The West Orange High School wrestling team advanced 11 wrestlers into Saturday's District 13 semifinals at West Essex High School.
West Orange, which won the team title last season, trails West Essex in the team standings, but does have an outside chance of repeating.
Among the winners was junior 130-pounder Desalegne Fried, the second seed. He pinned Muhammad Darwish of Passaic Valley in 50 seconds. Fried may have a chance of wrestling West Essex senior Matt Perrotti in today's final.
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The semifinals begin this morning at about 10 a.m. with finals to start at about 3 p.m.
Fried will have to beat Verona's Mike Randall in the semifinal round to have another chance at Perrotti, who beat Fried 7-2 in a dual meet back on Jan. 8. Perrotti beat Fried 8-0 on Jan. 28 in the Essex County Tournament final. Fried was second in the district at 125 pounds last year.
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"Perrotti and I know each other pretty well," Fried (28-6) said. "I'm going to try and change my shots a little (today) and go after it. I still have to win my semifinal (against Verona's Mike Randall) and then I'll think about him."
Other Mountaineers to advance into today's semifinals were defending 285-pound champ Emiliano Betancor, who won by forfeit. He's 22-0.
The other Mountaineers to win quarterfinal bouts were: sophomore 103-pounder Nikolas Holandez, senior 112-pounder Dallas Sellars, senior 119-pounder Dawitt Rutty, junior 135-pounder Nigel Brown, senior 145-pounder Zach White, junior 152-pounder Jimmy Myers, senior 160-pounder Matt Dunovant, senior 171-pounder Pascal Lewis and senor 215-pounder George Christian. Lewis was second in the district at 189 last year.
