After suffering a pair of losses to two of the area’s best teams, the Metuchen High School wrestling team responded with a 34-31 win over Spotswood and a sweep of the competition over the weekend at a quad meet against Manasquan, Red Bank Catholic, and Keansburg.
“We got off to a rough start last week,” Metuchen head coach Nick Zaneto said. “Bishop Ahr is a strong team and so is Kennedy. We stayed tough with Kennedy, but just couldn’t come away with the win.”
Against Spotswood, Metuchen got noteworthy performances from sophomore Mike DiMegglio at 103 pounds, Mickey Ladines at 145 pounds, and Nick Ciccone at 160. DiMegglio recorded an impressive pin at the lower weights, and Ladines’ thrilling overtime win at 145 kept the Bulldogs in the meet, allowing Ciccone to win the decisive match with a major decision.
“I thought we did a really nice job against Spotswood,” Zaneto said. “We really wanted to show some improvement from earlier in the week, and we did. Mickey’s match was great. If he doesn’t pull it off, then we’re out of it. Nick came through in that last match, and I think the
momentum carried over into the weekend.”
Fresh off the thrilling victory over Spotswood, the Bulldogs pulled off a 63-12 win over Manasquan, a 51- 12 win over Red Bank Catholic, and a 60-15 defeat of Keansburg.
“We wrestled really tough,” Zaneto said. “I thought every kid gave us an amazing effort, and it felt good for everybody to walk out of there with a sweep.”
At 119 pounds, Jake Freed won all three of his matches, including two down-to-the-wire matches and a pin of his opponent from Red Bank Catholic.
“Jake was in good form,” Zaneto said. “He pulled off a couple of close ones and wrestled well in all three matches.”
Metuchen’s Lucas Dalfonsi also swept through his competition, with three pins at 135, as did Ciccone at 160. At 189 pounds, East Brunswick Holiday Tournament Champion Jake Duva returned from illness to lose a close match.
“Some of the guys that played football have started to come around of late,” Zaneto said. “Guys like Jake are now getting into wrestling shape and starting to come on strong.”
Ladines also swept through his competition over the weekend to record three straight pins.
“Mickey gave a phenomenal effort,” Zaneto said. “He went up against some really tough kids this weekend.”
The Bulldogs will look to continue their winning streak this week against the likes of county foes Middlesex and South River. Metuchen will travel to Middlesex for a 7 p.m. matchup today and end the week in South River on Jan. 23. The Bulldogs’ next home meet is scheduled for Jan. 27 when New Brunswick pays a visit.
“We have our work cut out for us,” Zaneto said. “We felt good about our performance over the weekend, but this week brings new challenges.”