The Edison High School wrestling team sent three team members to Atlantic City and the NJSIAA state finals over the weekend, but all three finished just short of placing at the prestigious event.
Top: Bishop Ahr High School’s Taylor Black (r) has control of West Deptford High School’s Nick Iraldi during Friday’s preliminary-round match at 145 pounds at the NJSIAA state wrestling championships held at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. Iraldi won the match by a decision, 5-3. Above: Edison High School’s Anthony Peterson (top) tangles with Howell High School’s Chris Albanese during their 119-pound preliminary-round match. Peterson advanced with a 14-3 major decision. Senior Anthony Peterson (119) fared the best of the three by winning his first match against Howell High School’s Chris Albanese by a major decision, 14-3. Peterson advanced to the state tournament after finishing in third place at the Region 5 Tournament at Hunterdon Central. Peterson took second place at the District 19 Tournament in February.
PHOTOS BY JEFF GRANIT staff “Anthony ran into a really tough wrestler from Don Bosco in his second match,” Edison head coach Tom White said. “It was the first time Anthony gave up back points all year.”
District 19 and Region 5 champion Ray De- LaNuez (125) lost his first two bouts at Boardwalk Hall to make a quick exit from the state tournament.
“Ray was pinned in less than two minutes, and it was completely shocking,” White said. “It just goes to show you how different things are at the states. It’s a high-anxiety, high-pressure situation, and some thrive and some struggle.”
Edison’s Devon Coates (140) had the tough luck of wrestling a twotime state qualifier from Parsippany. Coates stayed in the match by maximizing his strength and score takedowns. Unfortunately, Coates could not overcome the back points he surrendered in bunches and, like Peterson, lost his first two matches for an early exit.
“Overall, we can’t complain,” White said. “This was the first time Edison had this many guys qualify for states in at least 15 years. This was definitely a major accomplishment.”
Considering this was White’s first season at the helm after longtime head coach Gerry Nisivoccia stepped down, the accomplishment was significant.
“We would have liked to do better in dual meets this year,” White said. “It takes time to make the switch from being a good tournament team to a solid dual-meet competitor. It took some time for the guys to adjust to a new system. We didn’t want to shock them too much with a completely different style from the get-go. At times, it had to be a culture shock, but the guys got through it and did well.”
White’s move to a stronger dual-meet team remains a work in progress, considering the bulk of this year’s team was composed of seniors. Just a handful of underclassmen are slated to return to the varsity mat next winter.
Juniors Eric Barbato and Sean Lightner head the list alongside freshman Dylan Friscoli. Friscoli cut his varsity teeth this season at 103 pounds.
“Dylan had a nice season,” White said. “He got everyone’s attention when he scored a takedown against a state qualifier this season. You tend to notice when that happens.”
Lightner (215) and Barbato (145) showed a lot of improvement and potential this season.
“Eric’s moves look great,” White said. “Right now, we’re working on his confidence. He still needs to trust that he can use his moves in a match. Once he gets through the mental part, he should be very good.”
Rebounding from the loss of its seniors will not be easy for Edison, but the transition from tournament team to dual-meet team should be met with little resistance from the inexperienced grapplers.
“The returning guys have a lot of potential,” White said. “They do have a lot of work ahead of them.”