John Jay Completes Comeback Victory Over Byram Hills

On Thursday January 18, John Jay faced Byram Hills at John Jay High School and fell behind 31-18 on Joe Barbuto's pin off Alex Federice at 160 pounds. So the Wolves didn’t have much margin for error… Or they had the Byram Hills Bobcats exactly where they wanted them.

Jake Llanos got a second period pin, James Dachik won a 10-4 decision and Craig Holm-Joergensen actually welcomed being the final arbiter of the day. “Excited,” said the 190 pounder, “I was the one who decided if we would win or lose the match.” And his first period pin gave the Wolves a 33-31 lead on the way to a 39-31 comeback victory.

After John Jay received a forfeit at 101 pounds, Nicholas Fortugno evened the score up with a pin. But Jon Aniello made sure the Bobcats didn’t open up the big lead just yet.

At 116 pounds, theWolf wrestler came in and hung back. “He shot on me, I sprawled out and got the takedown,” said the first year varsity wrestler.

Then on top, he always sees the upside of the view. “I know I’m more dominant in the top postion,” he said, and a roll through tilt got him the pin one minutes and 15 seconds into the match.

From here, though, Byram would go on a big roll. Vince Palermiti pinned Nate Nosworthy, Neil Paulercio defeated Joe Gabriele by a score of 9-4, Dillon Connolly pinned Wyatt Gierer, Peter Hinze won a 16-3 major decision over Austin Omin and Barbuto opened up the 13 point lead.

The only victory in the string came from Deven Comstock. A 0-0 tie versus Anthony Nikolakakos after one period, Comstock made the most of starting down in the second. “I knew he was reaching a lot so I baited him. I stood up, and the second he reached back, I dropped my level and slammed him down,” said the 138 pounder.

A second period pin, the way back for John Jay began with Llanos. Another 0-0 tie after one, the 170 pounder quickly gave Roman Lombardo a wake up call by escaping from the bottom position. The take down was next, and thirty seconds in, Llanos showed the Bobcat the ceiling.

A 31-24 score, James Dachik wrestled the pivotal match. Taken down at the outset by Thor Giudice, Dachik responded with an escape and a takedown of his own to end the period.

Up 3-2, he scored a reversal and sent Giudice to his back on the way to a 10-4 victory. Still winded after the highly emotional match, the senior credited his teammates for getting him through the daily grind of the sport. “They always help push me to the next level,” he assured.

Now 31-27, Holm-Joergensen didn’t let his teammates linger beyond the first period. “I took him down. I sprawled, threw a cross face, got behind and got my two points,” he said. “Then I hit him with a head lever and pinned him from that point.”

Only 41 seconds to take care of business, Joe Ferrer then received a forfeit, and in the end, Dachik made the comeback victory sound straightforward. “We were down, but we were never out,” he concluded.

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