Belleville’s Colon wins third crown, becomes Essex all-time win leader
By Jim Hague
It’s been a season of firsts for the Nutley High School wrestling team and that continued on last weekend at the NJSIAA District 14 championships that were held at West Orange.
The Maroon Raiders dominated the action at the tournament, capturing the team championship, the first for the program since 1980.
The victory at the District 14 tourney comes on the heels of coach Frank DiPiano’s team also winning the Essex County tournament and the Super Essex Conference championship in the same year, making it a total year to remember.
The Maroon Raiders crowned an astounding six individual champions, namely Anthony DeLorenzo (106 pounds), Bobby Trombetta (120), Brandon Keena (160), Nick Gaeta (195), Carlos Rosa (220) and Andre Hamlin (heavyweight).
It was the third straight district title for Trombetta and the second for Gaeta.
It’s also the culmination of an incredible improvement for Hamlin, who won only one match as a sophomore when he first joined the program. Now, he’s a District champion.
The Maroon Raiders also had three wrestlers place second in Julian Figueroa (113), Stephen Scuttaro (126) and Jordan Nochimson (182).
Ralph DiPasquale won his consolation match at 132 pounds, earning third place and a trip to this weekend’s Region 4 tournament in West Orange, as did Vinnie Mainiero at 170 pounds, so the Maroon Raiders will bring an unthinkable total of 11 wrestlers to the Regions this week.
It means a full wrestling room for practice for DiPiano.
Nutley finished first with 237 points, followed by Livingston, then Bloomfield and Belleville.
It was quite an impressive performance all around for the Maroon Raiders. When DiPiano took over the program four years ago, he thought it would take five years to build the Nutley program to a place of prominence.
Well, after the third jewel of their Triple Crown season, DiPiano’s program has definitely arrived.
The Maroon Raiders were not the only local team to fare well at the District 14 championships.
Belleville’s Justin Colon won his third District 14 title, taking the 126-pound title by defeating Nutley’s Scuttaro via a pin in just 1:18.
However, in the process, Colon surpassed his older brother, Filiberto, as the all-time win leader in Essex County wrestling history.
Colon’s win over Scuttaro enabled him to earn the 157th victory of his career, moving past Filiberto, who won 156 matches during his four years at Belleville (2004 through 2008). With his victory at the District 14 championship match, the younger Colon improved his seasonal mark to 37-1.
It was always a goal for Justin to topple the record his older brother set. The two are very close and Filiberto has always served as an inspiration to his younger brother.
While Colon was the lone District 14 champion for veteran coach Joe Nisivoccia, the Buccaneers had five wrestlers reach the finals in their respective weight classes, only to come up a little short.
Ricky Gencarelli was the runner-up at 120, losing to Trombetta in the finals. Sean Carey was the second place finisher at 138, as was Anthony Avino (145), Joe Anello (160) and Daniel Giangrande (195). Anello and Giangrande both lost in the finals to Nutley wrestlers Keena and Gaeta.
Bloomfield crowned two individual champions at District 14, as Nate Garcia claimed the 145 pound title and Kyle Christiansen won at 170 pounds.
Chris Collado (160), Isaiah Thomas (195), Terrance Antoine (220) and Adam Wooten (heavyweight) all won their respective consolation matches to earn a ticket to the Region 4 tourney for veteran coach Sam Fusaro.
At the District 16 tournament held in North Bergen, Kearny’s Dave Bush realized his lifelong dream when he captured the 160-pound championship, winning by injury default.
Bush’s District 16 championship comes after reaching the finals his three other times and falling short in the finals.
Now, Bush will always have that district title to lay his hat on.
The Kardinals finished fourth as a team at District 16 and will send five wrestlers to the Region 4 tournament this weekend.
Johnathan Melendez (106), Chris Vezos (132), Marshall Everett (145) and T.J. Witt (182) all won their respective consolation bouts to finish in third place at District 16 and earn a berth in the Regions.
Lyndhurst/North Arlington’s Mike Morreale was the runner-up at 120 pounds in the District 15 tourney held at Becton Regional and Morreale will also head to the Regions this weekend.
All in all, a solid weekend for the local wrestlers, culminated by the Nutley team title, six individual champions, the record-setting performance by Colon and the redemption for Kearny’s Bush.
