Sports
Magaldo, Coppola One Step Closer to Atlantic City
Four others from Watchung Hills will need to win three straight after falling at Regions.
The dream of every New Jersey high school wrestler is to get a chance at wrestling in Atlantic City and the second round of the Region 3 tournament at Union High School on Friday night was one step closer to attaining that dream.
For Watchung Hills 112-pound freshman Mike Magaldo, reaching the Region 3 semifinal round with a first period fall of Gov. Livingston’s Ryne Morrison was an impressive feat, and gets him one step closer to that dream.
“It felt good to win,” Magaldo said. “Got the jitters out. I know I’m not expected to place, or win it, but I just go out and wrestle tough, everything else will take care of itself.”
Find out what's happening in Warrenwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Magaldo will face second seeded Max Rogers of Delbarton in Saturdays semifinal round.
Also advancing for Watchung Hills is sophomore Matt Coppola who stopped Linden’s Adrian Betancourt with a 7-4 decision.
Find out what's happening in Warrenwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Coppola will face No. 1 seed, Eamonn Gaffney of Seton Hall in the semis.
Watchung Hills also saw Alex Pollara (103 pounds), Anthony DiRosa (119), Michael DiVito (140) and Chris Gardner (145) each lose their quarterfinal round matches on Friday, moving them to Saturday’s wrestleback bracket.
Those four wrestlers will need to win three straight matches on Saturday to take third place and wrestle in A.C.
