By: Joe Haemmerle '86
FEBRUARY 28 – FAIR LAWN, NJ – What a way to finish the month! The Crusaders dominated District VII Championships at Fair Lawn High School on Saturday, taking home the tournament brackets in 13 of 14 weight classes. The title was BC's 37
th dating back to its first in 1982 and its 36
th consecutive championship, part of a streak that dates back to 1990.
Team scores: Bergen Catholic 345; Passaic Tech 177.5; Hasbrouck Heights 143.5; Fair Lawn 132; Garfield 68.5; Elmwood Park 59; Lodi/Saddle Brook 21.5; Bergen Charter 0; Bogota/Ridgefield 0.
In the finals alone, BC grapplers pinned 7 finalists and another four bouts were won by technical fall. Sophomore
Ralph Barca opened things up at 285 pounds pinning his opponent early in the third period.
Chase Young followed that up with a third period pin of his own.
Anthony Riotto put up 25 points in the first period, like a pin ball machine, earning a technical fall, 25-6 within 1:50.
Micah Loudermilk took second at 120 and sophomore
Matthew Mulligan won his second-straight district title with a first-period pin at the buzzer.
Lucas Reeves earned a gold at 132, an impressive feat for a freshman, and
Gideon Gonzalez (Triple G) pinned his opponent after a dominating first period.
Sowzrawca Tsay took just over a minute to earn his pin and
Joey Rondinelli earned his first period pin in 59 seconds, the fastest of the finals.
Joey Canova earned a technical fall at 2:51, followed up by
Manny Gusfa whose tech fall took just 5 seconds more.
AJ DiGiovanni took home gold with a second-period pin and Chad Sadaka earned a third period technical fall before the most dramatic bout of the final.
Mason Marck and his top-seeded opponent (a 2026 Bergen County Champion) worked the mental game in the first period, neither wrestler wanting to make an early mistake. As a result, they started the second 0-0 with Marck choosing defensive position.
Mason earned the first point of the bout, escaping from the bottom position to lead 1-0. He earned a takedown and yielded a point, taking a 4-1 lead into the third period. The top seed, a Fair Lawn wrestler, closed the lead to 4-2, earning an escape in front of the hometown fans. The two big athletes leaned on one another until the Cutter took down Mason late in the third, grabbing a 5-4 lead. Mason earned an escape in the waning seconds of regulation, tying the score at five and forcing the bout to overtime.
Wrestling, and so much of high school sports, is determined by desire and determination. Who would be champion. The two toed the lines under the spotlight with a good remaining fan base on their feet and cheering. Mason earned an advantage and the two fell toward the corner of the mat, with Mason on top.
Would he earn the takedown? YES! By a toe, just inside the line, he was able to gain control of his opponent and win the most exciting match of the day; even more exciting than when the kid from (redacted) HS was doing the shooting six-shooters and flexing after he took third. You have to love high school sports.
DOMINANCE: BC went 24-0 in the early rounds of the tournament and 37-1 overall. Of their twenty-four Quarterfinal and Semifinal round victories, 13 were by pin, 9 by technical fall, 1 by forfeit and 1 by decision.
SPEEDY: Fastest pin of the tournament went to
Manny Gusfa at 0:17 in the semifinal round. There were seven pins by BC mat men under a minute, the other six were:
| FINAL ROUND RESULTS (1, 2, 3's are seeds) |
| 285 |
1-Ralph Barca, Bergen Catholic p. 2-Noel Cruz, Hasbrouck Heights, 4:19. |
| 106 |
1-Chase Young, Bergen Catholic p. 2-Nicholas Nguyen, Passaic Tech, 5:25. |
| 113 |
1-Anthony Riotto, Bergen Catholic d. 2-Kieran Maloney, Hasbrouck Heights, 25-6 (TF 1:50). |
| 120 |
1-Muhammad Abuhadba, Passaic Tech d. 2-Micah Loudermilk, Bergen Catholic, 4-2. |
| 126 |
1-Matthew Mulligan, Bergen Catholic p. 2-Jonah Shargorodsky, Fair Lawn, 1:59. |
| 132 |
2-Lucas Reeves, Bergen Catholic d. 1-Malik Abuharthieh, Passaic Tech, 7-3. |
| 138 |
1-Gideon Gonzalez, Bergen Catholic p. 2-Dylan Cerciello, Lodi, 2:25. |
| 144 |
1-Sowzrawca Tsay, Bergen Catholic p. 2-Carmine De Lucia, Fair Lawn, 1:12. |
| 150 |
2-Joey Rondinelli, Bergen Catholic p. 1-Emil Belyayev, Hasbrouck Heights, 0:59. |
| 157 |
2-Joey Canova, Bergen Catholic d. 1-Tyler Whartnaby, Passaic Tech, 20-5 (TF 2:51). |
| 165 |
1-Manny Gusfa, Bergen Catholic d. 2-Sebastin Laterra, Elmwood Park, 19-4 (TF 2:56). |
| 175 |
1-AJ DiGiovanni, Bergen Catholic p. 2-Eoin Maloney, Hasbrouck Heights, 3:31. |
| 190 |
1-Chad Sadaka, Jr., Bergen Catholic d. 3-Hector Rodriguez, Passaic Tech, 19-3 (TF 5:03). |
| 215 |
2-Mason Marck, Bergen Catholic d. 1-Andria Tatishvili, Fair Lawn, 8-5. |
MATSIDE PERSPECTIVES: Paulsboro High School's streak of consecutive seasons with at least one district champion ended today 2/28/2026. It started in 1942 and covered 75 seasons!!! The Crusaders have a streak that dates back to 1989 with Dan Haemmerle at 112 pounds. Rich Roser followed that up at 119 pounds and senior Curt Geisler won at Heavyweight. BC's first-ever district champion was Mike Collins '78 at 129 pounds in 1978. Mike was recently inducted into the Bergen Catholic Hall of Fame as a member of BC's 1977 Cross Country State Meet of Champions Team, the only team in Bergen County history to win a NJMOC.
