Early Wins By DeVito And Kaye Key Wrestling Win

The Watchung Hills wrestling team defeated Morristown High School 52-18  Wednesday to bring the Warriors record to 7-6.

After a close start, Watchung Hills pulled away, winning the final six matches. The win gave the team its second win of the week.  Afterwards, head coach Dan Smith was pleased with the way his team was able to perform

"I thought we wrestled well tonight," Smith said.  "We executed our gameplan and were able to get the win."

The meet started quickly for the Warriors when Mike Devito won on a technical fall 19-4 in the 140 pound match.  After a 9-2 win by Greg Kaye in the 145 pound match, the Warriors had an early 8-0 advantage.  Smith was happy with the way his team started, but understands that his teams really need to finish strong in order to win.

"It's nice to start early but its better to finish strong," Smith said with a smile.  "It all evens itself out, but it was defintely nice to start early."

The match of the night occured in the 152 pound bout between Watchung's Chris Gardner and Morristown's Desmond Towns.  Towns had a 3-2 advantage before a last second takedown secured his win 5-2.  It was a showcase of two of the evening's better wrestlers, and one that kept fans on the edge of their seats to the end.

"One disappointment that we had tonight was at 152 with Chris Gardner," Smith said.  "Towns is a good wrestler, but I think Chris is a better wrestler.  If they wrestled 10 times, I think Chris wins more than that kid."

"Unfortunately, Towns was the better wrestler tonight," Smith continued.  "However, we were still able to pull out the win."

After the 189 pound match, the Warriors held a 20-6 advantage.  However, they dropped the next two in the 215 and Heavyweight matches when John White was pinned by Darren Dungy and Anthony Carbajal was pinned by Kyle Allison respectively.  

The losses brought Morristown within two points, but Smith's team did exactly what he mentioned after the meet and finished strong, winning the final six matches.

"I anticipated us winning most of the matches at the end, so I wasn't that worried (after the heavyweight loss)," Smith said.  "Our guys did a good job.  Some of the younger guys who haven't had that many wins were able to get some pins and pull out some wins in their matches."

The win brings the team closer to their goal of getting wrestlers into districts and winning the county.  After a losing streak that was ended with the two wins this week, Smith is still optimistic his team can reach their goals.

"We want to place in the top three in the districts," Smith said.  "We want to get a few guys through to the regional tournament and some guys onto the states.  That is always our goal, and I think we can definitely still accomplish that."

The Warriors hit the road this weekend when they particpate in meet against Scotch Plains and Middlesex on Saturday.  After that, the district tournament starts Feb. 18 at South Plainfield.