Thursday, January 10, 2008

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

Freshman Erick Marrero scored a major decision in the final bout of the night at 140 pounds to give Bergenfield a 35-31 win at Ramapo.

FRANKLIN LAKES – Despite being the defending NBIL Division 1 champion and sporting a 4-1 record heading into Wednesday night, the Bergenfield wrestling team did not know how mentally tough it was as a unit, nor where it stood against the rest of the teams in the league. What the Bears did know was that the answer to both of those questions would come when they visited undefeated Ramapo with first place in the league standings on the line.

The lead changed hands six times before Chris Rankin pulled the Bears ahead to stay with a come-from-behind win at 125 pounds. Leading by just one point going into the final bout, freshman Erick Marrero came up with the biggest win of his young career.

He took an early lead and then used a huge third period to score a victory at 140 pounds, as Bergenfield reclaimed its perch as the NBIL’s top team with a 35-31 triumph over previously undefeated Ramapo in Franklin Lakes.

“Just the way the match was going, every match was important and I knew I had to be ready for anything,” said Bergenfield’s Chris Rankin. “I was excited, but I knew I had to stay under control.”

Brian Gibbs (right) earned a technical fall for Ramapo at 171 pounds.

The Bears pulled ahead by a point on a major decision by Kadeem Reid, who won the BCCA Holiday Tournament title at 189 pounds earlier this season. They took their largest lead of the match two bouts later on a 59-second pin by heavyweight Lawrence Sinclair, 25-12.

Time was not wasted by the Green Raiders in making a comeback through the lower weight classes. Alex Scheinert scored a technical fall at 103 and Nick Madormo used a first-period pin to cut the lead to a single point.

Through the first period of his match at 119 pounds, Terek Moluwusa hardly looked like he was in a match that he had a chance of winning. Despite being inches away from being pinned by Bergenfield’s Scott Standish throughout most of the first period, Moluwusa held on long enough to be saved by the buzzer at the end of the period.

He kept cutting into the lead before tying the match on a takedown with 46 second left. With less than 30 seconds remaining in the bout, Moluwusa turned his opponent for three back points and an exciting 13-10 win that put Ramapo back on top, 28-26.

Chris Rankin (top) put Bergenfield in front to stay with his come-from-behind win at 125 pounds.

Rankin and Ramapo’s Greg Madormo locked horns at 125 pounds and the match was even right from the outset. Madormo held a one-point lead after both the first and seconds periods. A reversal by Rankin with 1:15 left in the third period gave him the lead in the match, 7-6, but he only held it for a matter of seconds. He was called for a clasp, which is a one-point penalty, and Madormo escaped immediately after to regain the lead.

Trailing by a point with less than a minute to go, Rankin came up with a huge five-point move that secured a 12-8 win and gave Bergenfield the lead back for good.

“I was just hoping to take down, but it was nice to get three back points out of it, too,” said Rankin. “I had to try something because I was running out of time.”

Bergenfield’s Kyle Hopkins scored a major decision at 130, but Brian Gibbs answered for Ramapo (7-1). His technical fall trimmed the lead to one point going into the final bout of the night at 140 pounds. Some more experienced wrestlers might relish the chance to get into the spotlight with the match on the line in the final bout, but Marrero, still just a freshman, was more concerned with just wrestling to the best of his ability.

Ramapo's Terek Moluwusa (top) went from nearly getting pinned to a 13-10 win at 119 pounds.

“I was really excited, but I was really nervous too,” said Marrero. “Everyone was all pumped up and the crowd was really into it. I just wanted to score first and then make him wrestle my match.”

Marrero got on the scoreboard first by taking down Ramapo’s Victor Kapiani for a 2-0 lead. Kapiani fought hard to get those points back and nearly took control of the match. He turned Marrero onto his back, but the momentum pushed the two around again and Marrero survived without giving up his lead.

“That was the most nervous I was during the match,” added Marrero. “He caught me for a second and flipped me, but I flipped him right back over and I knew I wasn’t going to make another mistake like that.”

Marrero doubled his lead to four points going into the third period. The freshman stayed on the attack and used a big third-period showing to polish off a huge personal win and an even bigger one for his team with a 13-1 major decision.

The match proved both that Bergenfield was still the team to beat in the NBIL Division 1 and that Ramapo was right on par with the league’s elite.

Bergen County champion Kadeem Reid (top) won at 189 pounds for Bergenfield.

“I thought the effort was there on both sides and it was a great match all around,” said Ramapo head coach Drew Gibbs. “Their kids stepped up at big times and they got the win, but our kids fought hard the whole way. Obviously, we would have liked to have a different outcome, but we showed that we’re right there with the best teams in our league and we have only two seniors in our lineup, which bodes well for the future of this program.”

But for now, it is still the Bears that everyone in the league is chasing; which suits Rankin and his teammates just fine.

“We take a lot of pride in being league champions,” said Rankin. “After a win over Fair Lawn and this win, we’re really fired up. We are going to keep working hard. Winning a match like this will give us a lot of confidence to work even harder to make sure we stay league champs.”

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