RECORD PACE: The 13 gold medals ties the school record set in 2014. It was replicated in 2018, 2022 and 2023. The school also had 14 finalists, tying a school record first set in 2013 (12 gold, 2 silver) and the previously listed years.
|
(1977 - PRESENT)
|
| SEASON |
DISTRICT |
GOLD |
SILVER |
BRONZE |
TOTAL |
| 1977 |
II |
|
|
1 |
1 |
| 1978 |
II |
1 |
|
|
1 |
| 1979 |
II |
|
1 |
|
1 |
| 1980 |
II |
3 |
|
2 |
5 |
| 1981 |
II |
1 |
1 |
2 |
4 |
| 1982 |
II |
3 |
3 |
1 |
7 |
| 1983 |
III |
2 |
3 |
2 |
7 |
| 1984 |
II |
1 |
2 |
1 |
4 |
| 1985 |
II |
|
1 |
1 |
2 |
| 1986 |
II |
1 |
1 |
|
2 |
| 1987 |
II |
1 |
1 |
2 |
4 |
| 1988 |
II |
|
3 |
1 |
4 |
| 1989 |
II |
3 |
1 |
2 |
6 |
| 1990 |
II |
3 |
6 |
1 |
10 |
| 1991 |
II |
6 |
2 |
1 |
9 |
| 1992 |
VII |
7 |
3 |
|
10 |
| 1993 |
VII |
6 |
2 |
|
8 |
| 1994 |
VII |
7 |
4 |
1 |
12 |
| 1995 |
VII |
9 |
2 |
1 |
12 |
| 1996 |
VII |
9 |
2 |
1 |
12 |
| 1997 |
VII |
8 |
1 |
|
9 |
| 1998 |
VII |
7 |
2 |
1 |
10 |
| 1999 |
VII |
3 |
2 |
|
5 |
| 2000 |
VII |
3 |
3 |
2 |
8 |
| 2001 |
VII |
3 |
2 |
|
5 |
| 2002 |
VII |
6 |
1 |
3 |
10 |
| 2003 |
VII |
5 |
3 |
2 |
10 |
| 2004 |
VII |
9 |
2 |
|
11 |
| 2005 |
VII |
6 |
3 |
2 |
11 |
| 2006 |
VII |
10 |
2 |
|
12 |
| 2007 |
VII |
9 |
1 |
3 |
13 |
| 2008 |
VII |
8 |
2 |
1 |
11 |
| 2009 |
VII |
5 |
5 |
|
10 |
| 2010 |
VII |
7 |
2 |
2 |
11 |
| 2011 |
VII |
9 |
1 |
3 |
13 |
| 2012 |
VII |
10 |
|
1 |
11 |
| 2013 |
VII |
12 |
2 |
|
14 |
| 2014 |
VII |
13 |
|
1 |
14 |
| 2015 |
VII |
9 |
2 |
1 |
12 |
| 2016 |
VII |
11 |
1 |
|
12 |
| 2017 |
V |
9 |
1 |
2 |
12 |
| 2018 |
V |
13 |
1 |
|
14 |
| 2019 |
VII |
10 |
|
3 |
13 |
| 2020 |
VII |
12 |
|
1 |
13 |
| 2021 |
COVID-19 NO DISTRICT |
|
| 2022 |
V |
13 |
1 |
|
14 |
| 2023 |
V |
13 |
1 |
|
14 |
| 2024 |
IX |
11 |
1 |
|
12 |
| 2025 |
III |
7 |
4 |
1 |
12 |
| 2026 |
VII |
13 |
1 |
0 |
14 |
| TOTAL |
|
317 |
85 |
49 |
451 |
