Sports

Delays Don't Stop Wrestling From Beating Rahway

WHS team wins 38-28.

The wait was ultimately worth it.

The Westfield High School wrestling team was to face Rahway Wednesday at 5 p.m in a season-opening dual meet The starting time was pushed back to 7 p.m. then when the scheduled referee was hospitalized, another delay ensued as a back-up was found. And then, there were 16 junior varsity bouts before the varsity took the mat. The obstacles didn't hurt the Blue Devils.

Despite forfeiting three weights, Westfield managed to beat Rahway 38-28 -- the second straight year its happened after having not beaten Rahway since 1994. But this is supposed to be a rebuilding year for coach Glen Kurz' team.
Westfield won eight of the 11 bouts wrestled. The Blue Devils forfeited three weights, which gave Rahway a free 18 points.

Find out what's happening in Westfieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Still, the Blue Devils had enough.

"We got something here,'' said Kurz. "They (Rahway) are a little bit down, so this isn't like one of their teams of five years ago when they had kids like (Darrion) Caldwell and (Ryan) Wilson. But they are still a tough team.''

Find out what's happening in Westfieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Junior Christian Barber, who won the Nutley Tournament title last Saturday at 140 pounds, followed that up by bumping up to 145 pounds and beating defending District 11 champ Diego Chavez by major decision. The 145-pound bout was the last of a long night.

"We really worked hard over the summer and we were really looking forward to the season,'' said Barber, who won the District 11 title at 135 last year. "The team really stepped up.''

Kurz was especially pleased with his team's temperement as it waited and waited -- and waited to get going.

"Head-to-head winning eight of the 11, we were in control from the start,'' Kurz said. "And the kids who lost kept it close.''

Freshman Austin Slifer (103), sophomore Mike Kalimtzis (112), senior Chris Tomasso (171) and senior Bill Kim (189) had pins. Sophomore Troy Skibitsky (125) and Barber had major decision wins, giving the Blue Devils four points apiece.

Senior Brian Henry moved up to 152 and scored a 5-1 win over Brian Pyrus.

"We have good kids,'' Kurz said. "But we have too many holes. We can't be a great team since we're giving up too many points. But we can be a competitive, good team.''


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here