Maroldi's Season Ends in Stunning Fashion

It wasn’t the ending anyone could predict. But after two consecutive losses, Luke Maroldi’s wrestling career at  has come to an end.

The District 4 champion and the top-seed in the 135-pound bracket at the Region 1 tournament lost both of his matches at the event, ending his season with a pinfall to Steve McKowen, of Morris Knolls, in 2 minutes, 38 seconds.

“Thought he went out and was performing well…got a takedown in the first 10 seconds today,” Kinnelon head coach Brian McDonald said. 

“He’s pretty resilient…he’s put a lot of work in. Stranger things have happened.  McKowen was fourth in the region last year. He’s a legitimate kid. He got the better of him today.”

Things went well in the first period for Maroldi, scoring a pair of takedowns and leading 4-3 after the initial two minutes. But choosing to go in the defensive position for the second period, he never got out of it.  Just 38 seconds in, McKowen got the turn he was looking for, pinning Maroldi and eliminating him from the region tournament.  

“He was down a little bit obviously [after Friday]," McDonald said. "He has some big goals.  I thought he came back with a good mindset."

Maroldi found himself in this precarious position after a surprising loss to eighth-seeded Joe Hocking, of Wallkill Valley, on Friday, and couldn’t battle his way out of it.

“I thought things were going pretty well.  We were up 2-0 and he was looking to get another takedown before the third,” McDonald said.  “Give their kid all the credit.  He stepped over, lost the head for a moment and got put on our back.  We come out of that for one and then we got a little confused, we thought the ref blew the whistle. He went back to the center and the kid ran up from behind us for another two points. Got to give him [Hocking] credit.”

Even though he was eliminated, Maroldi has nothing to hang his head about.  Maroldi took home the District 4 championship in his weight class and finished the season 29-6.

“I’ve been involved here for a little bit in the sport and I’ve been with a couple of different programs,” McDonald said.  “I really don’t know of many kids who have put in more work and time and emotion in the sport than Luke Maroldi.

“You’d like to live in a world where that makes things work out for the best, but so does everybody else.”