By Andy Loigu

Like the Beatles, Alex Carida got by with a little help from his friends on Sunday. His friends were made up of a very vocal crowd that made their way south for the state wrestling championships.

The Hackettstown senior finished his stellar wrestling career with a school record 141 victories. The final one, at Atlantic City’s famed and historic Boardwalk Hall, gave him the third place medal at 145 pounds in the state championships. He finished with a 45-2 record for his senior season and now looks forward to continuing wrestling in college at Bloomsburg in Pennsylvania.

He turned the tables and vindicated himself against the same opponent who pinned him in the Saturday semifinal, by controlling the entire bout and winning a 7-2 decision over Luke Gauthier of Lacey Township on Sunday afternoon.

What was the difference this time? “The coaches told me to stay out of ties, to go with a lot of low shots,” he said. “He likes to throw, so I had to guard against getting caught again. I’m happy that I could come back after getting pinned, to win this medal for all the people from Hackettstown who came here to show support for me.”

Despite the stormy early March weather, the Tiger faithful were there in large numbers and full voice.

To get his shot at redemption, he needed to defeat Delbarton’s Travis Tavoso in the consolation semifinal. He accomplished that with style by a 5-0 score.

Belvidere’s Quinn Melofchik put the finishing touches on a 40-4 junior season by earning a 7th place medal at 106 pounds. “At least seventh is better than eighth,” he said, after his 4-3 win over Vince Santaniello, which earned him the 15th state medal in Big Red’s proud wrestling history. A wrestler who has usually worked nimbly on his feet to gain the first takedown and then avoid getting turned the rest of the way, Melofchik followed his game plan, scoring takedowns in the first two periods and then defending well.

“I had good setup and got in on his legs twice,” he said, as he looks forward to baseball season and playing centerfield for Big Red.

The Hackettstown boys and Warren Hills girls basketball seasons had the exact same unhappy result on Monday night, a loss in the sectional final to finish with a 19-9 record.

Warren Hills lost 55-47 to Somerville in the North 2 Group 3 championship game.

Hackettstown trailed Newark Central 27-12 at halftime and tried to rally, but came up short, by a 56-39 score, despite 10 points from Tyler Gorczyca. The winners displayed a well balanced offense with three players scoring in double figures and everyone on the floor played an aggressive ball-hawking defense.