St. John Vianney High School’s wrestling team bounced back from a tragic season with a vengeance, posting a best-ever 24-5 record with three 30-match winners.
“We’ve been good in recent years, but one of our wrestlers died before last season during football season and we never got it going,” said Pat Smith, in his fourth year as head coach.
In the season before that, the Lancers won 23 victories behind District 21 champion Mike Kevlin’s 38- 2 record, the most wins in a season ever at the school.
Another great season by senior Rob Cigna, a District 21 runner-up for the second straight year in a 36-5 season at 125 pounds, and a superb freshman class that usually had six and sometimes seven starters led by Terrance Davis, who was 33-3 and in third place in District 21 at 119 pounds, helped the Lancers to a sixth-place finish in the district. Cigna was 27-4 and district runner-up at 119 last season. Davis is a state champ and two-time national runner-up in youth wrestling.
“He’s extremely talented and explosive,” Smith said of Davis. “Cigna is extremely technical, and Davis is electric and is very sound, almost surgical.”
Sophomore Anthony Ferraro was the other 30- match winner and a special one, a district champion who was 31-7 despite being blind. He had 15 pins.
“He was an inspiration to us,” said Smith. “He’s tenacious, a real bull out there.”
Junior Nick Cioffi at 135 pounds was just short of the 30-win club. Cioffi was 28-12 with 21 pins and was district runner-up. He also was the Upper Weight Most Outstanding Wrestler of the Matawan Icebreaker Tournament. Davis was the Lower Weight MOW of the Icebreaker. Senior Miguel Marmolejos was 26-5 with 13 pins at 171.
Their efforts helped St. John Vianney win 12 of its last 13 meets, marred by a 42-27 loss to Bishop Ahr in the semifinals of the Non-Public A semifinals as two SJV wrestlers got pinned while ahead on points in their matches. The Lancers beat Red Bank Catholic for the second time this season, 41-23, in the quarterfinals.
Signature victories included a 35-33 triumph over Delran in which freshman Pete DeRosa clinched it with a winning decision at 112 pounds, and a 37-33 victory over New Egypt as senior Adedeji Badru won a decision in the final bout. DeRosa won 16 bouts and Badru finished 19-14.
The losses included a Shore Conference Tournament preliminary-round 36-19 loss to Brick Township and a 48-15 loss to formidable Long Branch, which won the Central Jersey Group III title.
“We’re looking to make our schedule even stronger next year by adding Jackson Memorial and Southern and a high-level tournament,” said Smith.
Big losses off this team via graduation are Cigna and Anthony Piccione, who was 21-12 with six pins at 145, along with Badru.
Sophomore Tim Duffy stepped up nicely in the 130-pound weight class that was thinned out when freshman Louis Thompson suffered a season-ending injury in the early going. Sophomore Tim Duffy won 20 matches at 125 pounds with nine pins.
Freshman Nate Litowsky just missed advancing to the regions with a fourth-place finish in the district in a 19-15 season that included a dozen pins.
Their efforts next season could make for another memorable season for Smith, who is 77-31 in his four seasons.