Sports

Wednesday, January 25, 2023

The Observer n www.theobserver.com

9 SPORTS & RECREATION

Damian Weaver, Jimmy Mullen claim second Bergen County wrestling championships

Damian Weaver

Photo by Jason Bernstein

By Jason Bernstein jason@theobserver.com

Damian Weaver and Jimmy Mullen once again made history at the BCCA George Jockish Bergen County Wrestling Tournament.

On Sunday at Rockland Community College in Suffern, NY, Weaver, Lyndhurst’s star middleweight, won his second Bergen County championship when he defeated Westwood’s Gavin Seiler by a 7-1 decision in the 157-pound final.

A year earlier, Weaver won the Bergen County title at 150 pounds becoming Lyndhurst’s first county champion since 2000.

“It means a lot to me. Not too many people get to say they are a two-time Bergen County champ,” Weaver said. “But none of this is possible without any of my coaches.

“I’m blessed with great coaches who are constantly pushing me and staying on top of me in practice to push me to my limits.”

Weaver’s title capped off a brilliant weekend for the uncommitted senior. On Saturday’s first day, he was selected as the Most Outstanding Wrestler in the Public A pod, winning three consecutive matches by pin.

A few matches later, Mullen, the Kearny native and St. Joseph Regional star joined Weaver in the select company of multi-time winners. Mullen repeated as the 285-pound champion, defeating Paramus Catholic’s Max Acciardi, by an 8-1 decision.

Mullen, a two-time state champion and Virginia Tech commit, defeated Acciardi in last year’s 285-pound final by decision as well.

In total, the Lyndhurst-North Arlington team had three medal winners. In addition to Weaver, Kieran McNeil took fifth at 126 pounds and Tommy Montillo finished eight at 175 pounds.

Also, at Rockland Community College, the BCWCA hosted the Bergen County Invitational, its fourth annual girls wrestling tournament, which is open to all New Jersey schools

Bloomfield’s legendary Kira Pipkins took home her fourth Bergen County title when she defeated Newton’s Liliana Zaku-Ramos, 4-1, in the 126 pound final. Pipkins, a threetime state champion, also became the first New Jersey girls wrestler to win 100 matches. Bloomfield’s Reno Prochilo won the 185 pound championship when she pinned Jade Hahn of Donovan Catholic in the final.

At 114 pounds, Ava Krzykalski of Lyndhurst took third place when she pinned Nutley’s Mariah Koster in the third place match.

Koster and the Bloomfield duo of Leanna Noel (152 pounds) and Saharia Quamina (185) all took fourth place in their respective weight classes.

On-court ‘incident’ leads to Kards being banned from NJSIAA boys’ basketball tournament

By Jason Bernstein jason@theobserver.com

The Kearny boys’ basketball team has been barred from the upcoming state tournament because of an on-court incident that occurred during the Kardinals’ game against University Academy Charter on Jan. 10.

Kearny received the news from the NJSIAA a few days after reviewing the events from that game.

“Of course it’s disheartening. The kids have been working hard all season, and had a solid record,” Kardinals athletic director Vincent Almeida said. “It was an unfortunate incident. One bad decision has affected two teams in a game that seemed under control, a routine, normal game.”

Early in the fourth quarter of Kearny’s 49-30 win, a player on the University Academy Charter reportedly punched a Kardinals player in the face. Players on the floor convened, but no further punches were thrown. The game was halted at that point with Kearny under the impression no one had been ejected besides for the one University player who threw a punch.

However, further discussion and review by the officials determined multiple players from both teams had left the bench and walked onto the court, which according to the National Federation of High School Sports is an automatic ejection.

NJSIAA rules state any team that has three or more ejections during a season is automatically disqualified from the state tournament. It was determined four Kearny players had wandered away from the bench and onto the court.

State rules also mandate players ejected from a game are automatically suspended for the next two games, which for Kearny were losses to Hoboken and Bayonne.

“Anyone who did walk onto the court did not do it to escalate the situation or harm anyone,” Almeida said. “They were not rushing to the group or anything, they were simply drawn in by watching and walking toward it. There was no intention to enter the fracas, but the rules are the rules. We’re going to do a better job of making sure we’re more aware that when an unexpected situation occurs that our players do the right thing.”

The incident is an unfortunate and shocking turn of events for a Kearny team that was enjoying an unexpectedly strong start to the season despite facing significant adversity.

Despite the loss of last season’s leading scorer William Mullins as he battles Leukemia, the Kardinals were 7-2 at the time of the NJSIAA’s decision, matching the win total of the previous two years.

Kearny was in position to potentially qualify for the state tournament for the first time since 2017, which was the last season in which the Kardinals had finished with a winning record. According to Almeida, the incident does not affect the team’s eligibility for next month’s Hudson County Tournament.