Wrestlers head to Atlantic City
By Justin Feil, The Packet Group
Jack Donnadio and Austin Schimmel reached long-time goals when the Hillsborough High School duo qualified for the state’s wrestling Tournament of Champions on Saturday for the first time.
Donnadio is a senior, who placed second at 138 pounds. He lost a 4-1 decision to Mekhi Lewis of Bound Brook in the finals, but his place in Atlantic City for the TOC had already been clinched with a semifinal win.
”It feels great,” Donnadio said. “I’ve been looking forward to this opportunity since I was in eighth grade and freshman year. I’m pumped. Everyone is looking forward to it in school and especially my dad.
”I was just mainly focused. It was my last year so I didn’t have another year after that. I had to stay focused. It’s mostly mental. I had (Chris) Muce, who beat me in consolation finals last year, in the semifinals. I lost in triple overtime last year. I just said, there’s no way this kid’s beating me this year. That was pretty much my drive this year.”
Donnadio, the third seed, erased that painful memory when he beat second-seeded Muce of Monroe in the semifinals, 7-5, Saturday.
”Last year when I wrestled a kid with a big name, I feel I wrestled more hesitant or defensive,” Donnadio said. “This time I said, it’s my match, I’m wrestling my style and scoring my points.”
Donnadio opened the tournament with a pin of Edison’s Joseph Montouro, then pinned John Sheedy of Bishop Ahr in 24 seconds in the quarterfinals. He’s wrestling the best he has this season after earlier in the year recording his 100th career win.
”Jack really had a good tournament,” said HHS head coach Steve Molinaro. “When Jack flips the switch like he did this weekend, anything can happen. That’s what he’s going to do again. He has to let it loose and let it fly. When he wrestles to his ability, anything can happen for him.
”He was in a really good place mentally, and I think he still is. It’ll be fun to watch. Jack’s in a pretty good spot bracket wise, as far as things go at the state level.”
Donnadio faces Daniel Hedden of South Plainfield on Friday in the preliminary round of the TOC. Donnadio enters with a 30-4 record and two of his losses are to Lewis in the last two tournaments.
”I think I’m in better position that I took second,” Donnadio said. “My route is easier than Mekhi’s. I wrestled (Hedden) before and he beat me. We had the same score against Muce, so we’re close. I have to wrestle like I did at regions and I can beat him.”
Schimmel is also making his first trip to the TOC as a wrestler. He’s been before as a fan, but realized his goal by wrestling back to place third at 106 pounds.
”It’s very big,” Schimmel said. “It was a goal of mine ever since freshman year. To achieve it in my junior year is pretty cool because I still have next year also.”
Schimmel wasn’t projected to be a state qualifier. He was only seeded eighth, which put him up against top-seeded Joe Casey of Bound Brook in the quarterfinals.
”That was kind of disappointment,” Schimmel said of his seeding, “but I was confident I could beat a lot of the kids above me. I knew I still had a chance.”
After beating Hopewell Valley’s Spencer Brost, 13-1, in the preliminaries last Wednesday, he lost, 11-0, to eventual champion and top-seeded Casey in Friday’s quarterfinals. He had faced Casey before and lost.
”It got me better,” Schimmel said. “I lost to him a couple times this season. Every time I’ve wrestled him, I’ve gotten better. Losing to him in districts, having such a hard district is a little disadvantage because it gave me a worst seed, but I still wrestled back and still made it.”
Schimmel showed maturity by battling back after his loss. He started his way through wrestlebacks with a pin of Jonathan Ahorrio of Manville. In the wrestleback semifinals, Schimmel beat Gaven Ringwood of Bishop Ahr, 10-2. Schimmel pinned Mitchell Polito of East Brunswick in 2:21 for third place at 106 pounds. Schimmel now takes a record of 31-8 to Atlantic City.
”He wrestled back as well as anyone could,” Molinaro said. “It’s a tougher road. He handled it well and he qualified for states.”
Said Schimmel: “It’s going to be a new experience for me being around such great wrestlers. The environment, I can only imagine, is going to be awesome.”
Schimmel goes into the TOC as a far different wrestler than the one he was a year ago. His attitude was different coming into districts and regions this year.
”I wrestled with more confidence,” Schimmel said. “I was confident I could make it to AC and achieve my goal this season, which I did.”
Coming out of Region 5 should help both Donnadio and Schimmel. They aren’t the highest seeds because they haven’t been there before, but they are anxious to prove that they belong.
”The upside to guys that never qualified before is there’s no pressure on you,” Molinaro said. “Sometimes that works in your favor. You can nip somebody that might be looking past you. You see that happen all the time in the state tournament. The guys that can handle it mentally come through.”
The Raiders always believed Donnadio would make it to Atlantic City. They took him there sophomore year after a concussion ended his run to states just so he could experience the atmosphere. He stood on the mats and imagined what it would be like, and now he’s envisioning himself winning at the TOC.
”I get pumped,” Donnadio said. “I like big audiences. I feel like I need to impress people. I like being the underdog too. No one’s expecting much.”
Schimmel enters the TOC a far improved wrestler over the past three months. He is ready to make a statement as well. His TOC begins with DePaul’s Daniel Percelay on Friday.
”I’ve never wrestled him,” Schimmel said. “I’ve heard of him here and there. It’ll be a tough road down there, but I’ll still wrestle my best and we’ll see what happens.”
The two are thrilled to be representing the Raiders. Three other Hillsborough wrestlers competed at the region tournament, but came up short of top-three finish.
Tanner Johnson was eliminated in the 145 wrestleback quarterfinals with an 8-4 loss Jordan Cooke of Piscataway. Johnson opened the tournament with a 3-2 win over Jared Smith of South River before losing to eventual champion Stephen Glasgow in the quarterfinals by pin.
Anthony DelGuercio lost to Andrew Brazicki of Bishop Ahr, 12-6, in the preliminary round at 182 pounds. Kevin Faulkner was knocked out with a 2-0 loss to Jeremy Nurnberger of Manville in the preliminary round at 152 pounds.
”When we went into the season, we looked at how things could pan out and were saying that two or three guys would be a nice number,” Molinaro said of reaching the TOC. “We got a couple in. They had a nice tournament. They really stepped up. The guys that didn’t get as far, every kid that advanced to regions, they left every ounce of what they have on the mat. Tanner is a junior. He’ll be back. Anthony is too. Kevin is a freshman, which we sometimes forget. They never lacked for effort.
”When it’s your first time in the regions and the way the seeding works, if you don’t have any prior advancement, you know it’s going to be a difficult situation, you’re going to be put up against the tougher kids in the beginning and they all did real well with that.”