Chatham Wrestling Finishes 1-2 In Quad Meet

Chatham finished 1-2 in a quad meet at home on Saturday against Camden, Lyndhurst and St. Mary high schools. 

Because its starters were injured during the past week, Chatham was forced to forfeit 18 points to Lyndhurst and St. Mary and 12 points to Camden. But its wrestlers attempted to make up for that penalty throughout the day.

Jeff Fricke, Jeff Furbish, and Greg DeLade went undefeated during the meet, and Justin Engel, David Rosenbloom, Anthony Lofredo and David Lappin won two matches. Sean Coyne, John Elmasri, Kieran Brennan and Ben Reibman also posted victories during the meet.

Chatham first lost to Lyndhurst 52-30. The Cougars went 5-5 in individual matches against Lyndhurst, but the 18 forfeited points were too much for the Cougars to overcome.

"The final score did not really reflect how close the match actually was," Chatham Head Coach Mike Carbone said. "I was very happy with ... Lappin and Lofredo, who came up big with pins to keep the match close during the early going."

The Cougars then went on the wrestle Camden, which also had a few holes in its lineup. Chatham won, 51-21, and the team's large margin of victory allowed Carbone to rest some of his starters.

Doing so is important.  To compete in the state championship, a wrestler who qualifies for the state tournament can participate in no more than 30 matches during seasonal competition.

"Pins by James Salinardi and Reibman sealed the match for us," Carbone said.

In its final match of the day, against St. Mary, the 18 forfeited points hurt Chatham, and the Cougars lost, 42-39.

"Heading into the match we knew St. Mary was 11-5 and was a pretty good team," Carbone said. "I knew our upper weights and lower weights matched up well with St. Mary's, but with [our] three forfeits in the middle of the match and with St. Mary having none, I knew we had an uphill battle to try and pull ahead in the match."  

Even though the team lost its final match, Carbone praised his wrestlers.

"This year, we have a lot of tough underclassmen who won't give up and continue to fight hard all year round," he said. "And our upperclassmen are putting together some good solid wins."

Chatham wrestling will go on the road to face Ridge High School on Wednesday and Parsippany Hills High School on Thursday. Both those matches begin at 7 p.m. It will then host a quad meet on Saturday against Sparta, Kinnelon and DePaul high schools at 9 a.m.