Nine Mountaineer Wrestlers Qualify for Region IV

West Orange's wrestling team didn't win the District 13 Tournament, but that doesn't mean the Mountaineers weren't productive.

The Mountaineers finished second with 177 points behind first-place West Essex, which finished an outstanding team season with a district title.

"I thought we had a very good showing," said West Orange coach Steve Zichella.

Nine  Mountaineers qualified for this week's Region IV Tournament, which begins Tuesday and continues Friday and Saturday.

Senior 285 pounder Emiliano Betancor, who repeated as champion, has a bye until Friday when he and the other district champs from Districts 13, 14, 15 and 16 face the winners of the round between runners-up and third-place finishers which takes place Tuesday.

Mountaineers who will wrestle Tuesday are senior 112 pounder Dallas Sellers, senior 125- pounder Dawitt Rutty, junior 130-pounder Desi Fried, senior 145- pounder Zach White and senior 171- pounder Pascal Louis. All of those wrestlers finished second in the district.  Junior 135-pounder Nigel Brown, junior 152- pounder Jimmy Myers and senior 160- pounder Matt Dunovant all qualified for the regions by placing third. Fried was second at 125, while Louis was a runner-up at 189.

Betancor, fourth in the state last year, pinned Caldwell senior Matt Bader in 2:59 for the title.

"Right now it's a matter of Emo polishing and sharpening," said Zichella. "His coach is to win a state title. I think he's more ready than last year since he knows from last year about the state caliber kids. Psychologically I think he's better than last year."

 Louis split two bouts with Cafone, and lost the district final 5-2. Louis was the top seed, while Cafone was No. 2. 

"Pascal went upper body with him, he obviously wrestled tough," said Zichella.

Fried lost for the third time this year to Perrotti, a returning state tournament place winner. Perrotti was the district's outstanding wrestler. Fried was second last year at 125.