WMC Tops Par Hills On the Mat, In the Standings

Long Valley Northwest Youth Team Tops Flemington

The West Morris Central High School Wolfpack faced powerhouse county rival Parsippany Hills (13-5) Tuesday night, and didn’t disappoint a near sellout home crowd.  Winning 44-21, the wrestling Wolfpack leapfrogged the Vikings in the Morris County Top 10 standings, swapping No. 6 and No. 7 rankings.

It was a special night, as the Long Valley Wrestling’s Northwest team (6th grade and younger) accompanied the high school team as they ran to the mat, music blaring and crowd roaring. The respective teams circled, and then simultaneously wrestled on adjacent mats as fans watched the present and future of Wolfpack wrestling.

On paper, few bouts had clear favorites, but WMC won almost every “pick ‘em” matchup. Adam Kratch set the tone of the evening by defeating Steven Hill (who was 18-8) at 182 in the first match. Then Jesse Windt, defeated rival Nicholas D’Uva (23-2), just as he did four days earlier to win the Morris County Championship.

Par Hills pulled close, and the Wolfpack endured a significant loss with senior Zach McGuire suffering a fractured patella and torn ligament. But John Schade, Dylan Luciano and Cory Fleming ran a string of victories, all with critical bonus points for the team. Later, David Migliaccio’s win ignited a five-bout string to secure the team victory, including memorable victories by Nick Matthews against Christian Signorelli (21-4), John Sickles vs. Sam Mual (18-7), and strong wins from Brandon Carcuffe and Kevin Sears.

The wins by Carcuffe and Sickles were the 98th and 96th of their careers, respectively.

The youth program ‘Pack continued its string of dominance with a 56-34 victory over second place Flemington. The Long Valley Northwest team is now 14-0 and gunning for its third consecutive year as undefeated champion. John Rolli, Ricky DeFrance, Robert Bohr, Colin Loughney, Daniel Kern, Jack Lyden, Justin LeMay and Luke Stefanelli all contributed wins.

For the WMC JV squad, Caleb Isemann, Ben Yaskulka, Noah Yaskulka and Mike O’Rourke beat tough ParHills foes. Cole Solsky and Michael Brown recently suffered season-ending injuries. Brown, not knowing his hand was broken, returned from injury timeout against Chatham to pin his opponent.

On Friday, powerhouse Don Boscoe Prep (ranked #7 in the state) visits WMC at 7 PM (JV at 6 PM). Then on Saturday, WMC will host Hopatcong and Belvidere, starting at 10 AM.

Visit the Wolfpack on Facebook at www.facebook.com/WMCwrestling.