A year ago, the St. Peter’s Prep wrestling team managed to accomplish an unthinkable feat – failing to qualify for the NJSIAA Parochial A North state playoffs for the first time in a decade.
“It was a big disappointment, no doubt,” said Prep head wrestling coach Anthony Verdi. “I think it didn’t sit well with the kids. They were going to make sure that it didn’t happen again.”
However, with just two weeks before the qualifying cutoff date, the Marauders find themselves in the same predicament that they were a year ago. They have a 4-7 record and need to be at least .500 by the cutoff, but they have matches against tough teams like undefeated St. Mary’s of Rutherford, Hasbrouck Heights/Wood-Ridge, Livingston and Ridgefield Park upcoming.
Needless to say, it won’t be easy.
“We still have a shot, if we wrestle our tails off,” Verdi said. “The kids are wrestling hard, and that’s all you can ask for. We’re right in matches with tough teams, but we’re just not getting the job done in getting bonus points.”
Verdi pointed out that the Marauders have dropped four dual meets against quality opponents like Don Bosco Prep, Roxbury, Perth Amboy and last week to Hudson County rival North Bergen, dropping a heartbreaking 36-34 decision – with all four decisions turning against the Marauder by a handful of points.
“In all four, we split the bouts (seven wins for each team), but our inexperience cost us and we didn’t get the bonus points to win,” Verdi said. “We’re right there with those teams.”
Verdi does have a young team, having lost two state medalists from a year ago (Sean O’Grady and Mike Rohrman) and returning only three seniors.
“We have a ton of juniors and sophomores,” Verdi said. “They’re working hard every day and getting better.” One of the juniors is defending District 16 champion Victor Stanziale, who is now back to his familiar 145-pound weight class. Stanziale has been bouncing around other weight classes this year, but since he got down to 145, he’s been undefeated, including winning the gold medal at the Aviator Classic in Hasbrouck Heights two weeks ago. Stanziale is 15-5 overall, but 8-0 at 145.
One of the Marauders’ top wrestlers is sophomore 130-pounder John Donaleski, who is in only his second year of competitive wrestling, but has been making his presence felt already.
“He’s been unbelievable for us and a very nice surprise,” Verdi said. “He’s a tough kid who is only going to get better.”
Donaleski has a 14-6 record thus far.
Two of the other Marauders to watch are seniors Henri DeFrance and Kevin Sankat. DeFrance, who enjoyed a fine fall as a standout receiver on the Marauders’ state championship football team, has the wrestling team’s best record at 16-4 at 160 pounds. DeFrance also won at the Aviator Classic and finished second at the prestigious Brick Memorial Mustang Classic over the Christmas holidays. Sankat, a 125-pounder, also won at Hasbrouck Heights and owns a 15-5 mark at press time.
“They’re all putting the time in,” Verdi said.
Whether that translates to a state playoff bid remains to be seen…
It was very interesting that Union City Superintendent of Schools Sandy Sanger is recommending the merger of Emerson and Union Hill High Schools into one Union City High School by 2008.
From a sports standpoint, it’s a move that has been promoted by this column and other local sports pundits for quite some time, and it’s one that would make sense in terms of competition.
However, what happens to the winning programs, like boys’ basketball this season? Both Emerson and Union Hill are enjoying successful seasons this year and both schools have excellent coaches (Drew Morano at Emerson, Carlos Cueto at Union Hill). If you merge the schools, one of those coaches loses a head coaching position.
In other sports, there is a competitive disparity, like in football and baseball, where Emerson has clearly been getting the upper hand of late. So in those instances, the merger would make more sense. But it will lead to some interesting decisions when the merger is slated to take place in two years. And it would mark the end of the traditional Thanksgiving Day rivalry as well. The purists certainly can’t applaud that move…
Congrats to the four new members of the New Jersey City University Athletic Hall of Fame who were inducted over the weekend, namely NBA referee Bob Delaney, who used to reside in Bayonne; baseball standout Ricky Levens, basketball star Abdul Madison and volleyball standout Satsay Thongvichith. The quartet of excellent NJCU athletes received their awards at a banquet Friday night…
Jersey City’s John Valentin has resurfaced in professional baseball, taking the job as the hitting coach with the Mets’ Class AA franchise in Binghamton, N.Y. Valentin retired in 2002 after ending his career with the Mets…
Rumor has it that former Bayonne football coach Rick Rodriguez is being considered for the opening at Memorial. Stay tuned…
— Jim Hague