Every time Louis DellaVolpe takes the mat his thoughts turn to his late father, Marc. Marc DellaVolpe was Louis’ first wrestling coach and together they traveled all over the North East so Louis could compete in high-level wrestling tournaments and be prepared to wrestle at the highest levels.
Following Marc’s unexpected passing in October, Louis dedicated his freshman season to his father.
“Wrestling helps me (with the grief) because I’m doing it for him,” Louis DellaVolpe said. “I’m thinking about him at the same time after every match and I’m just thinking about him before the match. I’m thinking ‘this is for you, this is for you.’
“I came on the scene really early and I’m not holding back this year. This is my year and it’s all for him.”
There’s no doubt that Marc would be proud of the season his son is having thus far, one that has continued to get better for Nutley’s star freshman.
Over two days at Essex County College in Newark, DellaVolpe delivered an inspiring performance on the mats, winning four consecutive matches to become the Essex County Tournament champion at 157 pounds.
DellaVolpe’s championship run, which included a dramatic comeback win over Caldwell’s Andrew Fonseca and sudden victory in the final over Livingston’s Alexander Diorio, earned him the Outstanding Wrestler honors of the tournament.
“We as a coaching staff and as a community have his back,” Nutley head coach Mike DiPiano said. “He’s been battling adversity from the second he steps on the mat. His dad was his biggest supporter, driving him all around the state, all around the northeast to wrestle.
“(To defeat Fonseca and Diorio) was a great day and it was deserving of the Outstanding Wrestler award.”
As the top seed at 157 pounds, DellaVolpe had an uneventful start to his tournament on Wednesday, earning a first round bye before getting first period pins against Irvington’s Jaylin Williams and Glen Ridge’s Luke Olczak to reach Thursday’s semifinals.
Against Fonseca, however, DellaVolpe found himself in an 8-1 hole early in the third period. Despite the huge deficit, DellaVolpe remained confident that he had the endurance to battle back and did. In the final minute he took the lead on Fonseca when he got a left-handed headlock to take a 9-8 lead.
“I’m usually not down like that, but he was on a of my moves and he surely had a good game plan,” DellaVolpe said. “But I never gave up and I knew I would get to him.”
“He’s a very calm wrestler,” said DiPiano. “He battled back, got a takedown, and then a big lef-thanded headlock with about 30 seconds left for a three-point takedown to win the match. It was awesome.”
DellaVolpe had defeated Livingston’s Diorio, a state tournament qualifier last year, on Jan. 17, but knew this match would be different.
This time, DellaVolpe was the aggressor and was confident his endurance would be the difference.
“I was pushing the pace and he was getting tired out,” DellaVolpe said. “My conditioning is my best strength. I took it to him, I snapped him down and I spun around him to get my three (points).”
DellaVolpe was one of five Maroon Raiders to finish in the top four of their respective weight class and medal.
Three sophomores – Aidan Rotbaum at 150, Antonio Maiden at 144 and Jack Finkelstein at 113 – placed second in their brackets. At 106 pounds, freshman Evan Blanchard finished in third place.
Led by its five medal winning underclassmen, Nutley took fourth in the team standings with 163.5 points. Seton Hall Prep won the team title for the third year in a row, followed by Caldwell and West Essex.
“The future’s bright,” DiPiano said. “Last year, we took fourth, two years ago we took eighth. Three years ago, we took 17th in the county. We knew (with the junior class), we were getting back to what Nutley wrestling used to be and it sure is a great sign for the future that we had four finalists and they were all freshmen and sophomores.”
Bloomfield’s Gabriel McCulloch, who finished second to Nutley legend Brandon Toranzo at 285 pounds last year, got his elusive county title this season, defeating Verona’s John Stockelberg by decision in the final. His teammate, Alejandro Valencia took third at 190 pounds.
Bloomfield finished 10th out of 23 as a team with 85.5 points. Belleville, which had no individual medal winners on the boys side, finished in 16th place with 36.5 points.
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Jason Bernstein | Observer Sports Writer
Jason Bernstein joined The Observer as its sports writer in March 2022, following the retirement of Jim Hague. He has a wealth of sports-writing experience, including for NJ Advance Media (nj.com, The Jersey Journal, The Star-Ledger.)