Madison Sends Two Wrestlers to State Tournament

The dream of every high school wrestler in New Jersey is to wrestle in Atlantic City in March with a chance to win a state title.

On Saturday, for two Madison Dodger wrestlers, that dream became a reality as senior 152-pounder Christian Mazzocchi and sophomore 103-pounder Patsy Davis are both headed to the state tournament in AC.

To anyone who has followed the Madison Dodgers this season though, seeing these two wrestlers headed to Atlantic City comes with little surprise.

"These were the guys that we thought could make it all along," Healey said.

Mazzocchi, the runner-up in the district 10 tournament, came into the region 3 tournament as the No. 2 seed and after receiving a bye in the preliminary round, faced Governor Livington's Shane Haddad in the semi's. Mazzoccchi recorded a pin in just 1:31 of the first period moving on to a semifinal match against Parsippany's Nick Kromka.

In the semi's the senior looked strong recording three takedowns in a decisive 7-5 win.

With the win, Mazzocchi headed to the finals to face Russell Benner of Roselle Park in a rematch of their district 10 finals.

Mazzocchi was more aggressive this time around, but struggled to find an answer against the No. 1 seed on their feet, dropping a 7-3 decision.

"I think I wrestled well today," Mazzocchi said after the tournament. "I lost in the finals, but Benner always seems to beat me. He's only got one loss this year and it's to a really good wrestler. But I feel good. I would have liked to have won, but I'm happy to make it and it's not over yet, I still have to maybe win some matches in A.C. and hopefully finish top eight."

"Mazzocchi getting to the finals is very exciting," Healey said of his senior 152-pounder. "He always works to improve and after getting caught and pinned in the district final, I thought he represented himself well in the final (tonight). He heads down to A.C. where people don't know his style very well and I think he might surprise some people."

At 103-pounds, Davis' trek to Atlantic City took a different route than Mazzocchi as the sophomore lost his semifinal match and was forced to wrestle back in an attempt to take third place.

After winning his preliminary round match on Tuesday, Davis kept rolling as he won a triple overtime thriller over Max Rogers of Delbarton (in a 2010 county tournament finals rematch) in the quarterfinal round propelling the Dodger to the semifinals.

In the semi's, Davis faced Seton Hall Prep's Brendan Calas in another district 10 finals rematch and again, Davis fell, this time a 1-0 decision.

With the loss, Davis was sent to the semifinal consolations where he won a hard fought 3-1 decision over Westfield's Mike Kalamitsis and prepared to face Delbarton's Max Rogers for the second time on the day.

Davis' aggressive style seemed too much for Rogers to handle though, as he walked away with a 7-3 decision win, taking third place and securing his spot in the state tournament.

"It feels great.  This is my third time facing Rogers and second time today, but I knew I was better than him in neutral so I just kept pressing the pace on our feet," Davis said after his match. "I knew he wasn't able to defend my shot because I had already taken him down a few times, I just didn't want to get tilted (when on the bottom) because I knew he had a strong tilt."

"I think Davis' weight is very deep, but I think these guys have a chance of placing down there so it will be interesting to see what kind of draws we have," Healey added.

Also wrestling on Saturday was senior 145-pounder Ryan Colwell who despite being seeded No. 1, came in fourth place, narrowly missing a trip to the state tournament.

"Obviously it's a disappointing end to a pretty stellar career for Ryan Colwell. He just didn't look right out there and obviously didn't wrestle up to his capabilities. If he had, I believe he would have repeated as region champ," Healey said.

Mazzocchi and Davis will wrestle in the preliminary round of the state tournament on Friday, March 5 at the Atlantic City Convention Center.