Scotch Plains Wrestlers Compete in District XI Quarterfinals

Ask any wrestler and he'll tell you that this is the most exciting time of the year. It's tournament time, and the Scotch Plains matmen were hard at work Friday night trying to make the cut.

Win and you're in. Lose and your season is over. 

Nine school districts are competing in the two-day tourney being held at Westfield High School. Along with the Raiders, the lineup includes Westfield, Elizabeth, Linden, Brearley, Newark Central, Rahway, Cranford and Shabazz. 

A young Raider team is beginning to make its mark, and for SP-F, it started out with the four-seed Lucas Cimafonte, who defeated Rahway's Keith McCarthy in extra time to close out an exciting match to advance to Saturday's semi-final round in the 103-pound class. 

"I wrestled kind of sloppy," Cimafonte said. "It went into overtime. I came out with a takedown."

Cimafonte is 8-14 over the winter campaign, and despite his record, he is just a freshman, and based on his win Friday, is improving with every match.  

"I wrestled since fifth-grade, but this is a whole other realm, it's so much tougher," he said. "I still have to make weight. I'm hoping I come out with a medal and make it to regions."  

At 140 pounds, the quickly improving Mike Steinfeld is moving up the ladder in a hurry. The sixth-seed defeated fourth-seeded Eric Knight of Cranford, which sets up a meeting with top-seed Dan Ries, a daunting task for the Raider sophomore, who has been pinned twice by Ries already this winter. 

"This was a huge victory for me," said Steinfeld , who is now 22-11 on the season. "This kid pinned me in the beginning of the season, he held me down on bottom, something I hate. This win really shows my growth more than anything. Ries is an excellent wrestler. It's more of a measuring stick for me just to see how I can hang with the best." 

Steinfeld is getting an education with each and every match and he couldn't be happier. 

"I'm learning mat sense. There's other great guys out there," he said. "Every time, even with the practices, with all the work, cutting weight, I just prove it to myself every time I go out there how much I love wrestling, and how great I want to become at it. Every time I win, every time I lose, I try to come off the mat a better person and a better wrestler than I came on the mat."

Sophomore Andrew Jacobs got the job done at 215 for SP-F. He beat Jeremy Portillo of Elizabeth to earn the score and record his 18th victory of the winter season. 

"He was getting called for stalling a lot, so I had to keep working the sides," said Jacobs. "I had to ride him out for the last period." 

Finally, at 275, freshman Anthony Tufaro was a winner as the 6th-seed  over Carlos Cardenas of Elizabeth, and will next face top-seed Joe Brady of Cranford in the semi-final. Tufaro's brother Mike will be bowling in the Tournament of Champions Saturday as well. 

"I just went as hard as I could," Tufaro said. "I knew districts were coming up. I knew it was going to be tough, but he put up a good fight. I love it. I love wrestling. I hope that I win but if I don't, I won't be upset because I have three more years to do this."

Other winners were No. 3 seed Sean Cannon at 130 and senior Josh Foote at 145.  

"This is always tough because we have guys that lose and they're done for the season, especially for the seniors," said Raiders 8thyear coach John Scholz. "We work our tail off all the way from the day after Thanksgiving to districts and continue on all the way through."

Top-seed Tristan Bundy had a bye at 125 and will be in action Saturday. The semi-finals are scheduled for 10 a.m., consolations at 1 p.m. and the finals for 2 p.m.