Nutley HS boys wrestling team impresses at district tournament

NUTLEY, NJ — The Nutley High School boys wrestling team enjoyed an impressive performance at the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association’s District 10 tournament on Saturday, Feb. 17.

Under head coach Mike DiPiano, the Raiders, who were the host school, finished in second place in the team standings out of 10 schools. Nutley had 126 points. Delaware Valley won the team title with 269 points.

Sophomore Christopher Cifelli and senior Brandon Toranzo each took first place in their weight classes to lead the Raiders, each going 3-0 in the tournament.

Cifelli won the 106-pound weight class title after pinning Tristan Fawthrop of Delaware Valley in 3 minutes, 52 seconds in the final.

Toranzo pinned Gabriel McCulloch of Bloomfield in 3:40 to win the 285-pound weight class championship and improved to 38-0 on the season.

The Raiders had other strong showings.  The second-place finishers for Nutley were freshman Antonio Maiden at the 132-pound weight class and sophomore Sean Vilchez at the 175-pound weight class. Freshman Jack Finkelstein took third place at 113.

The five Nutley wrestlers qualified for the NJSIAA’s Region 3 tournament at West Orange High School on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 23-24.

The fourth-place finishers for Nutley at the district were sophomore Jacob Harlow at 120 and freshman Aidan Rotbaum at 150.