As the lights slowly dimmed in the Rahway High School gymnasium, the music from the speakers gradually rose to its maximum volume, bringing the fans’ attention to the Rahway wrestlers who ran through the doors, energy fueled by the crowd. Regardless of not playing in their home gym, the Westfield wrestling team remained determined to maintain their strong mentality and come out on top. Despite their full efforts, the Blue Devils fell short to Rahway 30-48.
Heading into the match, the Blue Devils entered with key wrestlers who were injured, including senior quad-captain Jake Zemsky. As a result, head coach Glen Kurz decided to bump all of his wrestlers up a weight class, a strategic move given the holes in the lineup. Although this move did not guarantee the win, he acknowledged his team’s dedication: “There were some kids who didn’t finish practice yesterday because they were a little bit banged up and today, we asked who was ready to go, and there was no hesitation.”
One standout performance of the match was senior Nik Speronza. With Speronza as the last wrestler and Westfield already down 24-42, he did not go into his match with the mindset that they had already lost. Ultimately, he closed the match with a strong pin, gaining Westfield six points. However, Westfield had to forfeit their final match due to Zemsky’s injury, giving Rahway six additional points.
Speronza credited Westfield’s lighter-weight classes’ strong performance, with senior quad-captain Daniel Berardi, junior Anthony Cabrera and senior quad-captain Josh Semler winning their matches by pin, putting Westfield up 24-7. Speronza said, “We wrestled hard. Our goal is to carry that energy into the rest of the season.”
After these few matches, their lead started to slip away. Kurz and Berardi acknowledged that while everyone stayed strong on the mat, there are still key aspects they need to work on. “There are some matches where it’s a toss and it could go either way, and we gave up big points in those critical moments,” said Kurz. “One move on the mat made a big difference. We have to know not to give up big bonus points.”
Berardi agreed, “We definitely need to work on fighting off our back, and we need to get healthy because injuries kind of screwed us over a bit tonight.” Semler acknowledged similar necessary improvements, yet emphasized, “People also know what they did well, and that’s the biggest takeaway.”
Kurz mentioned that Rahway is always a big match on their schedule every year, as they are one of the best teams in the county. “We competed well with them, and we’re ready for who’s next,” he said.
The Blue Devils will use this loss to channel their energy into the next upcoming match against Howell on Dec. 23 at Howell. Kurz said, “With a loss, you learn from it, you put it aside and you get better.”
