The Scotch Plains-Fanwood wrestling team entered The Union County Tournament weekend with a winning record of 7-3. The two-day competition brought 15 teams including SPF together on Saturday, Jan. 20 at Union High School for varsity and Sunday, Jan. 21 at Arthur L. Johnson High School for junior varsity.
While the varsity team did not get first place overall, the team had a few top individual finishers.
Junior John Boyle finished first at 190lbs, which is the first individual winner for the program since Robert Lerner in the 2021-2022 season.
“It feels exciting to win a big tournament because it gives me a lot of confidence for the rest of the season,” Boyle told The Fanscotian. “Confidence plays a large role in wrestling and winning gives me a lot of confidence. It becomes the driving force to succeed for the rest of the season.”
Other outstanding performances came from junior Michael Cantwell who finished third at 150lbs and junior Tristan Sirmans who took fifth at 126lbs.
“[I’m] extremely proud of John Boyle. He was the sixth seed in the bracket. He had to defeat some tough competition to just make his way to the finals and then to eventually win. It was unbelievable. He wrestled one of his best tournaments in his life,” Head Coach Marc Fabiano told The Fanscotian.
Following the success on Saturday, the JV team outperformed the county, winning first place in the Interscholastic Athletic Conference on Sunday. With the title, Coach Jesse Martinez brought home his fourth JV championship.
“Coach Martinez has done an amazing job with the JV team. He has been working with them on skills, especially on top, bottom and on their feet. He has really gotten them to the next level,” Fabiano said.
Here are the results from the JV wrestlers that led to the first place:
109 lbs Daniel McArdle second
116 lbs Justin Ellazar third
123 lbs Sam Lindell fourth
129 lbs Sal Diaco fourth
135 lbs Alex Ho sixth
141 lbs Ben Filler second
147 lbs Ryan Ricci first
153 lbs Alex Scianclapore first
160 lbs Elijah Ali akbar third
168 lbs Ryan Gilligan eighth
178 lbs Derek Portocarrero Vazquez first
193 lbs Noah Ricca first
218 lbs Thomas Dowling third
HVY Jeremiah Mundle second
The team has had high positivity and energy all season long, guiding to a winning record of 10-6.
“In any wrestling match, it’s a one versus one battle on the mat. But we are there as a team right on the edge of the mat, working with each other, congratulating each other, bringing the energy in the wrestling room outside the wrestling room. We understand that we are La Famiglia,” Fabiano said.
SPF will look to continue the success, celebrating senior night at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday Jan. 31 against Roselle Park.
