Photo of Erika Bakirtzis. WOHS' Victor Lopez reacts during the District 14 Tournamnet. Lopez won the 113-pound title.
WEST ORANGE – The West Orange High School varsity wrestling team enjoyed a wonderful weekend competing in the District 14 tournament at Livingston High Shcool.
Overall, the team finished in second place. Individually, the Mountaineers had two champions, five finalists and six wrestlers who finished in the top three.
Highlighting the weekend, head coach Stephan Zichella said 113-pound junior Victor Lopez continued his all-time undefeated streak in this tournament by claiming his third straight title.
“He was just flawless,” said the coach of Lopez, the top seed who now has a record of 31-1 on the year.
Also earning a district championship was senior 285-pound Brian Velez, who now has a record of 24-9.
“Brian had a tough weight class but he won a couple of nail-biters and he really gutted it out. He’s a hard worker, he’s made such strides and we are all so very proud of him,” Zichella said.
In addition to the two champions, WOHS had three other wrestlers who advanced to the district final. Those wrestlers were 126-pound Colin Morgan, 145-pound junior Julian Abraham Dada and sophomore Sebastian Rawls.
“Morgan is a very scrappy wrestler. Julian had a very good tournament and so did Sebastian, who actually redeemed an early-season loss to a Nutley wrestler by upsetting the second seed in the semifinals,” Zichella said.
Along with those wrestlers, Zichella said 195-pound sophomore Noah Tandy, who had a record of 21-10, took third.
“Noah was in the toughest weight class and so we’re really happy with his gutsy performance,” he said.
Looking ahead, the Mountaineer coach said his remaining grapplers were now focused on the upcoming Region 4 tournament, which will be hosted by West Orange High, Feb. 24, 26-27. The top three finishers in each weight class in the region will advance to the state tournament in Atlantic City, March 4-6.
“Next week the goal is to get as many kids through as possible. It’s going to be tough as there’s some very good wrestlers there and we’ll do our best,” said Zichella, noting Lopez, a defending regional champ, now has the pressure of having to do it as a front runner.
“He’s got a good shot to win it all again but the goal is to just get into the top three to go to A.C. (Atlantic City) and it’s really going to be an exciting weekend,” he said of the regional tournament.
Here is a recap of the districts for WOHS:
In the finals, Lopez decisioned Livingston’s Anthony Petrilo, 3-2, in an ultimate tiebreaker; and Velez decisioned Livingston’s Paco Morales, 2-1, in double overtime.
Morgan (126), Dada (145), and Rawls (170) each finished second and Tandy (195) took third. In the finals, Morgan lost to Bloomfield’s Pablo Estevez by major decision, 9-0; Dada lost by technical fall against Nutley’s Joe DiPasquale, 19-3, in 4:35; and Rawls lost to Bloomfield’s Barak Pipkins by major decision, 14-5.
In the third-place consolation, Tandy won by technical fall over East Side’s Ibys Corchado, 28-8, in 5:57.
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