County title, and just the third this century. Previous WMC County Champs are Chris Pierson and Dave McAllister (1987), Tim Mulrooney (1990), Mike Mulrooney (1991), Scott Cummins and Brian MacGuire (1993), Daren Carfaro (1995), Dillon Landi (2006) and Windt (2013 and 2014).

Mendham

Mendham defeated rival WMC 40-22 on 1/27 with Troy Navarino (19-4) and Dom DiGena (15-6) – who took third and fourth respectively at the MCT -- winning marquee matches for the Minutemen. Kaltenhauser, Metzler, LeMay, Loughney and Isemann were victorious for the Wolfpack.

Next up

WMC visits powerhouse Pope John on Tuesday night and hosts High Point Wednesday. WMC hosts Randolph on Friday night.