Host with the Most: Home team has 4 champs, tops field, sweeps awards in District 8

In the season’s final event inside its home gymnasium, West Essex went out with a bang. Junior 165-pound standout Reid Clausi won his third title to headline a quartet of district champions as the host Knights won the unofficial team title and swept the awards at the NJSIAA/IBEW Local 102 District 8 wrestling tournament on Saturday in North Caldwell. Clausi was joined atop the medal stand by junior Joe Cutruzzula (190) and freshmen Adam Aydinov (106) and Joseph Formosa (113), who each won their first district titles. Their individual first-place finishes helped West Essex win the team title by just 6.5 points over Paramus. The NJSIAA no longer recognizes district team champions, but most individual districts continue to keep score and award team titles. Passaic Valley finished in third place, just 1.5 points behind Paramus. Clausi was also voted as the tournament’s Most Outstanding Wrestler by the coaches. Additionally, West Essex head coach Mike Markey was voted as the District 8 Coach of the Year and assistant Nick Hughes was selected as the Assistant Coach of the Year. It was a fitting conclusion to the full-team portion of the season, in which West Essex went 20-5 – including 11-1 at home – and won the North 2, Group 3 sectional title. The Knights will send nine wrestlers to next weekend’s Region 2 Tournament. “I think any time you can put a date on the board with a team championship, that’s great,” Markey said. “We had four individual champs, and we love that. It was a really competitive team race and that’s always great for a district. Getting our staff acknowledged as coaches of the year and winning the outstanding wrestler award feels really good. A lot of hard work went into that.” “The whole time we were thinking, just keep putting up points,” Clausi said. “We put our individuals first, but we wanted to win as a team. We put a bunch of guys in the finals and Joey Cutz was able to seal the deal with a pin.” Wrestling: NJSIAA District 8 Tournament, Feb. 28, 2026 West Essex junior Joe Cutruzzula won by fall in the 190-pound final during the NJSIAA District 8 wrestling tournament on Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026 at West Essex High School in North Caldwell.Bob Badders | For NJ.com Cutruzzula’s pin at 190 with two more finals left clinched the team title. As expected, Clausi (36-1) was dominant from start to finish to roll to the 165-pound title. He won by fall in the first period in all three bouts, including a 49-second pin over Fort Lee’s Ryan Kim in the final. He is undefeated against New Jersey competition this season, headlined by a pair of tight wins over Point Pleasant Boro two-time state medalist Jake Clayton and another over Blair Academy’s Joseph Schinder. Clausi has earned the results he’s been training for since falling in the blood round at last season’s state tournament. He is a two-time region runner-up, as well, and will try to cross that off his list next weekend at Mount Olive. Then it’s back to Atlantic City where he’ll have his sights set on finishing high up on the medal stand. “I put in a lot of work during the offseason,” Clausi said. “I made the trip up to KD [Training Center] in New York every day I could, and I think that changed how I wrestle. I know I can compete with all these guys. It’s just about going out and getting it done.” “It doesn’t happen by accident,” Markey said. “A lot of guys have put in a ton of work and probably none more than Reid. Now is the time we really have to focus. Nothing is going to be given to us, but he’s been training all year for this.” The championship finals began with Aydinov and Formosa winning back-to-back titles at 106 and 113. Aydinov was seeded fifth and beat the No. 4, No. 1 and No. 2 seeds to claim the 106-pound championship. He won by technical fall over No. 4 seed Liam Mehnert of Bergenfield in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, he scored a takedown with five seconds left to win 8-6 over top-seeded Peter Barbara of Leonia/Palisades Park. He blanked Passaic Valley freshman Maxwell Ormsby 7-0 in the final. “I think Adam is the perfect example of somebody who has wrestled a really tough schedule all year long,” Markey said. “He’s been knocking on the door. We’ve seen him improve and grow, and today it all came to fruition for him. You can see he’s tough; that was on display. I’m really happy for him because he’s worked hard and fought through a lot of adversity.” At 113, Formosa scored an impressive 10-0 major decision over Paramus freshman Alexandria Barskiy to win the district title. Barskiy was trying to become the first girl to win a district championship in a boys bracket. She pinned her way into the district final before Formosa denied her attempt at making history. He scored one takedown in each period and kept the dangerous Barskiy at bay through a few scrambles. Formosa won by fall in his first two bouts to reach the final. “Joseph is rock solid,” Markey said. “I’ve been looking forward to him coming up to high school for a while. What I’m most impressed with is his maturity. He’s cold as ice in matches like this.” Cutruzzula wrapped up the team title as West Essex’s fourth and final champion of the afternoon. He won by fall in all three of his bouts and pinned Passaic Valley’s Richie Breitweiser in 2:54 in the final. Cutruzzula was a district third-place finisher at 190 as a freshman and a runner-up at 165 last season. “Cutz gets better every day and that’s a product of the hard work that he put in during the offseason,” Markey said. “He’s probably unrecognizable from last year to this year. His progress has been undeniable.” Finishing second were senior Christian Bastante (126), junior Mark Farah (132), senior Dante D’Achille (144) and senior Danny Harraka (215). Junior Rocco Maglione placed third at heavyweight with a 4-1 win in sudden victory over Passaic Valley junior Yazan Monem. “It’s impossible not to call [Rocco] out, he’s come up big for us so many times this year,” Markey said. “I thought heavyweight was a really deep weight class here and he had to battle in that third-place match and pull out an overtime win over a really good wrestler. That was probably one of the most exciting wins of the day.” One of the marquee finals of the day was at 126 pounds between Bastante and Clifton junior Jarret Rodriguez. Bastante was trying to win his second district title after claiming gold at 113 pounds in 2024. He was making his fourth appearance in the district finals. Rodriguez was a runner-up at 120 pounds last season.

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West Essex Regional High School Athletics

HOST WITH THE MOST: HOME TEAM HAS 4 CHAMPS, TOPS FIELD, SWEEPS AWARDS IN DISTRICT 8

BOB BADDERS

NJ.com | 3/1/2026

PHOTO CREDIT: Brian Borchard