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Kardinal grapplers start season in solid fashion at Kearny tourney

Photo by Jim Hague The Kearny wrestling team finished second in their own tournament Saturday, trailing only state power Cranford. Front row, from left, are Dallas Sanchez, Jacob Solinski and Jaden Figueroa. Back row, from left, are assistant coach Brian McDonnell, Israel Ormaza, Adam Michaels, Alex Amorim and head coach Tony Carratura, Sr.

By Jim Hague ogsmar@aol.com

The Kearny High School wrestling team hosted their holiday tournament once again Saturday and there’s little that head coach Tony Carratura, Jr. can argue with.

That’s because the Kardinals finished second in the field of 12 highly competitive teams, trailing only perennial state powerhouse Cranford in the final team standings.

It should serve as a highly positive sign for things to come in the season that just began over the weekend. Although the Kardinals managed to only get in seven matches during the hybrid late winter/early spring season that took place last season, they really didn’t get a ton of experience from the shortened campaign.

So Carratura didn’t know how his young team would match up against some of the state’s top programs.

Now, the young coach knows.

And following in the footsteps of his late father, Tony Sr., who would rather spend his time taking his team all over the Garden State to compete instead of knocking heads against each other in a sweaty practice room, the Kardinals will have a very busy schedule for the remainder of the season.

“I’m always optimistic about my team,” Carratura said. “But things worked out pretty well for us.”

On Friday night, Carratura sat down with his assistant coach Brian McDonnell and surveyed the situation, After two weeks of competitive practices, Carratura liked the way the Kardinals shaped up before the start of the Kearny Holiday Tournament on Saturday.

“I said to Brian, ‘We could win this thing,’” Carratura said. “I could tell we were going to do well. I knew Cranford was going to be very tough, but I knew we could do well. I wanted to have a good showing and we did. I really think we exceeded expectations this weekend. It was a good sign for the rest of the season.”

The Kardinals were competitive from the first match to the last, with only Cranford staying ahead of the locals in the team standing.

Freshman Adam Ramadan is the Kardinals’ 106-pounder. In his first taste of high school wrestling, Ramadan lost his first match, but wrestled back to win three times and finish fifth.

“He honestly has the whole package you need,” Carratura said. “He has that hunger in his eyes. He’s very motivated. He’s a great kid. I expect great things from him.”

The Kards’ 113-pounder is senior Jacob Solinski, who finished fourth in his weight bracket.

“It’s only his second