Belleville head coach Joseph Pizzi, left, stands with Nutley High School athletic director Joe Piro at the District 9 tournament at Nutley on Saturday, Feb. 19.
BELLEVILLE, NJ — The Belleville High School wrestling team enjoyed a stellar showing at the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association’s District 9, tournament hosted by Nutley High School on Saturday, Feb. 19.
The BHS Buccaneers finished in third place out of 10 teams.
Sophomore Jakob Ferrer, senior Lorenzo Tafuri, sophomore Rocco Negron, and junior Mattias Lopez each finished in second place, while junior Fernando Collado and senior Ethan Lopez each finished in third place in their respective weight classes to lead the Bucs.
The six BHS wrestlers advanced to the Region 3 tournament at West Orange High School on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 25-26. The top three finishers in each weight class qualified for the region tournament.
In addition, Belleville head coach Joseph Pizzi was named the District 9 Coach of the Year.
Sophomore Leo Tiankee and senior Diego Viera each took fourth place in their weight classes for BHS.
Here are the district team scores:
Delbarton, 323 points; Kearny, 155; Belleville, 128; Bloomfield, 116; Cedar Grove, 89; Cliffside Park/Ridgefield, 65; Nutley, 37; Orange, 30; Union City, 20; Hoboken, 12.
Here are Belleville’s results:
Finals
106-pound weight class: Chase Quenault, Delbarton, pinned Ferrer, 3:59.
113: Daniel Jones, Delbarton pinned Tafuri, 0:45.
132: Tyler Vazquez, Delbarton, technical fall Negron, 22-7, 2:27.
138: Alessio Perentin, Delbarton pinned Mattias Lopez, 1:40.
Third-place consolations
120: Joseph Rocco, Kearny, pinned Tiankee, 4:32.
157: Damian Torres, Bloomfield, decisioned Viera, 9-6.
165: Collado pinned Estuardo Lopez, Bloomfield, 1:52.
175: Ethan Lopez pinned Trevor Frantantoni, Bloomfield, 3:02.
Photo Courtesy of Marcellino Marra/Belleville athletic director
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