1-point win over Kinnelon salvages brutal weekend for GRHS wrestling team

A thrilling, one-point win over host Kinnelon at the end of Saturday’s quad meet against Kinnelon, Morris Knolls and Cedar Grove salvaged a brutal weekend for the Glen Rock wrestling team as it prevented what would have otherwise been a four-match losing streak over a 24-hour period beginning Friday night.

Senior Jacob Slump’s pin at 195 pounds gave Glen Rock a 13-point lead with three matches remaining, but since Kinnelon did not have a 106-pound wrestler, they were forced to forfeit that weight class, meaning even with two pins in the other two matches, Kinnelon could not catch up. Glen Rock won, 36-35.

The victory stopped a three-match losing streak that started Friday night in a dual match against River Dell, which was the first loss of the season after a 3-0 start. It grew with losses to first Morris Knolls and then Cedar Grove Saturday before the win over Kinnelon.

“I honestly think we could potentially be 4-0 the last two days if we get pinned a little bit less,’’ Glen Rock coach Corey Fitzpatrick told Glen Rock News Today. “Giving up pins and bonus points is the difference. (Against River Dell) it was 7-7 split in victories; they had five pins, we had two. I think we’re pretty close to these teams. These are good teams – the kind of competition you want to wrestle against.’’

The week upcoming sees Glen Rock (4-3) on the road Wednesday at Leonia (0-3) and away at daunting Emerson Park-Ridge (9-0). Despite the rough weekend, Fitzpatrick is bullish on the Panthers’ future.

“If you look at our schedule coming up ahead, we do have Emerson-Park Ridge, which is very, very good, but all the other teams – I don’t think our schedule ahead, any of these teams are as good as the ones we’ve already faced,’’ he said. “So when we get to those teams we’ll be battle-tested.’’