BELLEVILLE, NJ —Belleville High School seniors Jakob Ferrer and Rocco Negron posted good efforts at the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association’s boys state individual wrestling championships at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.
Ferrer, competing in the 113-pound weight class, was the No. 18 seed in the field of 32 wrestlers. In the preliminary round, he lost a 3-2 decision to No. 15 seed Colton Hagerty of Washington Township on the first night on Thursday, Feb. 29. Ferrer then pinned No. 31 seed Derek Sutphen of Immaculata in 23 seconds in the first-round wrestlebacks.
The next morning, Ferrer continued his run. He won a 6-3 decision over No. 16 seeed Aidan Yarussi of North Hunterdon in the second-round wrestlebacks and won by a 12-1 major decision over No. 9 seed Beniamino DiCocco of Saint Thomas Aquinas in the third-round wrestlebacks. Unfortunately, he lost by an 11-3 major decision to No. 6 seed Anthony DiAndrea of Watchung Hills Regional in the fourth-round wrestlebacks to end his run. Ferrer was one win shy of earning a guaranteed medal. The winners in the fourth-round wrestlebacks are guaranteed at least a top-eight medal.
Ferrer finished the season with a stellar 37-5 record.
Meanwhile, Negron, the No. 21 seed in the 144-pound weight class, lost a 6-1 decision to No. 12 seed Tommy DiPietro of Kingsway Regional in the preliminaries. He regrouped to win a 6-3 decision of No. 28 seed Liam Zeh of Saint Thomas of Aquinas in the first-round wrestlebacks.
Unfortunately, the next morning, he dropped an 11-1 decision to No. 11 seed Joseph Ortega of Arthur Johnson High School in the second-round wrestlebacks to end his season.
Ferrer and Negron were the lone BHS wrestlers in the tournament. They advanced after placing in the top three at the Region 3 tournament at West Orange HS. Ferrer took second place and Negron took third place at the region. Negron won the District 10 tournament title at Nutley HS and was voted the tournament’s Most Outstanding Wrestler, advancing to the region.
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