Glen Ridge HS wrestling team sees positives as season ends at District Tournament

UPDATE: Joe Marchesano competed at the Region 4 tournament despite not being able to compete for third place in the district.

GLEN RIDGE – The 2016 season for the Glen Ridge High School wrestling team came to an end this past weekend and overall, head coach Kendall Southerland said there were positives to take out of the year in general.

“We did the best we could considering what we had to deal with and it was definitely a long season,” said the coach, noting his team finished dual matches with a record of 3-19. “We started off strong and got two wins early on and we were optimistic but then we got a few injuries and couldn’t rebound after that. We didn’t have depth to make up for those losses and couldn’t find ways to replace those injured wrestlers, on top of the fact that we were already forfeiting weight classes.”

This past weekend, Southerland said GRHS had two wrestlers that earned victories during the District 13 Tournament at West Essex in North Caldwell: freshman Nicholas Fiorillo and sophomore Joe Marchesano.

“At 113-pounds, Nicholas really had a great weekend and we’re all really proud of him as he was just one match away from taking third place,” added Southerland. “At 160, Joe was one match away as well. He hurt his elbow and didn’t compete in the third place match but he’ll be back next year. He’s got lacrosse coming up and we didn’t want to risk making the injury even worse.”

Marchesano, however, was able to move on to the Region 4 Tournament after the third-place district finisher was unable to compete. Marchesano, though, lost in the first round of the Region 4 Tournament on Feb. 24 at West Orange High School.

Along with those wrestlers, the Ridger coach talked about the six graduating seniors.

“At 152 Michael Faugno suffered an injury before the county tournament and never really recovered after that. He tried to wrestle in the districts but it just didn’t pan out and he lost his first match,” he said.

In addition, Southerland said at 145 Robert Spitaletta lost in similar fashion when he fell short in a 7-6 loss in his match at the Districts.

“At 120 Rob Michaels just didn’t have it. He went out there and competed but was overpowered,” he said.

Aside from those seniors, Southerland said 138-pounder Ryan Caloo had a winning record at 8-7 but had a few injuries, including one around the time of the county tournament that essentially ended his season.

Meanwhile, the coach said at 195 Andrew Skorupski, who was with the team for four years, finished this year with three wins while Charlie Wilson, who stepped into the lineup after an injury to another starter, earned a record of 4-4.