The 2019-2020 high school wrestling season was still basically in its infant stages when the Kardinals of Kearny headed to the prestigious and highly competitive Elizabeth Tournament, on the heels of their highly successful debut in their own Kearny Holiday Classic tourney.
At the tournament, talented 126-pound junior Jacob Baeza was giving his usual tough performance, when he felt something wrong in his knee.
“I really started to feel pain then,” Baeza said. “I really bent my knee the wrong way. It just twisted and it became swollen. I then woke up the next morning with big bruise on my knee.”
Baeza anticipated the worst.
“I really thought I tore something,” Baeza said. “I went to get an MRI (magnetic resonance image) of my knee and I still felt pain.”
The result? Baeza suffered two tears in his meniscus and a tear in his medial collateral ligament (MCL).
“I went to see two doctors,” Baeza said. “One doctor told me that I needed surgery.”
That was the worst option, because if Baeza was to have surgery, he would have been forced to miss the entire season.
“Another doctor said that I could take some time off and maybe heal enough to have surgery in the offseason,” Baeza said. “They were both bad news. I was going through a tough time with it, because I didn’t want to lose my reputation.”
Baeza earned such notoriety by finishing third in the District 11 tournament as a freshman, then winning the tourney last year.
“I wanted to accomplish it again,” Baeza said. “But the doctors were saying a different thing. One said that I had to stay totally off the knee for a while, while the other one was telling me to have the surgery.”
Baeza asked one of the orthopedic doctors if he could return after a brief stint on the sidelines. Baeza tried to rationalize with the surgeon, saying that he would undergo surgery once the wrestling season came to a halt.
“But I thought my season was over,” Baeza said. “I was so upset. I wasn’t satisfied. I had more to do this year.”
Baeza was able to make enough of a recovery to return to action just two weeks ago, when the Kardinals participated in the annual Hudson County Duals, an event where they took second.
Baeza got three matches in that day, then had two more when the Kardinals won their first NJSIAA North Jersey Section 1, Group IV sectional match in 25 years.
“I had a lot of obstacles to overcome,” Baeza said. “Both of my parents didn’t want me to wrestle, but I decided to give it a try. I was real hard, but I wanted to try.”
And after all, Baeza was the returning champ at the District 11 tournament. He had to at least give it a try to come back.
Another Kearny wrestler who wanted to persevere was senior Martthew Mauricio, who was also a champion at the District 11 tourney last year.
“I don’t know what was going on, but I was a little nervous,” said Mauricio, who was the tourney’s top seed at 195 pounds. “I had to show everyone I could win it two years in a row. I knew I had to do my best to be the best, both mentally and physically.”
Mauricio didn’t want the wrestling season to end too soon with an early loss at District 11.
“It went through my mind,” Mauricio said. “If I did one little thing wrong, one slip and it was over. I didn’t want my season to end, I wanted to keep going.”
Senior 138-pounder Kyle Ostanski must have also felt the pressures of being a returning champion. Three Kearny wrestlers, three young men who reached the heights last year and wanted to achieve it all again – even if was by extraordinary circumstances.
Sure enough, all three Kardinals earned gold medals once again at Morristown High School, each winning their respective weight classes Saturday.
Baeza, the second seed at 126 pounds, overcame the knee injury to win via a first-minute pin in the quarterfinal round, then pinned Pasquale Capozzoli of Caldwell in 1:27 in the semifinals and then knocked off Tristan Navarino of Mendham, 5-0, to capture the District 11 title.
“I saw the bracket and didn’t know what was going to happen,” Baeza said. “It’s a great feeling.”
Ostanski, also the second seed at 138, pinned Jeremy Smullyan of Montclair, then gained a majority decision of Zach Szesko by a 12-2 score, then knocked off Justin Hyde of Mendham in the championship round by a final score of 9-4 to earn his second straight District 10 gold.
Ostanski and head coach Tony Carratura, Sr. were unavailable for comment.
Mauricio, the top seed at 195 pounds, wanted to make sure that last year was no fluke, so he pinned Gary Nelson of Mendham in 38 seconds, escaped to defeat Tyler Yanoff of Hackettstown by a final score of 2-1, then knocked off John Casale of Caldwell, 12-7 in the championship round.
“It’s just a really great thing,” Mauricio said. “Last year, I wasn’t fully prepared for the districts, but this year, as the first seed, I had to show everyone what I could do. I knew it was going to come down to me.”
Mauricio’s twin brother Andrew finished third at 220 pounds, as the entire Kardinal team had a great day, finishing second as a team to Mendham, just failing to win the District 11 team crown by 18 points. The Kardinals advanced eight wrestlers on to the Region 4 tournament this weekend in West Orange.
Brandon Vanzini (132 pounds) lost in the championship round, falling via a pin. Devin Narvaez, who entered the tournament with an 11-16 record, miraculously advanced to the final round before falling. Narvaez lost to Justin Herrmann of Mendham, 7-2, in the title match. Narvaez advanced to the finals despite being the No. 9 seed.
Daniel Silveira (106), Justin Pezantez (120), Alex Anorim (170) and Andrew Mauricio all placed third, so they will come back to wrestle another day at the Region 4 tournament.
All in all, it was a great day for the Kardinals, as the three reigning District 11 champs got to gain another gold medal.
For Baeza, it was redemption. Sure, he probably faces surgery when his season is done, but Baeza got the chance to win another district crown.
“It’s actually kind of crazy that we all won again,” Baeza said. “We all push each other in the room and we worked hard. I feel like we’ve earned it. It means a lot to me. I just can’t explain it.”
How could he?
CAPTIONS
Kearny junior Jacob Baeza overcame a knee injury to win the NJSIAA District 11 gold medal in the 126-pound weight class for a second straight year. Photo by Jim Hague
Kearny senior Matthew Mauricio was the top seed at 195 pounds and lived up to the billing by winning his second District 11 gold medal. Photo by Jim Hague
Kearny senior Kyle Ostanski successfully defended the championship he won at 138 pounds, defeating the top seed Justin Hyde of Mendham in the final round of District 11. Photo by Jim Hague
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Jim Hague | Observer Sports Writer
Sports Writer Jim Hague was with The Observer for 20+ years — and his name is one of the most recognizable in all of sports journalism. The St. Peter’s Prep and Marquette alum kicked off his journalism career post Marquette at the Daily Record, where he remained until 1985. Following shorts stints at two other newspapers, in September 1986, he joined the now-closed Hudson Dispatch, where he remained until 1991, when its doors were finally shut.
It was during his tenure at The Dispatch that Hague’s name and reputation as one of country’s hardest-working sports reporters grew. He won several New Jersey Press Association and North Jersey Press Club Awards in that timeframe.
In 1991, he became a columnist for The Hudson Reporter chain of newspapers — and he remains with them to this day.
In addition to his work at The Observer and The Hudson Reporter, Hague is also an Associated Press stringer, where he covers Seton Hall University men’s basketball, New York Red Bulls soccer and occasionally, New Jersey Devils hockey.
He’s also doing work at The Morristown Daily Record, the very newspaper where his journalism career began.
During his career, he also worked for Dorf Feature Services, which provided material for the Star-Ledger. While there, he covered the New York Knicks and the New Jersey Nets.
Hague is also known for his announcing work — and he’s done PA work for Rutgers Newark and NJIT.
Hague is the author of the book “Braddock: The Rise of the Cinderella Man.”