Bengals Can't Keep Momentum, Fall to West Orange Wrestling, 47-25

West Orange High School wrestling team coach Steve Zichella knows how tough Bloomfield can be. So Tuesday night’s match with the Bengals was a pretty significant event – especially with the very full schedule the Mountaineers will face  in the remainder of January.

The Mountaineers improved to 3-1 with a 47-25 victory over the Bengals, who fell to 1-3.

West Orange will face a very good West Essex team on the road Friday night and then compete in the Walter Woods Tournament at Middletown North High School. The Mountaineers then have Caldwell next Wednesday, Livingston Friday and a Saturday quad Jan. 22 with Nutley, Kearny and Cliffside Park.

Beating Bloomfield was a good start.

“The kids for the most part battled and competed,’’ said Zichella. “We maxed up out on power points (for qualifying for the North Jersey I, Group IV playoffs). Plus when you wrestle Bloomfield you know you’re going to face a team in great shape, well coached, tough.’’

The Mountaineers received forfeits at 103, 112, 140 and 215 pounds with sophomore Nikolas Holandz, freshman Jordan Velez, senior Cameron DeMarco and senior George Christian picking up the wins. The teams split the 10 bouts that were wrestled on the mat.

Bloomfield opened the match with a victory from senior Chris Rosetti, who scored a 16-5 major decision over senior Dallas Sellers at 119. West Orange answered with a fall in just 1:38 from senior Dawit Rutty (125) and a major decision from junior Des Fried (130) over senior Mark Reyes. Fried, coming off a third-place finish at Saturday’s Newark Academy Tournament and a tough overtime loss in the semifinal round to Delbarton’s Jorge Lopez, is 9-1 with six falls and two major decisions.

Rutty pinned Bengal junior Michael-John Costantino, who came into the bout with an 8-1 record. Costantino was the outstanding wrestler at last month’s Bloomfield Tournament. Rutty is 8-1 with six falls.

“Rutty is a tough kid, man, a tough, tough kid,’’ said Zichella. “Costantino is pretty good. That was a really good win for Dawit.’’

Bloomfield received a fall at 135 where sophomore Nathaniel Garcia pinned junior Nigel Brown before DeMarco’s forfeit. Senior 145-pounder Zach White, a runner-up at Newark Academy, knocked off sophomore Chris Collado 6-2. Bloomfield’s senior Cavan Penberthy won by fall at 152 and senior Mike Cumming won at 160 before West Orange senior 171 pounder Pascal Louis won by fall and sophomore Joseph Bibbo won by fall at 189. Bloomfield sophomore Adam Wooten capped the match with a first period fall at 285.

Bloomfield plays host to Belleville Friday night before a quad meet Saturday morning with North Bergen, Passaic Valley and Ridgefield Park in North Bergen.