Parisi pin paves way for Wolfpack win over Kearny

(Washington Township, NJ 12/31/17). Senior Chris Parisi decked Kearny’s Matt Molina at 1:44 to set the tone for a 45-30 Wolfpack dual victory Saturday, raising the team record to 2-1.

“It felt great to get the ball rolling for my team,” said Parisi (132, 2-5). “I knew we were bumping a few people into the lineup to sit the varsity guys who needed to sit (to not go over the 30 match limit before Districts), so I felt it was my job to start the team with six points.”

In the first of six “tossup” matches (without a clear favorite), Parisi’s pin paved the way with Coach Ken Rossi pulling just the right strings.

Jonathan Vazquez (132, 5-5, bumping up a weight), A.J. Hill (145, 8-4) and Justin LeMay (152, 4-1) added pins of their own, followed by a gritty 3-2 victory for John DeVito (160, 9-3) over Travis Witt, one of Kearny’s three returning 20-win wrestlers.

Jack Lyden (170, 3-3) rewarded his coach’s confidence in sitting Marco Gaita (170, 7-1) by delivering a big 1-0 victory over a winning-record senior. Nicolas Kaltenhauser (170, 4-2) did the same, decking a winning-record junior to give WMC a 36-0 lead.

But Kearny would not give up, scoring max points with three pinfalls and two forfeits to close within 36-30.

While Rossi rested five starters, Kearny had two returning 20-win wrestlers up next – Steven Silva and Vincent Ruccatano. But Colin Loughney (120, 6-4) and Eli Shepard (126, 4-4) were impressive with an 8-0 major and an 18-3 tech fall respectively to secure the Wolfpack win.

Freshman Nick Chisari made his varsity debut at 106.

Next Up

WMC visits National division rival Roxbury 1/4, then on 1/6 visits Mt. Olive, where it will also face Paramus and Southern. On 1/9 the team wrestles arch rival Mendham on Pin Cancer Night.

Credits

Photos by JoAnn Vazquez