On Monday, February 5th, the Emerson Park-Ridge (EPR) dominated Pompton Lakes in the NJSIAA Semifinal Round in North Jersey, Section 1, Group 1, team tournament in Park-Ridge. The Cavos previously beat Newton 43-25 and are looking to continue the winning streak. The Cavos had also previously won their league and conference titles and they try to look for more by advancing to the sectional finals. 

Pompton Lakes got up to a hot start as they got a quick pin at heavyweight. But the Cavos would not be denied as freshman, Evan Constante (106) and sophomore, Tony Rinkiewicz (113) sent shockwaves through the gym with back-to-back first-period wins for the Cavos. 

With the Cavos up 12-6 heading into the 120-pound bout, Nate Shannon picked up an intense win with a 5-3 victory in his overtime match. 

Then up 15-6 going into the 126-pound-bout, senior captain Matt Constante and Ryan Messick both dominated and ended up pinning their opponents. 

Up next for EPR was junior Paul Coombes winning by a 3-0 decision. 

Heading into the 144-pound bout with Pompton Lakes losing 30-6, but they weren’t going to give up that easily with them winning four matches in a row including 3 straight decision wins and one pin, making the score 30-21. 

Then captain and senior Luke Macfie (175) stepped up for EPR and won his match by decision 8-2. 

Senior captain Jacob Shannon (190)  put Pompton Lakes away with a first-period pin. 

Finally, senior captain Cole Hughes (215) sealed the match by winning by forfeit. 

Sophomore Carlos Rivera, a key wrestler for the 190 weight class, had to sit out due to an injury. But this didn’t stop him from hyping up his teammates and cheering them on from the side.

“We simply were harder workers. We beat them in every category such as strength conditioning, and technique,” said Rivera after the victory.

All week, the EPR wrestling team pushed each other to prepare themselves for matches like this. With former Cavalier wrestlers which include Joe Mazzeo, Luke Mazzeo, Logan Mazzeo, Zach Lewis, and Jonah Schechtman, they have a history of winning. They once had the drive to win when they wrestled for EPR, but they also believe wrestling is mainly a mental sport. The team works hard on conditioning to stay in the best shape possible. With mental toughness, the Cavos displayed a hard-fought victory. 

Rivera also added, “I believe our team can work on not giving up even if we are losing. I believe heart is key to not giving up bonus points.”

The turning point for the EPR wrestling team was bonus points and their lower-weight hammers. From start to finish they dominated Pompton Lakes as the Cavos stayed off their backs and worked for points and pins. 

With this win over Pompton Lakes, Emerson-Park Ridge wrestling moved onto the section finals wrestling the Kittatinny Cougars at Kittatinny Regional High School on Wednesday, February 7. With a historic clash between these two teams in the sectional finals, Emerson Park-Ridge looks to overcome a previous sectional finals loss from last year against Kittatinny.