The Madison Dodgers wrestled well on Day 1 of the Morris County Tournament as five grapplers moved on to the pre-quarterfinal round, to be held Saturday morning at Mount Olive High School.
Leading the way was sophomore Patsy Davis, who has spent the majority of the year at 112-pounds but wrestled at 103-pounds for the tournament. Davis–seeded fourth–made quick work of his opponent in his lone match of the day as he pinned Chatham's Justin Engel in 1:39 of the first period. Davis will face Max Rogers of Delbarton in his quarterfinal match tomorrow morning.
At 145-pounds senior Ryan Colwell, aiming for his second ever county title, was the only Dodger to receive a number one seed. Colwell started things off the right way as he pinned Mount Olive's Teddy Muller in 1:17 of the first period.
Find out what's happening in Madisonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Senior 152-pounder Christian Mazzocchi–a two seed–made extremely quick work of his opponent, stopping Morris Hills' Willie Rzucidlo in only 13 seconds and in the process, knocking out one of Rzucidlo's teeth. Jefferson's Anthony Vasile will try his best to last a little longer against Mazzocchi in tomorrow's opening round.
At 160-pounds, senior Anthony Costa–seeded seven–recorded an 8-2 decision win over Morris Knolls' Mike Rettino. Costa was the only Dodger to advance without recording a pin in the pre-quarterfinal round.
Find out what's happening in Madisonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
The last Dodger to record a win was junior heavyweight Mike Boardman who easily stopped Mendhem's Kevin Staley with a first period pin to end the night of opening round bouts.
"Everyone who got through, did what they needed to do," Madison head coach Steve Healey said. We're going to come in focused tomorrow with the guys that we've got left and get the job done."
Saturday morning the five wrestlers head back to Mount Olive High School to continue their quest of a county championship.
