Five Wrestlers Advance In Regional Tourney

UNION – Five of six Watchung Hills wrestlers are moving on to the quarterfinal round of the Region 3 tournament, thanks to their performances on Tuesday night at Union High School in the preliminary round.

Alex Pollera, Mike Magaldo, Anthony DiRosa, Matt Coppola and Mike DiVito all won their matches, while Greg Kaye fell short in his bid to advance. 

Those five will join Chris Gardner, the only Warrior to finish in first place at the District 12 tournament Friday, in hopes of having a chance of making next week's state tournament. 

“I’m happy with the way our guys wrestled.  They wrestled some smart matches,” said Warriors head coach Dan Smith. 

“They were ready to wrestle," he added. "A couple of our guys—the freshmen and sophomore—I was worried, a little nervous. This was some of their first time in a big match, and they wrestled well.”

The Warriors were methodically brilliant in their first five matches, not giving up any takedowns, limiting their opponents’ chances to gain points.

“Feels really good honestly [for the first five WH wrestlers to not get taken down],” said 125-pounder Matt Coppola.  “We had some really tough matchups but it feels good to get those guys through.  It’s going be fun [going forward].”

Alex Pollera kicked things off in the 103lb weight class, scoring the slightest of victories, with a 2-0 decision over Sam Kovacs of Parsippany.  After a scoreless 1st period from the neutral position, Pollera chose to go in the defensive position for the 2nd period.  It took him the whole period, but with just 5 seconds left to go, Pollera was able to twist his opponent into an escape, notching a 2-0 lead going into the 3rd period.  In the offensive position, Pollera kept his Kovacs grounded his opponent on the mat, not allowing him to get any points.  

“I just wanted to keep pushing, I didn’t want to give up,” said Pollera.  “I was pretty solid in every position.  I could improve on my feet, on bottom, on top.  I didn’t give up points and I stayed solid when I needed to, to win the match.”

“That kid [Kovacs] is pretty good.  I was worried about that one.  He’s got a good record.  That was a good win [for Pollera],” said Coach Smith.

At 112lbs, Mike Magaldo controlled his opponent Frank Crippen of Morristown in a 4-0 victory.  For most of the 1st period, Magaldo and Crippen felt each other out.  But with 7 seconds left, Magaldo took Crippen to the mat, grabbing the 2-0 lead after one.  In the second period, Magaldo took the defensive position and slowly but surely reversed his opponent with 47 seconds left, gaining another 2 points and the 4-0 win, as there was no scoring in the third period. 

“Of the eight kids left in the [preliminary] bracket, he [Crippen] was the best.  So we got rid of him right away,” added Smith.

At 119lbs, Anthony DiRosa took care of Dylan Pollock of Millburn by a final count of 10-0.  DiRosa earned a takedown just about a minute into the first period, holding a 2-0 lead after a period.  Out of the neutral position in the 2nd, DiRosa got a takedown 36 seconds in.  Trying to turn his opponent, Pollock was charged with a 1-point penalty for stalling before the period ended, making it 5-0 DiRosa with a period to go. 

In the 3rd, DiRosa nailed a big time takedown, putting his opponent in a prone position.  While not getting the pinfall, DiRosa earned a full set of 3 backpoints, closing out the match with a 10-0 win.

At 125lbs, Matt Coppola put on a display against Linden’s Adrian Betancourt, dominating with a 12-4 victory.  Coppola scored three separate takedowns in the first period, at :16, 1:07, and 1:35, while allowing his opponent to escape twice, good enough for a 6-2 lead.  Working out of the defensive position, Coppola finally reversed his opponent with just a tick left on the clock, making it 8-2 after 2 periods.  In the middle of the third, Coppola scored 2 separate takedowns just 20 seconds apart, cruising to the 12-4 decision. 

“I was just looking to get takedowns,” said Coppola.  “I’m not a particularly good rider, it’s something I need to work on.  First takedown—I just knew I could let him up and take him down again, so that’s what I was thinking.”

“Matt’s been coming on, wrestling better and better,” Smith said.

At 140lbs, Mike DiVito outwrestled Mike Steinfeld of Scotch Plains to a 5-1 final.  Just 14 seconds in, DiVito set the tone with a takedown, but Steinfeld notched an escape 50 seconds later, making it 2-1 DiVito after one.  After not allowing Steinfeld to score out of the defensive position in the 2nd period, DiVito escaped right out of the whistle to open the third period, making it 3-1.  With 37 seconds left, DiVito wrapped up the match, driving through his opponent and taking him to the mat, en route to a 5-1 win. 

“It was a slower match for me.  I just tried to control myself, not let anything get to me.  I just wrestled my match,” said senior Mike DiVito.

“Mike wrestled smart—he didn’t want to get in any bad situations,” said Smith.

The only down came at 152lbs, as Greg Kaye fell in the second period via pinfall to Irvington’s Romario Herbert.  Kaye fell behind in the first period after being taken down early.  Over a minute into the second period, Kaye was charged with a penalty for stalling out of the defensive position, making it 3-0.  With just 16 seconds left, Kaye was cradled for a pinfall.  Kaye will not move on to the next round of the Region tournament.

Going into Friday, six Warriors will be in action, hoping to get through Saturday and into the state tournament in Atlantic City.

Coach Smith put it bluntly after his team had wrestled, survive and advance.

“This time of year…there’s no style points.  You got to get the 'W' and move on,” said the Warrior coach.

While it is business as usual, the Warriors are certainly having fun along the way.

“This is my favorite time of the year because there’s so much on the line,” said Smith.  “I like the excitement and how much it means to some of these guys and to watch them fight it out.  I enjoy it.”

“We sent mostly everyone through tonight.  We all wrestled well and that’s what’s pleasing to me,” said DiVito.

The quarterfinal round of the Region 3 tournament starts back up at 6p.m. Friday at Union High School.