Lakewood duo cements reputations in A.C.

Lakewood duo cements reputations in A.C.

PHOTOS JEFF GRANIT staff Lakewood’s Matt Rizzo celebrates his upset over undefeated Joe Bubenheimer of Woodbridge in the quarterfinals of the state tournament on Saturday in Atlantic City.

BY DOUG McKENZIE

Staff Writer

The Lakewood High School duo of juniors Matt Rizzo and Oscar Orellano entered the state wrestling tournament last weekend under different circumstances.

Orellano came in with an accomplished résumé and was expected to compete for the 135-pound title after a solid postseason showing last year. Add to that his 26-1 mark this year, which included both district and region titles, and his third seed in the top bracket was certainly warranted.

Lakewood’s Oscar Orellano looks to escape from Jefferson’s Dan Vallimont during their 135-pound quarterfinal bout in A.C. on Saturday.

Rizzo, however, entered the tournament as somewhat of an unknown. The Pennsylvania product enjoyed his first season of wrestling in New Jersey, accumulating a 31-2 mark and winning district and region titles along the way, but was still not mentioned in the same breath as some of the best grapplers in the state.

"No one really knew about him coming in," first-year head coach Aaron Gottesman said. "But he started to make some waves when he beat [Southern Regional’s Rob] Hickman in the districts and again in the regions. But the seeding criteria in the state tournament is based primarily on last year’s tournament, so he wasn’t as high a seed as he could have been."

In fact, his seeding wasn’t as high as it should have been, as Rizzo was given the fifth seed in the lower bracket of the 125-pound weight class — making him possibly the most dangerous fifth seed in the tournament.

And he proved it right off the bat. Rizzo beat Rahway’s Ed McCray, 8-4, in the Round of 16 on Friday, and then came back on Saturday to score one of the biggest upsets in the tournament by knocking off Woodbridge’s Joe Bubenheimer in the quarterfinals. Bubenheimer entered the match undefeated and as the No. 1 seed in the lower bracket.

"He was supposed to wrestle Bubenheimer over the summer in a tournament, but that never happened," Gottesman said. "But we were familiar with his style and thought he matched up well with Matt."

Rizzo proved his coach prophetic with his 9-6 win over Bubenheimer in a match he took control of early. The victory sent shockwaves through the Convention Center and served as an official coming-out party for the talented junior from Lakewood.

Unfortunately, his win earned him a match with Nick Bridge of Absegami, the top seed. Rizzo wrestled well, but fell to the eventual 125-pound champ, 6-3.

"That match was a little bit closer than that," Gottesman said. "Matt actually had him in a headlock at one point, but got rolled out of it. It was quite a match. The whole building was watching that match."

Following his loss to Bridge, Rizzo dropped his consolation semifinal to Bergen Catholic’s Bryan Nunziato, 8-4, but showed the resolve that got him to Atlantic City by winning his fifth-place match over Newark Academy’s Jerome Greco, 6-5, on a last-minute escape.

"Ultimately, Matt fell a little short of what he expected," Gottesman said. "We expected him to do well down there, even if no one else did."

As for Orellano, his showing in Atlantic City was an improvement from last year, despite his being somewhat hampered by a nagging knee injury.

"Oscar made the state tournament last year but was kind of in awe of the whole thing and was knocked out early," Gottesman said. "This year he felt more comfortable."

Orellano, who was seeded third in the top bracket at 135, got off to a good start with a pin over Cherry Hill West’s Tom Cunningham at the 3:38 mark of their Round of 16 bout. However, in the quarterfinals he ran into Jefferson’s Dan Vallimont and was beaten by the eventual 135-pound champ, 4-2 in overtime.

He then suffered another defeat in wrestlebacks to Belvidere’s Bob Whelan, 18-6.

"Oscar is going to need surgery on his knee," Gottesman said. "It’s something that has been bothering him, and after he lost that overtime match to Vallimont, it blew up like a grapefruit. I think the pain just got to be too much for him, and he couldn’t block it out anymore. He didn’t wrestle badly, but he struggled a bit and was knocked out."

Gottesman added that Orellano’s match against Vallimont solidified his status as a wrestler to watch next year.

"I expected him to well this year," the coach said. "But I think he still had some doubt in his mind. But after he saw the guy that beat him win the title I think he realized that he can wrestle with the best kids in the state.

"This was a good experience for both of these guys," Gottesman added. "They’ll use this as a springboard next year."

Only next year, neither of them will be sneaking up on anyone.