3/12/2009 - Wrestlebacks Not For The Meek
Avelino Jacinto grasped the railing as hard as he could and gingerly went up the steps at the cavernous Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City like he was climbing Mount Everest.
The Kittatinny freshman had his leg wrapped and he sported a welt under his eye the size of a golf ball as he slowly but surely made his way after his 103-pound fifth/sixth-place consolation match Sunday at the state individual wrestling championships.
Welcome to A.C., kiddo.
As I watched Jacinto, who had a marvelous rookie year, placing sixth and finishing the season 38-7, I thought Jacinto would serve as the perfect poster child for every wrestler who makes it to A.C. for the first time and has to endure one of the most grueling tests in high school sports---wrestlebacks.
Wrestlebacks are a fairly new phenomenon in the sport in New Jersey and it has been best described by every sports writer who covers wrestling as a meat grinder. Jacinto, for example, wrestled six times in three days, including twice on Friday and three times on Saturday. That will take the wind out of even the most mentally tough wrestlers.
By the time Jacinto squared off with Tyler Fraley of Colts Neck in the fifth-place match he must have felt like he was a junior already as Fraley pinned Jacinto in 5:35 ending his season. But Jacinto, who has a tremendous future, has nothing to hang his head about and the lessons learned this year will definitely carry over to next.
But the process of earning a medal in A.C. is a brutal one and not for the light-hearted. Unless you are able to advance to the final, bringing home some hardware for the gambling hot spot is a roll of the dice.
It takes an unbelievable amount of mental and physical fortitude to bounce back right after a loss and hit the mat again. Many times you see kids just go through the motions and they are bounced in their first round of wrestlebacks by an inferior opponent who just is more mentally determined.
But when it comes to overall toughness, the seven kids who battled back through wrestlebacks and brought back medals from the Mugs Media area, have it in spades. Along with Jacinto, Billy Hagany of Lenape Valley (7th, 103), Billy Gould of High Point (5th, 112), Kevin Churchill of Newton (7th, 112), Drew Wagonhoffer of High Point (7th, 125), Kevin Brown of North Warren (6th, 162), and Vinny Campanile of Lenape Valley (4th, 215) all should be commended for earning a spot on the medal stand.
Yes, I know they didn’t make it to the final which is every wrestler’s ultimate goal, but all of the medalists other than Campanile, who is a senior, will have another shot next year and will be better wrestlers for it.
When wrestlebacks were first instituted I wasn’t so sure I liked the idea. I just had flashbacks to the team state tournament when there were consolation matches and how I thought they were pretty much useless.
But I have definitely come around on the idea. One loss shouldn’t end your season, especially if you were good enough to make it to A.C. in the first place.
All right, by now (if you haven’t already stopped reading), you are probably asking yourself why hasn’t he mentioned the four kids who made it to the finals and the one who won? Well, I figured they got enough recognition, and deservedly so. But what that quartet accomplished was one for the ages and a very fitting end to Sussex County Interscholastic League wrestling.
For the first time since 1990, according my recollection, four individuals advanced to the final round with all four having a chance to take home a gold medal. Let me explain. In 1990, Steve Dalling of Kittatinny (140), Brian Unkert of Pope John (145), John Gardner of High Point (189) and Doug Vetter of Lenape Valley (189) all advanced to the final, but as every wrestler fan in the county knows, Gardner and Vetter squared off with Gardner winning his only crown, joining Unkert and Dalling as state champs.
This year, Nick Francavilla of High Point (103), Kodie Silvestri of Wallkill Valley (135), Troy Hernandez of Kittatinny (145) and Ryan Callahan of Wallkill Valley (171) were all in the hunt for a state crown and we were just seconds away from having three champs.
Nick Francavilla put on a clinic in his 3-2 victory over Joe Orrechio of Don Bosco to win his first state title and cap his super sophomore season with a superb 39-1 mark, while raising his career record to 78-6.
But it was the heartbreaking fashion in which Silvestri and Hernandez lost is what I will remember. Hernandez, after scoring an early takedown to take a 2-0 lead, was on the defensive for most of his match with Emmanuel Ajabe of Bogota/Weehawken before falling 5-3 in OT.
Hernandez was devastated after suffering his first loss of the season (38-1), but the Kittatinny Scholar Athlete has a tremendously bright future where he will follow in the footsteps of former Kittatinny great Matt Valenti’s and wrestle at Ivy League power University of Pennsylvania.
Hernandez caps his stellar career with three state medals and a 145-24 record, second only to Tommy Spellman at Kittatinny, who finished his outstanding career with a 149-13 mark. Spellman, who also never won state title, hasn’t let that slow him down and he is having a fine career at Virginia Tech.
But the wildest finish of the day came during the final match of the tourney as Taylor Walsh of Camden Catholic stunned Silvestri with a takedown at the final buzzer to win 7-6. Walsh was winning most of the match before Silvestri notched a lighting-quick reversal as time was running out to seemingly pull off the win.
But Walsh had enough time to react, and he did, stealing the win and the title with his well-timed move. What impressed me the most about the match was not the finish, but how gracious Silvestri was afterward.
Silvestri (39-2) could have hid in the locker room, and who could have blamed him, but the classy senior manned up, talked to the press, and congratulated Walsh on the win. It really struck a chord in me. Most kids in his spot would have been crushed, and I’m sure he was, but he realized it wasn’t the end of the world and that he still has a great future on the mat on the collegiate level somewhere next year.
Pretty cool stuff. I always liked interviewing Kodie, and the true mark of the great ones is how they act after they lose, and Kodie couldn’t have handled it any better.
The final silver medalist was Callahan (39-3), who fell to defending champion Brendan Ard of Watchung Hills 4-3 in a match that Ard had complete control of. But Callahan, who is just a junior, had his defining A.C. moment in the semifinals where he bumped off Dan Seidenberg of Raritan 3-2 in an ultimate rideout.
Seidenberg was favored to face Ard in the final again, but Callahan rocked the old Hall with his win. Hopefully, Callahan will build off the experience and win the gold next year.
What a great showing once again by the SCIL. No other small conference had four finalists. Congrats fellas, you did the county proud.
That’s it for now, see you on the sidelines.
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