In the pure darkness of the Cranford gym, the rhythm of the drums set the stage for the impending showdown. One single light pierced the shadows, casting a glow onto the mat below, heightening the anticipation among the electrified crowd. Tensions rose high as Westfield faced the Cougars, the number one team in the conference. Positioned at opposite sides of the mat, the teams faced each other, eyes interlocked in a fierce battle, escalating the intensity that had already arisen between them.
Going into the matchup, Westfield “didn’t have the illusions of beating [Cranford],” said head coach Glen Kurz. Though the ending of this match ended as expected, the Blue Devils put up a good fight against the Cougars. The final score was 65-3, which hardly reflected Westfield’s performance. Throughout the weight classes, there were multiple exciting, close matches which were only ended by an abrupt pin, and there were many which Westfield could not supply a wrestler, automatically awarding Cranford 6 points each time.
The 3 points were earned by senior Max Rotter, who won his 126 lbs. bout 11-5 after completing 3 rounds. “Individually, I was pretty happy,” commented Rotter, “But I mean it kind of sucks when you’re watching all your teammates lose; it’s never fun.” Rotter had also recently won the 120 weight class at the Union County Tournament last Saturday, topping a Rahway wrestler 8-3.
Another standout wrestler for Westfield was junior Dylan Sontz. He said his “mindset coming into today’s match was to compete, and although the scoreboard was bad from a viewers standpoint, I think a lot of us competed the best we could.” Sontz was the last matchup to compete in the Westfield defeat. Despite knowing the outcome of the overall match he did not let up intensity, and even went past regulation time during his matchup.
Sontz’s match was a very thrilling and attention grabbing finale for the night, and the momentum swayed back and forth between him and the Cranford wrestler. By the end of his match, going past the normal time, it was a battle of endurance. “We do a lot of conditioning in the practice room, and we do a lot of extra conditioning to get down on weight so we are prepared when it comes to the 3rd round of a match” said Sontz. Despite losing his match, Sontz put up a great fight, and still performed well against a strong Cranford lineup.
In the future, Kurz hopes his players will “wrestle with a little more intensity and a little more belief in [themselves].” The Blue Devils look to bring this intensity in their matchup against David Brearley High School at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday.
