Nutley head coach Mike DiPiano Jr. holds his Region 3 award, surrouned by his assistant coaches. (Photo Courtesy of Mike DiPiano Jr.)
NUTLEY, NJ — Nutley High School boys wrestlers Antonio Maiden and Nolan Brewer punched their tickets to the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association’s state championships at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.
In addition, NHS longtime head coach Mike DiPiano Jr. was named the Region 3 Coach of the Year. DiPiano credited the award to his dedicated coaching staff.
“I look at it as a ‘Coaching Staff of the Year,’ ” said DiPiano in a text message to the Nutley Journal and EssexNewsDaily.com. “We are who we are because of (Nutley assistant coaches) Nicky Ritacco, Sabino Coppola, Neil Picillo, Aaron Dunn and Frankie DeMaio. We are a family that just happens to coach together.”
Maiden, a junior, took second place in the 165-pound class and Brewer, also a junior, placed fourth in the 285-pound weight class at the NJSIAA’s Region 3 tournament at West Orange High School on March 6-7. The top four finishers in each weight class from the eight region tournaments earned berths for the state championships.
Maiden, the No. 2 seed who earned a first-round bye, won by technical fall over No. 7 seed Dennis Joshua (Newark Collegiate Charter) 23-7 in 5:40 in the quarterfinals. Maiden won by technical fall over No. 3 seed Evan Curnow (Morristown) 17-2 in 4:34 in the semifinals.
In the final, Maiden lost to No. 1 seed Jayden James (Delbarton) by a 19-4 technical fall in 1:22 to move to a 35-6 record on the season.
Brewer, the No. 3 seed, went 2-2 in the region. After receiving a first-round bye, Brewer won by a 3-2 tiebreaker over No. 11 seed Lucas Andrade (Hanover Park) in the quarterfinals.
Brewer lost a 7-5 decision to No. 2 seed August Moser (Delbarton) in the semifinals
Brewer won by a 4-3 decision over No. 13 seed Christopher Montana (West Morris Mendham) in the consolation semifinals.
In the third-place bout, Brewer dropped a 2-0 decision to No. 7 seed Max Georges (DePaul) to move to 33-11 record on the season.
Maiden and Brewer were among nine NHS Raiders who competed at the region tournament.
Senior Christopher Cifelli (138 pounds) and junior Aidan Rotbaum (157 pounds) each took fifth place in their weight classes.
Cifelli, the No. 4 seed, received a first-round bye. He lost by pin to No. 5 seed Nicholas Marchetti (Delbarton) in 3:12 in the quarterfinals. Cifelli won a 5-4 decision over No. 9 seed Braiden O’Hern (Warren Hills) in the consolation first round, before losing by pin to No. 3 seed Isaias Hernandez (DePaul) in 55 seconds in the consolation semifinals.
In the fifth-place bout, Cifelli pinned No. 6 seed Alfredo Bermudez (Union City) in 5:29 to finish 33-9 on the season.
Rotbaum, the No. 3 seed who received a first-round bye, pinned No. 6 seed Robert Orlando (DePaul) in 1:29 in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, Rotbaum lost by technical fall to No. 2 seed Trevor Jones (Delbarton) 17-2 in 3:26.
Rotbaum lost by pin to No. 8 seed Jenier Soto Pastrana (St. Benedict’s Prep) in the consolation semifinals.
In the fifth-place bout, Rotbaum won by forfeit over No. 4 seed Aedan Lopez (West Orange) to finish 33-6.
Junior Valen Delaney finished in sixth place at 106 pounds.
In the first round, Delaney, seeded sixth, decisioned No. 11 seed Matthew Facchino (Whippany Park) 12-6. Delaney lost by pin to No. 3 seed Alex Spagnuolo (Hanover Park) in 1:20 in the quarterfinals. In the consolation first round, Delaney decisioned No. 7 seed Grayson Rivera (Morristown) 11-5. Delaney then lost by pin to No. 4 seed Michael Rankin (Caldwell) in 1:20 in the consolation semifinals.
In the fifth-place bout, Delaney lost by decision to No. 5 seed Jirrard Ferrer (Belleville) 4-2 to finish 33-11.
The other competitors for the Raiders at the region tournament were freshman Luke Finkelstein (113 pounds), sophomore Evan Blanchard (120), senior Patrick Chell (132) and senior Sean Vilchez (215).
The state championships will take place March 12-14.
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