Shorthanded Notre Dame’s comeback bid falls short at Bordentown
It was one of those high school wrestling matches in which both teams ended up feeling fairly positive about what transpired.
Bordentown/Florence was happy because it beat Notre Dame, 47-30. A solid favorite to capture the Burlington County Scholastic League’s Patriot Division championship, the Scotties are off to a 3-0 start and reportedly have plenty of promising youth wrestlers in the system.
As for Notre Dame, although it lost its dual match opener, the Irish did manage to turn it into a respectable match after falling in a huge 35-0 hole in a match that started at 106 pounds.
What’s more, the Irish were competitive despite missing their regular starters at 120, 126, 132 and 190 pounds.
As it turned out, Bordentown/Florence picked up a possible 23 of 24 points in those weights, including a match-clinching pin by Daniel Heller at 190 pounds.
“I’m not sure what would have happened if we had all our guys, but I think it would have been more exciting at the end,” said Notre Dame coach E.J. Nemeth.
The end was a pin by heavyweight Nick Levach over Notre Dame’s Andy
Ozik. One of an all-time high seven wrestlers from Florence in the Bordentown co-co, Levach nearly made states last year and is one of the top guns on the team along with lower middleweights Cameron Williams and Joey Hartz.
“We are very excited to see what Levach can do this year,” said Bordentown coach James Gill. “He’s a real leader for us. He’s a big reason we have all these wrestlers from Florence. He helped recruit them.”
With Notre Dame forfeiting 113 and 126 and Bordentown/Florence getting early falls from Gabe Kakarides (106), Jeremy Moore (120) and Hartz (138) to go along with a quick technical fall by Williams, who worked a tilt series at 132, it looked like this match might turn into a complete blow-out.
Instead, Notre Dame was able to right the ship and swept 145 through 175 to cut the lead the lead to 35-24.
The Usmiani brothers, Nick at 145 and Andrew at 150, got the comeback started with pins. From there, the Irish also got pins by Mike Mulray at 157 to go along comfortable decisions from Frank Hosmer (154) and KJ Honnig (175)
It was here where Heller ended any thoughts of a further dramatic comeback, although Notre Dame also ended up getting a pin at 215 from rapidly improving Will Renda, who put in a deep half to record a fall in a fast 38 seconds.
“Bordentown is a good team and I was happy with the way our guys kept fighting,” said Nemeth, who is in his ninth season at the Irish helm. “This is the best shape we’ve been in in five years. I think we can challenge to be in the top five — maybe the top four — in the county. Our numbers are good and we have a big (eighth-grade) group committed to wrestle for us next year.”