Sophomore 145-pounder Dave Bush (left) took second last Saturday at the Kearny Holiday Invitational Tournament, a year after winning 24 matches as a freshman, the second highest freshman total in school history.

Kearny wrestling team packed with veterans

By Jim Hague

The Kearny High School wrestling team opened the 2009-10 season on Saturday by hosting the Kearny Holiday Invitational Tournament, an event where the Kardinals finished an impressive second overall, just behind team champion St. Benedict’s Prep of Newark.

Veteran head coach Tony Carratura was pleased with his team’s performance.

“I don’t know if we were expecting to finish second, but we do have a good group of guys back from last year,” Carratura said. “For some of them, you could see they were a little rusty. But I think we’re going to get better. They did a great job in finishing second to a good team. I also like that we have 44 kids out this year for the team, which is one of the highest numbers we’ve ever had. So that’s a good sign.”

But the best sign is the host of talented wrestlers that return to the Kardinal lineup from a year ago, including the Nash twins, seniors J.T. and Billy, who have been deemed eligible to wrestle after having to sit out the football season due to disciplinary reasons.

“We were actually planning on going into the season without them, because we didn’t know what was going to happen,” Carratura said.

At the tournament Saturday, Billy Nash won the 189-pound weight class and J.T. finished second at 171 pounds. The two have been steady performers for the Kearny wrestling program and should be able to finish their careers off in style. J.T. Nash will be approaching the 100-win plateau very shortly.

Another key returnee is senior 125-pounder Billy Dimos, who also won his weight class at the Kearny Tournament on Saturday. Dimos won 27 matches last year and should be one of the team’s leaders this season.

“Dimos is a four-year wrestler for us and he gives stability to our lighter weights,” Carratura said.

Another winner over the weekend was junior Brandon Barrett, who captured the title at 135 pounds. Barrett may be the most improved wrestler in the Kearny camp, earning the Most Outstanding Wrestler at the Kearny tourney.

“He’s already made a big impact and I expect big things from him,” Carratura said of Barrett, who won his championship match in overtime.

Senior Miguel Matos, who has also been a steady contributor to the program over the last three years, has returned at 140 pounds. Matos, who won 25 matches and finished second in the NJSIAA District 16 tourney last year, finished second at the Kearny tourney.

Another wrestler who took second was 145-pound sophomore Dave Bush, who won 24 matches last year as a freshman. Only former state champion David Cordoba, now the coach at St. Mary’s of Rutherford, won more matches as a freshman at Kearny. Bush lost the Kearny tourney title with just 16 seconds left, but he’s a promising wrestler who should do some great things this season as well.

Junior Josh Gonzalez is the team’s 215-pounder. Gonzalez won 12 matches a year ago in a breakthrough season, wrestling at both 215 pounds and heavyweight, and he finished third at the tourney over the weekend.

Freshman Matt Ferguson is the team’s 103-pounder, with senior Louis Cruz, who missed all of last season due to injury, at 112.

Junior Anthony Caricus is the Kards’ 119-pounder, with senior Nick Machado at 130. Machado has been a steady wrestler in his career, collecting 70 career wins.

Senior Brian Rosario will eventually be the Kards’ 160-pounder. A transfer from Chicago, Rosario has been battling a leg injury in the early going.

Senior Sergio Felipe and junior Fernando Carrillo are sharing time currently at 152 pounds.

The heavyweight duties will fall on junior Barry Jimenez.

“He’s an aggressive wrestler, but he’s still learning,” Carratura said. “He moves well on his feet.”

The Kardinals will now move to a very busy and hectic regular season. Carratura always schedules the most competitive slate for his wrestlers, competing in as many as 30 dual meets, easily the biggest total of matches in northern New Jersey. Carratura believes that his wrestlers get better competing rather than training and working out against each other, so he books a full slate.

This year is no exception, with matches against Hanover Park, Sayreville, Paramus, Livingston, West Orange and Bloomfield on tap, not to mention the challenges of wrestling inside the new North Jersey Tri-County Conference, replacing the old Watchung Conference.

“I personally liked the Watchung and the challenges we had there,” Carratura said. “But we look forward to facing the Hudson County schools.”

St. Peter’s Prep looms as the favorite among the local programs.

“I think we have a lot of promise and we have a good team,” Carratura said. “We just have to see what happens.”

Apparently, by the results over the weekend being the barometer, good things are going to happen this season for the Kearny wrestling program.