Perseverance and resilience have been written all over the SJR wrestling team the past few seasons, and on Wednesday night against Paramus Catholic, the Green Knights continued to display that in a hard fought victory over the Paladins.
"It was a great team win all around," said Coach Tom Farinaro.
Things got started at 165 when Joey Paretti beat Nick Konopka by tech fall to give the Green Knights an early 5-0 lead.
The following match, Paramus Catholic answered back with a pin at 175, a Guy Oelsner 11-8 decision win at 190, and a major decision for Grayson Abbruzzese at 215, giving Paramus Catholic a 13-5 lead through the first four matches.
Down 13-5, and momentum shifting toward the Paladins, Coach Farinaro and his squad needed to look for a spark, and #1 Christian Alvarez gave them the perfect spark with a pin at 285 over #8 Isiah Rodriguez in the first period.
"There's nothing better than that win, being there for my team and getting six points, doing my part is just the best deal in the world," said Alvarez
"When the big guys get out there, you already know it gets everybody going," said Coach Farinaro
Right back to the top of the lineup, SJR built off that win after Ray Burdette's 15-0 tech fall. The match that followed, #1 Charlie Esposito pinned Alessandro Camargo in the first period. PC won the following match by pin at 120. Then the Green Knights caught on fire again.
Mikey Bautista defeated #8 Joey Pellicci by a 20-5 tech fall, and Jonathan McGinty grabbed a 21-6 tech fall win. Then a key match between SJR's #3 Brian Little vs #8 Nicky Pallitto. The match was tied at 1-1 just after the start of the 3rd period when Little maneuvered a huge take down with under a minute to go, which led to a 4-1 win.
"The match was a little slow-paced, but I knew eventually I was going to come out on top," explained Brian Little.
"It wasn't a big match, but it was a personal match for me. He beat me last year when I wasn't at full strength, and it felt good, coming back, being better and beating him,"
The Green Knights dropped the following two matches at 144 and 150, losing to both #4 Seach Hibler and #5 Nick Barone by first-period pins. However, the Green Knights kept the lead at 35-31, as the match headed to the final bout. #5 Ryan Mitchell vs Harry Asatrian, and Asatrian was looking for bonus points to secure the win for Paramus Catholic. In the way of that mission was Mitchell, and he would not let that happen, securing a third-period pin after being down 2-0 after the second period.
"That win felt great," said Mitchell.
"It was good for the team, good for me. Going into it, everyone was hating on us. We're missing kids, some are hurt, and some are sick. So we're just battling through everything just like last year,"
The Green Knights would finish the night with a 41-31 win. Next up is a rivalry match up against Bergen Catholic, and Coach Farinaro kept his message simple.
"We've just got to stay healthy and wrestle hard like we did tonight," said Farinaro.
SJR will face Bergen Catholic at home, Saturday, January 24, at 11 AM in Montvale.
