With more than 30 this season and two district medals on his resume, it would be easy to think that Matthew Pagan entered this weekend’s NJSIAA District 9 Championships at Delbarton with nothing to prove. Kearny’s star junior felt otherwise.
“I just was confident if I’m being honest, because I know how good I am. I know how much time I put in,” said Pagan. “I just walked around feeling like if I truly believe in myself, I’ll just win.”
“I know how good he is. I think it was more about proving to himself how good he is,” Kearny head coach Tony Carratura Jr. said. “He hadn’t won the districts yet. He’s been close. His freshman year, I think he took third. Last year he took second. He had to prove it to himself.”
No one leaving the gymnasium on Saturday had to be convinced as Pagan not only walked out as a District champion at 113 pounds, but was also named the OW.
“It was a really big goal of mine,” Pagan said about becoming a district champion. “Honestly, last year when I got second, I felt like it was haunting me the whole year because I knew going into my finals match last year, I just wasn’t myself. I was just so nervous and I just wasn’t prepared. I had no confidence in myself. I just knew that I had to make a change to win.”
As the top seed at 113 pounds, Pagan earned a bye into the semifinals. Once Pagan took the mat for the first time, he made quick work of Union City’s Uthman Garcia, needing just 67 seconds to earn the pin.
In the final, Pagan faced off against Delbarton’s Alex Rosciano. For six minutes, Pagan put on a clinic on how to avoid allowing points and staying in control.
“I knew that the kid was good and I knew it was going to be a really close match,” Pagan said. “So I was just trying to be as stingy as I possibly could, especially with defense because I saw he was on the attack, he was moving well on his feet, so I knew I had to be on my A game. I knew that the match was going to lead to an escape or a reversal to win.”
“He was a little emotional (after the win) obviously. And I was just like, dude, I knew you were going to do it. I know you could do this,” said Carratura Jr. “This just validates to himself how good he is.”
In case more validation is needed, Pagan’s record is now a sparkling 36-1 on the season and is set to be one of the top seeds this weekend for Region 3 at West Orange
In total, it was one of the most successful district tournaments in recent memory for The Observer area as the locals crowned nine boys district champions.
Six of them alone came from Nutley, which hosted the District 10 Championships. The six district titles are the most the Maroon Raiders have produced in one season since 2013. Juniors Aidan Rotbaum (157 pounds) and AJ Maiden (165 pounds) each won district crowns for the second straight year. Senior Christopher Cifelli also became a two-time district champion after winning the 138 pound title two years after winning the 106 pound title as a sophomore.
Seniors Patrick Chell (132 pounds) and Sean Vilchez (215 pounds) won their first ever district titles. Junior Nolan Brewer provided the most dramatic of Nutley’s six championships when he defeated Bloomfield’s Ayden Fox, 4-1, in overtime to win the 285 pound title.
Overall, Nutley took second place in District 10 team standings, narrowly edged out by Ridge, 228-213.
Also at District 10, Belleville’s Jirrard Ferrer won the 106 pounds title to improve to 29-1 on the season, defeating Gabriel Bravo of Bloomfield, 12-9.
At District 11 in Morristown, Lyndhurst-North Arlington’s Dean Silva continued his breakout season by winning the 190 pound title. The junior scored three consecutive pins on the day, capped off with a win over Morristown’s Edwin Fajardo to improve to 31-2 on the season.
In total, 24 local wrestlers qualified for the Region 3 Championships on Friday and Saturday at West Orange. Joining Silva from Lyndhurst-North Arlington are Nate Boyd (2nd, 126) and Ryan Kropp (2nd, 215). From Kearny, Sean Baignosche (2nd, 126), Izael Moya (2nd, 175) and Tyler Olechowski (3rd) punched their ticket to the regional along with Pagan.
From District 10, in addition to its six champions, Nutley had Evan Blanchard (2nd, 120), Valen DeLaney (3rd, 106) and Luke Finkelstein (3rd, 113) also qualified for West Orange. Belleville is sending a contingent of three to regions as Lorenzo Tiankee (2nd, 126) and Raileigh Fernandez (3rd, 157) will join Ferrer. Bloomfield, despite not having any district champs, have Bravo (2nd, 106), Matthew Miller (2nd, 138), Terrence Taylor (2nd, 215), Fox (2nd, 285), Aidan Matias (3rd, 126) all qualify for regions.
The big performances continued on Sunday at the inaugural Girls District Championships.
The more local champions were crowned at District 3 in Nutley as Lyndhurst-North Arlington’s Aitana Lozano defeated Nutley’s Izzy Timonera, by major decision, 15-3, to win the 100 pound title. At 145, Nutley sophomore Michelle Gavilanes won the title after defeating Lyndhurst-North Arlington’s Leia Lumba, by a 10-1 major decision in the final. All four will be competing in the North 1 Region on March 8 at Vernon.
Kearny scored another title at District 4 in Phillipsburg when Jazlene Poeck defeated Phillipsburg’s Yurri Hines-Wade by pin just 18 seconds into the final at 152 pounds.
Overall, five Kardinals are heading to the North 2 Region in Union as Poeck, Mariah Pagan (2nd, 100), Aralyn Hernandez (2nd, 132) , Maia Sierra (3rd, 126) and Carolina Paz (4th, 145) qualified, as did Belleville’s Ashly Sarceno, who took 3rd at 100.
Also at District 4, Bloomfield’s Saharia Quamina improved to 32-0 after defeating Addison Speth of Warren Hills in the 235 pound final. Adrienne Rodriguez (2nd, 107) and Lesly Sanchez (2nd, 185) also qualified for regions.
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Jason Bernstein | Observer Sports Writer
Jason Bernstein joined The Observer as its sports writer in March 2022, following the retirement of Jim Hague. He has a wealth of sports-writing experience, including for NJ Advance Media (nj.com, The Jersey Journal, The Star-Ledger.)