The Golden Griffins were turned down by the Appellate Court in Bergen County to overturn the NJSIAA ruling that said Queen of Peace is ineligible for state team tournaments this year and next year. The school has decided not to take the case further in the court system.

With Queen of Peace not eligible for the team award in the district tournament last weekend, the Golden Griffins still put 11 wrestlers into this weekend’s regionals at West Orange High School.

"We didn’t win the appeal and that was the protocol that we had to take," said Queen of Peace head coach Scot Weaver who is in his first year as Golden Griffins coach for the new program. "We weren’t involved in the legal part of the case. We just went out and wrestled. The kids were not distracted and just went out and did the best they could…We are just going to get them to Atlantic City (state finals) and into college."

Frank Cagnina led the title parade for Queen of Peace at 112 pounds with Matt Fusco at 125, Glen Cannici at 135, Mike Trasso at 140, Dominic Maurillo at 145, Vinnie Maurillo at 152 and Jamie Westwood at 171 also taking district titles.

The other wrestlers that qualified for Queen of Peace were Anthony Perrotti at 103, Dominick Martinez at 119, Trevor McKenzie at 160 and Mike Scrozzo at 189.

Along with Queen of Peace’s 11 wrestlers heading to the regionals, Rutherford has sent five wrestlers and St. Mary’s three wrestlers. The Bulldogs had three district winners in Rob Fecanin at 130, Charles DeCarlo at 160 and Nick Zurla at 189 took home the weight titles at District 15 at Becton High School. Bryan Brown and Jesse Kolich at 125 and 135 won the consolation matches in their weight class for the Bulldogs.

The Becton/Wallington co-op team had three wrestlers heading to the regionals in Szyman Popek who finished second at 215, Emmanuel Villanueva who took the consolation match at 112 and Steven Kein at 145 where he finished second and lost 7-6 to Elliot Garcia of Clifton in the final.

While Weaver lauded the district champions, he points to Martinez and Scrozzo as the biggest surprises of his group in making the regionals.

"Scrozzi is a sophomore and Martinez is a freshman so it just shows that hard work will pay off," said Weaver who is hoping to move all 11 down to the state finals in Atlantic City, but realistically is looking at nine wrestlers going down to Atlantic City.

The biggest disappointment for Weaver and Queen of Peace came at 130 with sophomore Pete Ruiz who injured his shoulder in the semi-final match where he was pinned by Alex Berkovic of Montclair. He could not go in the consolation final and missed out on making the regionals.

While all the other South Bergenite wrestling schools were at Becton High School, Queen of Peace was shipped out to Livingston in Essex County. "It was strange because we were the only Bergen County team at the districts," said Weaver. "Lyndhurst/North Arlington was sent to Becton and I thought that’s where we were going to be."