Jon Mason Jr - West Orange @ Passaic Tech (North 1 Group 5 Sectional Quarterfinal) - 2/5/2024

WIN by Major decision 10-2 over Carlos Acevedo of Passaic County Technical Institute

138 lbs for West Orange High School

In my opinion, THIS was my best match of the season. There's a backstory here. In the sectional tournament last year, I choked. We were the 7 seed facing 2 seed Clifton, and lost the dual 39-36. I got pinned in just 35 seconds by Najiti Salim. While he was known to be pretty good, I thought I could've competed better, like I did against Juan Millan in our dual against Bloomfield which we'd lost 37-32. The score was kept close by me holding him to a decision win. Both wrestlers had placed at their district but got packed up pretty quick at regions, making them at pretty even levels on paper. One less pin would've left the Clifton match tied, while two less would've gotten us the win. I felt like I hadn't done my job, and even cried a little at home that night.

Going into the off season, the goal I was working towards wasn't necessarily a placement at counties, or a spot at regions, but doing my part to help the team win the sectional title and get a ring & cool banner in the wrestling room. A lot of my teammates thought I was crazy, but as we neared the beginning of the season, the lineup we were putting together looked rather competitive. Unfortunately injuries and sickness would deplete our lineup and change that DRASTICALLY. Individually there were also some matches I could've won to help us win more duals and boost up our seeding, or my own for individual tournaments (Caldwell, Nutley, Livingston, Union, etc). WO barely squeezed into the tournament as the 8th seed, and had to face 1 seed PCTI. On paper they weren't very good, and we could've definitely competed with them healthy.

The match that night had started at 144. With the injuries it had become common for me to bump up to 138 instead of wrestling at my normal 132, meaning I'd be the last match of the night. What could've been the decider in a close match was ultimately what would be considered "garbage time" in wrestling as we were down 44-15. Nonetheless it meant I had nothing to lose. Despite being taken down in the first 10 seconds of the match and being "mat returned from hell", as Coach Spina put it, I came back and "broke" that kid with one of most dominant matches ever. When I was down in the beginning I kept saying in my head "I'm winning this match. not you!" My coach said that even though the other young man looked like a better wrestler, I was tougher mentally. It may sound corny, but I think I just wanted it more. Despite the team loss, this was a big personal win for me, as I had done my job in sectionals. This would begin undoubtedly my best week for the WO wrestling program as I went 4-1 leading up to districts.







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