Mount Olive has not been a traditional wrestling state power in recent memory, but that has all changed quickly.
Following last season’s trip to the Group 4 semifinals during an 18-3 season, Mount Olive has its sights set as high as possible. Despite there being no team state tournament in this shortened wrestling season, the Marauders are still out to cement their status amongst the elite in New Jersey.
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3/26 - 7:00 PM Wrestling Final Jefferson 21 Mount Olive 48
After climbing up to No. 13 in the NJ.com Top 20, Mount Olive went out and took care of business, 48-21, at home on Friday evening against a talented Jefferson squad.
“I know before in the room we were talking about that we want to be top 10 in the state,” senior Seth Hagensen said. “We’re trying to compete with the higher teams. I know for me personally and the team, we want to do our hardest because it’s a shortened season. I think we’re doing really well this season as of now. We’re competing big, scoring big points on hard teams and getting the wins.”
“I thought it was a good team win,” junior Hunter Perez said. “We competed well. Everybody did the jobs they were supposed to do tonight. We got bonus points, won big and lost small.”
After Jefferson heavyweight Tim Connolly got things started with a pin for the Falcons, it was mostly all Mount Olive from there on out. Jack Bastarrika got a quick pin in 48 seconds at 106 pounds for the Marauders, which was followed by a Tyler Hagensen major decision and another fast pin by Seth Hagensen at 120 in 33 seconds.
In the most exciting bout of the match, Daniel Barra was able to keep the momentum going for Mount Olive at 126 pounds. A first period takedown carried Barra to a 3-1 lead late in the third period, but he gave up a single-legged takedown to Jefferson’s Matthew Vargas and came close to getting taken to his back with about 40 seconds remaining.
Barra was able to survive that miscue and earn an escape with about 15 seconds left that gave him a 4-3 win. The toss-up victory gave his team a 19-6 lead.
“It was great,” Mount Olive head coach Sean Smyth said. “That’s kind of what we’re preaching at practice that guys have to be resilient. You can’t panic. Guys are going to score points on you, but you have to be resilient enough to bounce back. That’s why there are six full minutes in a match. You have to battle for six minutes.”
The closest Jefferson would get was down 10 points, 31-21, following a pin by Luke Ciampa at 160 pounds. Mount Olive then proceeded to close things out in style with four wins in the final four bouts. Perez earned a 16-1 technical fall in 5:04 at 170 pounds before Anthony Moscatello used two reverses to beat a good wrestler in Michael Gould, 4-0, and clinch the victory for the Marauders.
“I think it was a great match,” Smyth said. “Jefferson is a very good team this year and our guys went out and competed well. Jefferson is well-coached, and we knew they were a good team coming in. We were able to get some bonus points and were able to save some. It worked in our favor tonight.”
A ton of credit to the rise of the Mount Olive wrestling program begins at the youth levels.
“From the rec program, we’re competing harder every year,” Hagensen said. “Now that we’re coming up through high school, I know I’ve grown as a wrestler and we’re getting a bunch of really good wrestlers. We’re just growing and getting better as a team.”
The remaining schedule will give Mount Olive every chance to earn its high ranking. Just about every match remaining is against a high-quality opponent, beginning with defending Group 3 champions Montville on Saturday.
“We’ve come really far,” Mount Olive junior Hunter Perez said. “We want to be top 10 in the state, but it’s only going to be done if we can compete with all of these teams.”
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