The Blue Knights gather for a pose
IRVINGTON, NJ – The Irvington High School varsity wrestling team, under head coach Kyle Steele, enjoyed a magnificent season.
The Blue Knights finished with a 19-5 overall record and won the Super Essex Conference-Liberty Division championship with an 8-0 divisional record.
The following IHS wrestlers earned All-SEC-Liberty Division honors:
First Team
- Tyhmir Lassiter, 182-pound weight class.
- Jefferson Jean-Paul, 132.
- Clerson Xavier, 145.
- Jerwin Martilus, 170.
Second Team
- Terrell Ashman, 113.
- Brisner Xavier, 120.
Honorable Mention
- Peter Dumerand, 138.
- Carl Napoleon, heavyweight.
In the season opener, the Blue Knights hosted and won their annual Blue Knights Holiday tournament title for the fourth year in a row.
IHS also won the New Jersey Urban Wrestling League championship for the second year in a row. The NJUWL consists of wrestling teams from urban areas throughout New Jersey and the teams qualify to have a team tournament that’s similar to sectionals. The teams that made the tournament this year were Plainfield, Lakewood, Trenton, New Brunswick and Irvington.
Irvington and New Brunswick actually made the state sectionals this year.
Individually, Lassiter became the school’s first career 100-match winner, finishing this year with a 34-6 record. The senior took third in the Essex County Tournament at Codey Arena in West Orange. Lassiter also finished second in the District 13 Tournament at Westfield and fifth in the Region 4 Tournament at Union, just missed qualifying for the NJSIAA state tournament in Atlantic City. The top four finishers in each weight class in the regions qualify for the state tournament.
Indeed, Steele was proud of how far Lassister has come.
“There are other wrestlers who have 100 wins, but not many, if any of them, had their first match ever as a freshman and had to learn the sport in high school,” Steele said. “Tyhmir is a winner, a great athlete and was smart enough to figure things out while wrestling.”
Clerson Xavier had a strong year with a 22-10 record with 18 pins.
“He was a perfect example of ‘Pin City,’ ” Steele said. “He had the ability to possibly pin anybody.”
Dumerand (22-13 record) and Jefferson Jean-Paul (25-11) will be missed as well, but the Blue Knights will return juniors Terell Ashman (22-12 record), Carl Napoleon (28-9), and Shamar Frazier (3-3) and sophomores Brisner Xavier (19-12) Wolfeneger Michel (18-11) and Nashawn Brooks (7-4) among plenty of other underclassmen who helped the Blue Knights this year.
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