BY DONALD J. BROWER
Every once in a great while, there is something that happens on the mat that you will talk about for years. Whether it was "The Slam" in 1993, seeing Mike Grey be the first to win four state titles or any other noteworthy occurrence, there are memorable moments where all you can say is wow . On January 12th, 2013 one of those moments happened for me.
In one of the most shocking endings to a high school wrestling match that I have ever seen, Hanover Park defeated West Morris, 30-27 in front of a standing room only crowd last night in East Hanover.
West Morris seemed in control throughout but a flagrant misconduct penalty during the last bout at 132 on Anthony Rivera for throwing a punch at Joe Zecca turned a 30-24 Central lead into a 30-27 stunning loss.
The bout in question started out as normal as can be with both wrestlers battling for two periods. Despite Zecca's best efforts, he could not get Rivera to his back, leading 4-0 to start the third. That was when the madness happened.
Rivera was clearly trying to avoid the pin and was backing up. As he was near the edge line, Zecca was locked up with Rivera. As he was pushing to give his team the win, Zecca went hard at his opponent. The referee blew the whistle just as Zecca threw himself at Rivera, who went off the edge of the mat and hit the floor.
The referee was going to penalize Zecca for it but before he could Rivera jumped up and took a swing at Zecca resulting in the flagrant misconduct.
"l was trying to help my team get the win," Zecca said. "He may have thought it was a cheap shot but it wasn't. I don't wrestle like that."
Coach Ken Rossi angrily protested that the match should continue as he felt Zecca's actions started the whole incident but the referees were adamant. As the announcement was made, the home crowd went into a frenzy while the West Morris fans stormed out.
Most have asked my opinion on if it was the right call. I feel it was. They way Rivera got up. there was no calming down the situation for the match to continue.
The comeback was necessary as things did not look good for the Hornets early. After leading 9-6 behind a 6-4 Ryan Paff decision at 152 and a forfeit at 160, West Morris stormed ahead, winning the next four bouts with two pins to take a 24-9 lead. After trading decision victories at 285 and 106, Austin Nash started the comeback.
Nash took 4-2 lead into the third period but Dylan Luciano escaped and scored a takedown in what looked like the match clinching points. In a strange move, Luciano let Nash up to tie it at five and paid seconds later as Nash drove him to the mat for the 7-5 win.
A pin by sophomore Anthony Cefolo, state champion at 106 last year, and a 7-6 UTB win for Gennaro Cuccolo, his second in two days and 99th win of his career, set up Zecca for his chance to win it.
