Wolfpack garners Goles silver as Metzler and Luciano gain gold

Shane Metzler and Dylan Luciano stayed undefeated at Saturday’s John Goles Invitational Tournament, leading the Wolfpack to a second place finish at Warren Hills. North Hunterdon dominated with 213 team points, followed by WMC with 152. In its 57th year, the Goles tournament is the second oldest Christmas weekend tournament in the nation.

Kade Loughney and Kevin Sears took silver, both losing heart breakers in the finals by one point.

Mike Oros, David Migliaccio, Caleb Isemann and Taylor Parkinson-Gee won Goles bronze.

Traditional powerhouses Edison (137), Delaware Valley (109) and Warren Hills (107) rounded out the top five team scores, followed by Scotch Plains, South Brunswick, Newton, Millburn and West Windsor-Plainsboro South.

Metzler won the 106 lb. title in business-like fashion, pinning his way to the finals, where he dominated Dylan Saggio of Millburn 12-3. The WMC sophomore was in the middle of lunch when the tournament schedule shifted unexpectedly. Metzler raced to the mat for the semifinals, seemingly with sandwich in hand. He won in 22 seconds – 10 seconds longer than his quarter-finals victory. He’s now 7-0 on the young season, and ranked #1 in New Jersey by FloWrestling.

Luciano took 120 lb. gold with an acrobatic display in the finals, defeating top-seeded state qualifier Robert Cleary of Edison by tech fall 18-2 (5:06). In the semifinals Luciano topped Newton 3rd-seeded senior Trevor Morales by 13-3, and pinned Warren Hills freshman Pedro Cruz in the quarterfinals. Luciano is now 7-0.

Loughney took on North Hunterdon District champion Paul Robinson in the 113 lb. finals, where the WMC sophomore was a decided underdog against the two-time defending Goles champion. Robinson dominated early, but Loughney roared back.

In perhaps the tourney’s most controversial moments, Loughney appeared to pin Robinson, and later seemed to gain additional back points – at least to the WMC crowd. But neither call went Loughney’s way. Robinson held on for a 6-5 victory with the WMC faithful shouting in dismay. Senior co-captain Thomas Stoll leapt to his teammate’s side after the disappointing result.

Loughney had pinned his way to the finals, and may have been in the conversation for Outstanding Wrestler recognition had his move been called a pin over Robinson.

North Hunterdon’s Ryan Pomrinca deservedly took that honor, becoming just the seventh four-time Goles champion in history, pinning another returning Goles gold winner in the finals.

Sears pinned his way to the finals, but lost a heartbreaker to top-seeded Scotch Plains senior Alex Mirabella, the District 11 champion. Sears almost executed a third period takedown for gold, but it was just after the buzzer, and Mirabella prevailed 3-2. Sears is now 6-1.

Oros gutted out an overtime win over North Hunterdon’s Myles Mohan in the quarterfinals, then fell to Scotch Plains three-time regional qualifier JT Beirne in the semis. The Wolfpack senior edged Del Val’s Connor Mills in the consolation semifinals, and then triumphed over Edison’s Joseph Montouro 5-3 for the bronze.

Senior co-captain and returning Goles finalist Migliaccio was undefeated going into semifinals, but was injured against North Hunterdon junior Derek Ciavarro. To the WMC crowd’s dismay, Migz continued -- seemingly with one arm behind his back, as Ciavarro prevailed 5-2. Migz iced his arm, and decided to continue into wrestle backs, where he pinned his way to the bronze medal.

Isemann began the tournament in disappointing fashion, losing 1-0 in overtime to Warren Hills’ Anthony Roessner – who then lost 3-2 to top-seed and eventual champion Mike Sicola of North Hunterdon, a state qualifier. But Isemann rallied in wrestle backs in dominating fashion, ultimately defeating South Brunswick’s regional qualifier Tyler Schwarz 13-2 for bronze.

Freshmen Marco Gaita and Matt Liberato also scored points for the Pack, and were impressive despite not placing. After winning in preliminaries, Liberato upset top-seeded Nicholas Maher from
West Windsor, a regional qualifier. But he fell to the eventual Goles champion and bronze medalist in the championship and consolation semifinals respectively.

Coming up
The Wolfpack schedule includes Voorhees 12/30, Phillipsburg on 1/2, and the Mt. Olive Quad 1/3/15 against Cedar Grove, Somerville and Mt. Olive.