UNION, NJ — For a team that lost all but one of its matches and had to deal with the adversity of not being able to wrestle in its home gymnasium because of the destruction from September’s Tropical Storm Ida, the Union High School Farmers are still well represented at this weekend’s Region 4 competition, which will take place at North Hunterdon High School, not Union this time.
Ashan Harris, Union’s 165-pound senior, placed second, while senior Darius Quarshie, at heavyweight, and sophomore Daniel Collin, at 175 pounds, finished third in the District 14 competition at South Plainfield on the weekend of Feb. 19.
Union head coach Dino DeBellonia was ecstatic.
“We had six wrestlers compete, and three of them advanced, so I’m very pleased,” DeBellonia said. “It was a tough district, so that’s a feather in our cap.”
Host South Plainfield won the district with 242 points and had five champions.
Union placed seventh out of the 10 schools with 53 points.
“With the way we struggled in dual matches, finishing seventh, I’ll take it,” DeBellonia said.
Harris, Quarshie and Collin all won two of three matches. There were no districts last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. There were super regionals and the NJSIAA tournament, which was contested at Phillipsburg High School.
The seedings for the eight regions were on Monday, Feb. 21, with competition scheduled for two days instead of three this time. Action will commence on Friday, Feb. 25, and conclude on Saturday, Feb. 26, with the finals.
Harris, now with a record of 13-2, pinned sixth-seeded Josiah Hutcheson of Plainfield in 1:22 in the 165 quarterfinals. The third seed, Harris then won a 7-4 decision against second-seeded Angel Cotto of Newark East Side High School in the semifinals.
Harris hung tough with top-seeded Tyler Balent of South Plainfield High School in the championship match before falling 5-2.
“Things are starting to come together for Ashan,” DeBellonia said. “In the finals he had a tough match against the kid from South Plainfield, but Ashan wrestled really well.”
Quarshie, Union’s winningest grappler, enters Region 4 with a 26-4 record. The third seed at heavyweight, he pinned sixth-seeded Ronald Chinchilla of Bound Brook High School in 3:53 in the quarterfinals. Quashie was then pinned by second-seeded Mathew Ihemesie of Hillside in 3 minutes in the semifinals.
Ihemesie, also a standout football player for the Comets and, like Quarshie, a senior, pinned top-seeded Josue Cordoba of Plainfield High School in 3:47 to win the weight class.
Quarshie blanked fifth-seeded James West of Ridge High School 5-0 in the third-place bout to qualify for Region 4.
“Darius did well to fight back to place third,” DeBellonia said.
Daniel Collin, who also plays football, had no pressure on him whatsoever at 175 pounds. He came in with a record of 7-17; however, he managed to win two of three matches to finish third, and his season is not finished yet.
“You send out your wrestlers, regardless of records, and you see what happens,” DeBellonia said. “Dan’s a hard worker, who is just building into this weight class. It really worked out well for him.”
Collin, the fifth seed at 175 pounds, won a major decision against fourth-seeded Alan Loja of Newark East Side High School 19-10 in the quarterfinals. Eventual champion and top seed John Ranieri of Roselle Park High School pinned Collin in exactly one minute when the two clashed in the semifinals.
Collin then found a way to defeat sixth-seeded Mathew Salinas of North Plainfield High School 14-9 in the third-place bout. Collin enters Region 4 with a record of 9-18.
Matthew Griffin at 106, Mayson Harms at 132 and Ryan Leiva at 138 also won titles for Roselle Park High School. The Panthers finished third with 141 points.
The wrestlers who advance out of region competition this weekend will move on to the season-ending NJSIAA tournament, which is back at Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall and is set to take place March 3, 4 and 5.
District 14 at South Plainfield:
• South Plainfield, 242.
• Ridge, 173.
• Roselle Park, 141.
• Bound Brook, 74.
• Brearley, 74.
• Plainfield, 72.
• Union, 53.
• Newark East Side, 50.
• North Plainfield, 41.
• 10-Hillside, 26.
Finals:
• 106: Matthew Griffin, Roselle Park, pin Nicholas Irizarry, South Plainfield, 2:59.
• 113: Jeffrey Jacome, South Plainfield, md Sean Markey, Bound Brook, 10-2.
• 120: Jacob DelVecchio, South Plainfield, pin Charlie Corbett, Ridge, 2:26.
• 126: Tim Kolshorn, Ridge, dec. Julian Irizarry, South Plainfield, 3-0.
• 132: Mayson Harms, Roselle Park, dec. Andrew Loniewski, South Plainfield, 7-0.
• 138: Ryan Leiva, Roselle Park, dec. Daniel Gonzalez-Ross, South Plainfield, 6-5.
• 144: JJ Giordano, South Plainfield, dec. Angel Mejia, Roselle Park, 2-1 (TB).
• 152: Nicholas Campagna, South Plainfield, dec. Alexander Martinez, Bound Brook, 3-1.
• 157: Tyler Hoke, Ridge, md Brenden Burgess, Plainfield, 10-0.
• 165: Tyler Balent, South Plainfield, dec. Ashan Harris, Union, 5-2.
• 175: John Ranieri, Roselle Park, dec. Adam Bowles, South Plainfield, 6-1.
• 190: Jake Fern, Ridge, pin Omar Elkhouli, North Plainfield, 2:24
• 215: Carlos Angel, Bound Brook, dec. Ryan Turner, Ridge, 10-3.
• HWT: Mathew Ihemesie, Hillside, pin Josue Cordoba, Plainfield, 3:47.
Photos Courtesy of Union High School