VIDEO: Bergen Catholic dominates at Region 2 tournament | ||
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As it did the entire wrestling season, Bergen Catholic dominated the Region 2 tournament. The Crusaders won seven of the 14 weight classes at the event held at Bergen Community College. Nick Suriano, who has never lost a high school match, captured the 126-pound final by pin to move within four bouts of a perfect career. Freshman Josh McKenzie and Kevin Mulligan also scored pins in the final for Bergen Catholic.
Other winners for the Crusaders were Joe Grello, Gerard Angelo, Shane Griffith and Christopher Foca. Foca upset top seed Sam Schneider of Emerson/Park Ridge in the final at 132 pounds, 7-5. While Bergen Catholic drew the headlines, the overall story at Region 2 was the complete domination by the large private schools. Three schools won a combined 13 of the 14 titles. Don Bosco Prep, which endured a rocky dual-meet season, captured four weight class titles. Heavyweight Zack Chakonis recorded a pin in the finals, while Taylor Shay, Dominick Mandarino and Kyle Bierdumpfel also came away as champions. St. Joseph (Montvale) earned a pair of crowns: Jonathan Tropea at 113 pounds and Michael Carfagno at 220. The only public school champion was Paramus 106-pounder Kyle Kaiser, who survived a triple-overtime match against Garfield's Joshua Ferreira. Paramus had four finalists and will send seven wrestlers to the state finals in Atlantic City. That's more than any other team outside of Bergen Catholic, which had nine finalists in all and will bring a contingent of 10 wrestlers to the state finals. Don Bosco ended up with six state qualifiers. For sports video highlights of some of the final round matches from this Region 2 high school wrestling tournament, click play in the box at left.
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