Madison Wrestling Sweeps Past Quad Match

For the second consecutive Saturday, the Madison High School wrestling team swept its way through a quad match – this one at Verona High School. This match saw Madison facing–and defeating–Waldwick High School, 61-15, Mountain Lakes High School, 52-18, and Verona High School, 44-22.

Madison vs. Waldwick

The first match of the day for Madison was against the Warriors of Waldwick High School. It was never close.

Christian Mazzocchi (152), who recently won his 100th match as a member of the Madison High School wrestling team, added to that total as he started things off with a first-period pin over Ryan Mangan.

Three of the next four matches would see similar results as, Anthony Costa (160), Jack Anzul (171) and Tom Tracy (215) would all record first period pins leading to a 24-6 Madison lead.

Madison would then receive forfeits at 285-pounds (Mike Boardman) and at 103-pounds (John Costa), before 112-pounder Patsy Davis won a 9-0 decision over Danny Tyson.

Another two forfeits at 119-pounds (Brett Spelker) and 125-pounds (Max Gotsch), and losses at 130-pounds and 135-pounds would make the score 58-15, in favor of the Dodgers.

A 12-8 decision win by John McAuliffe at 140-pounds and a third period pin by senior Ryan Colwell would seal the 61-15 victory for Madison.

Madison vs. Verona

Sandwiched between two dominating showings for Madison was a match against Verona High.

The Dodgers came out strong, recording pins at 160-pounds (Anthony Costa) and 215-pounds (Thomas Tracy) before heavyweight Mike Boardman recorded a 16-1 technical fall over Anthony Parra.

John Costa, new to the lineup at 103-pounds and showing promise, recorded an 8-3 win and pins by Patsy Davis (112), Brett Spelker (119) and Max Gotsch (125) gave the Dodgers a 35-10 lead.

After Madison losses at 130, 135 and 140-pounds, Ryan Colwell (145) stopped the skid with a 6-3 decision win.

Christian Mazzocchi (152) finished off the Hillbillies with a first period pin over Amir Sigari and Madison walked away with a 44-22 win.

"Verona is 8-2 coming in and ahead of us in power points (for the sectional tournament) and I thought if we wrestled well we could win ten matches. I also thought if we didn't wrestle well, we could still win six or seven matches and lose on bonus points," head coach Steve Healey explained. "Our kids knew to stay off their backs and get pins where we could, and we had kids come through."

Madison vs. Mountain Lakes

Madison went looking for the quad match sweep against Mountain Lakes High School.

Ed Carr (171) started the match off with a pin just 33 seconds into the first period, helping Madison jump out to a 6-0 lead.

After a 14-4 major decision loss by 189-pounder Jack Anzul, Thomas Tracy (215) lost a tough 12-10 overtime decision-in a match where he carried a 8-5 lead going into the third period.

Then Madison got things back on track as Michael Boardman made quick work of his opponent, pinning him in just 12 seconds. Nick Picillo (103) recorded an impressive second period pin and John Costa's (112) first period pin gave Madison a 24-6 lead.

"I think we're going to be much improved at 103-pounds (with Costa and Picillo) and that should really help us down the line," Healey said.

Patsy Davis was bumped up to 119-pounds to face Joe Brennan and although Brennan fled from Davis for most of the second and third periods–oddly with no stalling calls from the official–he was able to salvage a 4-3 decision to get Mountain Lakes a bit closer, at 24-9.

At 130-pounds Matt Allen won a 9-0 decision and pins by John McAuliffe (140), Christian Mazzocchi (152) and Anthony Costa (160) ended the match and gave Madison a 3-0 sweep for the day.

"It seems like every time we have match-ups like this, we have different kids come through and they're getting it done for us at the right time," Healey added.

Up next, Madison looks to extend their eight match winning streak as they head to Sparta to face Pope John XXIII High School at 7 p.m. on Wednesday night.