State Sectionals Goal for Dodger Grapplers After Win Over Chatham

The wrestling team continued their trek toward a berth in the state sectionals on Thursday night with their fourth win in five matches, this one a convincing 59-16 victory at Chatham.

Madison jumped out to an early lead against an inexperienced Chatham squad depleted by injuries and illness.

After an opening Chatham forfeit at 182 pounds, Nick Haboj (195 pounds) and Donovan Mantone (215) got Madison out in front early with two pins, giving the Dodgers an 18-0 lead.

Tom Penn (285) and Zorn (113) sandwiched wins around another Chatham forfeit at 106 pounds, followed by a first-period pin from Sean Cohn at 120 pounds, to make the score 24-13.

Senior Patsy Davis put an end to the Cougars' abbreviated win-streak in the following match, recording a technical fall over David Lavin at 126 pounds, and stretching the Dodger advantage to 16 points.

The win was the 16th of the season for Davis to go along with only two losses (both of which came in tournament final matches).

"I think I’m wrestling pretty well, wrestling tough and keeping my pace up," David said. "That’s my main objective, to keep pushing these kids so they’ll end up breaking."

Madison’s John Costa fought from behind in his 132-pound match against Dylan Mulcahy after the official penalized him one point for having tape on his headgear. The penalty would prove to play a big role, as Mulcahy escaped with time expiring in the third period for a thrilling 4-3 decision.

"There’s a new rule this year that you can’t have tape on the headgear," said Madison head coach Steve Healey, who added that many officials this season haven’t enforced the rule. "This official came into the locker room and said we’re enforcing the rule, no tape. Johnny had a tiny little piece of tape on his headgear and the guy banged him with a point, which turned out to be monumental."

The Dodgers shook off the penalty to record pins in the next five matches,  closing out a 59-16 win.

Madison, which responded from last week's loss to Parsippany with four wins, still must turn in a stellar performance in the coming days in its quest for a spot in the state tournament.

"The weekend is going to dictate whether we get into the playoffs or not, Healey said. "I think we’re capable of going 3-0 this weekend. If we go 3-0, we should be in [the tournament]. We just have to keep wrestling well and hope to get more wins."

"We had a rough loss to Parsippany last week but we bounced back," Davis said. "I think now everything is rolling. We're starting to get into the middle of the season and everybody’s conditioned so we just have to keep pushing the pace and good things will happen."