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Sports

Depleted Cougars Advance Two in County Tournament

Furbish, Fricke advance.

FLANDERS — With a few injuries and a skin disorder plaguing a number of wrestlers, the Chatham Cougars wrestling team was forced to send less wrestlers than it had hoped into the Morris County Tournament at Mount Olive High School on Friday night, including a number of junior varsity members.

Needless to say, it wasn't the best showing for Chatham overall, but there were a few bright spots on day one for the team's depleted squad of seven. The tournament continues today.

Senior 160-pounder Jeff Fricke, seeded third, made easy work of his opponent as he recorded a first period over Delbarton's Kurt Ferdenzi. Fricke will face Slade Eigenmann of Montville in his first match today.

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At 215 pounds, Chatham senior Jeff Furbuish—also seeded third—took a little longer to walk away with a win than did his 160 pound counterpart, but still did so, pinning Mount Olive's Sam Kim in the second period. Up next for Furbish is Rob Tancer of Montville.

Preliminary Matches

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Freshman 103-pounder Justin Engel, wrestling in the preliminary round, defeated Kinnelon's Andrew Hepner. Engel then lost to Madison's Patsy Davis in the pre-quarterfinal round.

Sophomore Mack Cosgrove, the junior varsity 285-pounder, also won his preliminary match as he defeated Mountain Lakes junior Thibaut Vandame before losing to No. 1 seed Mike Spencer in the pre-quarterfinal round.

Tomorrow, the two remaining Chatham wrestlers will head to day two of the Morris County Tournament at Mount Olive High School.

"I thought for only bringing seven guys to the tournament that advancing five to the pre-quarter finals was pretty successful," Head Coach Mike Carbone said. "I like our chances [for tomorrow]. Our 160-pounder and our 215-pounder need to get to the semis. I think their toughest matches will be in the semis, and if they can get there and wrestle well, then we have a great chance to get two champs."

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