Three West Orange High School wrestlers still have an opportunity to head to next weekend's New Jersey State Wrestling Tournament in Atlantic City as Region IV champs.
Senior 125-pounder Dawit Rutty, junior 130-pounder Des Fried and senior defending region 285-pound champ Emiliano Betancort all were victorious Friday night in the region quarterfinals.
The tournament resumes this morning at 9 a.m. at West Orange High School and runs through the day with finals to start at about 2 p.m.
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"I was proud of the effort," said West Orange coach Steve Zichella. "We're reaching the point where all you see is the cream of the crop. Somehow you have to be at your best."
Betancor was one of the state's best last season when he finished fourth in the state at 285. He pinned Passaic Tech senior Koray Bozkurt in 1:50 and will meet fourth-seeded West Essex senior Dom Valeriani (17-11) in the semifinals. Betancor is 24-0.
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The sixth-seeded Rutty (28-8) beat third-seeded junior Katon Washington of Montclair 6-4. Rutty (27-8) will face West Essex' senior Jim Ciampi in the semifinal round. Ciampi, the second seed, pinned Rutty in last week's District 13 final and in a Jan. 14 dual meet.
Fifth-seed Fried, 31-7, beat fourth-seeded senior Ryan Spangler of Hasbrouck Heights-Wood-Ridge 11-5. Fried gets to wrestle top seed and unbeaten West Essex senior Anthony Perrotti (32-0) in the semifinals. It'll be the fourth time the two have met this season. Perrotti pinned Fried in last week's district final, 8-0 in the Essex County Tournament final and 7-2 in a dual meet.
Mountaineers who hope to wrestle back to third place after losing Friday night are: senior 171-pounder Pascal Louis, who was pinned by Becton Wallington's Bryan Loughlin in 3:57. Louis will face Christian Castano of Clifton in a wrestleback.
Senior 160-pounder Matthew Dunovant had the unenviable task of facing Montclair's top seeded and defending region champ Ottis Wright and lost by technical fall in 5:56. Dunovan will hope to keep his season alive when he wrestles Taylor Dellecole of Verona in a wrestleback.
Eighth-seeded junior 152-pounder Jimmy Myers was pinned by West Essex' top-seeded Frank Marotti in 1:59 and will Nutley's Brandon Keena in a wrestleback quarterfinal.
Senior 145-pounder Zach White will also be out to win three bouts today. His wrestleback assignment is with Bloomfield's Ian Chauncey. White, the seventh seed, was pinned in 5:17 by second-seeded Caldwell senior Jason Kratch.
"We were very happy when Dawit and Desi won; we knew the big guy would win, but the rest of our guys had tough matches," Zichella said.
