John Jay coach Mark Swertfager shouts encouragement. Jojo Kern tries for a reversal at the Greeley tournament.David Torres scores a takedown. Austin Omin squeezes for a pin. Jim MacLean PHOTOS
By JIM MACLEAN
It was the first home match of the season for the John Jay wrestling team and its first-year head coach Mark Swertfager as the Wolves took on rival Somers on Dec. 10. The fans came out to show their support, and the Wolves were determined to win for their coach and for the fans, but it would not be easy against a Somers lineup with some of the top wrestlers in Section 1.
John Jay trailed early on in the match, but Swertfager knew where the strength of his lineup lies, and the Wolves came through to win six-straight matches and pull away for a 47-27 victory.
“First home match, we had a large crowd and it felt great to win in front of the home fans,” admitted Swertfager. “I definitely felt the nerves, I have big shoes to fill, but once the match got underway I saw the kids were ready to go.”
Despite falling behind, John Jay has a core of senior veterans leading the way and that group was ready when it was their turn to take to the mats.
The trio of senior captains turned the match around in a hurry. Austin Omin got the rally started as he won his match by pin at 152 pounds. Next up was Jojo Kern with another victory by pin at 160 pounds, and Jake Llanos followed with a win by pin at 170 pounds. Jeffrey Quinn, Craig Holm-Jefferson and Ryker McCarthy each won their matches by forfeit to make it six-straight wins and wrap up the victory for the Wolves. David Corrales also won his match by pin at 101 pounds, and freshman John Aniello won by tech fall for the Wolves at 124 pounds.
Swertfager admits it was the senior captains Omin, Kern, Llanos and Holm-Jefferson leading the way and he expects all four of them to have a big year for the Wolves.
“Great captains leading in the room and pushing the younger guys to achieve a common goal,” Swertfager said of his three veterans. “We call it murderers row. Against Somers we were down and those three came up and went pin, pin, pin, and it’s nice to count on them every dual meet.”
John Jay also defeated North Salem to earn two victories on the day and improve to 5-1 overall on the season in dual meets.
The Wolves opened the season at the Horace Greeley dual-meet tournament Dec. 7. John Jay finished 3-1 overall as the Wolves defeated Uniondale, Carmel and Horace Greeley B, before suffering a heartbreaking loss on a tiebreaker to Collegiate.
“The kids wrestled good, but not great,” Swertfager said of the results at Greeley. “Our first tournament, still building, they know it and it showed against Somers, they were making sure we capitalized and finished the opportunities and got every point.”
Once again in the loss to Collegiate, John Jay trailed before rallying back as Omin and Llanos won their matches by pin. After a couple of forfeit wins for the Wolves, the two teams entered the final bout with John Jay trailing. It would be at 101 pounds with Corrales squaring off against a familiar opponent that had beaten him the last time they wrestled. A tough spot for a freshman, but Corrales answered the challenge and came up with a big win by major decision to end the match in a tie at 33-33.
“He is an up-and-coming freshman, one of those kids who loves the sport and worked hard all off-season,” Swertfager said of Corrales. “Against Collegiate, he had gotten pinned by that kid over the summer and he major decisioned him, that showed the growth he has made in four months. He rose to the occasion, and to have a ninth grader do that for his team in that situation says a lot about his character.”
Unfortunately, Collegiate won the match by tiebreaker criteria to advance and John Jay finished at 3-1 overall. Llanos was named team MVP of the tournament as he won all four of his matches, three of the victories by pin.
John Jay will be busy on the mats before the holidays with dual-meets and tournaments. The Wolves were set to host Irvington on Thursday, and then travel upstate to compete in the Wrangle on the Plains Tournament at Clifton Park on Saturday, Dec. 14. John Jay then competes in the Section 1 dual-meet tournament at Sleepy Hollow on Monday, Dec. 16, against RC Ketcham, New Rochelle and Sleepy Hollow. The Wolves then have the Clarkstown North tournament Saturday, Dec. 21.