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Wrestling: Fernandes brothers lead Voorhees at Franklin quad

Angel D. Ospina
@AngelDOspina
Voorhees's Aidan Taylor (top) wrestles New Brunswick's Orlando Bonilla, Jr. during their 106-pound match on Saturday at Franklin.

FRANKLIN - When Michael Fernandes and his younger brothers, Scott and Lewis, of the Voorhees High School wrestling team were young, the simplest things such as watching television, would turn physical. Raising three boys all born in a four-year span is no easy task, but their father quickly turned to the sport of wrestling to channel their aggressiveness.

“When were little we had a lot of energy and my dad kind of wanted to get that out of us,” said Lewis Fernandes, the youngest of the brothers. “He put us in wrestling, and we went along with it, liked it and started working hard at it.”

Fast-forward several years and that hard work has the Fernandes brothers competing at the varsity level. On Saturday the trio helped Voorhees improve to 9-6 as the Vikings went 3-0 in a quad meet at Franklin High School.

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Voorhees earned a 61-12 win over New Brunswick, a 70-3 victory against Ridge and closed out the meet with a dominating 78-3 victory against Franklin.

“To come in here to wrestle three well-coached teams, three good programs, it is good for us to have success and get some wins,” Voorhees coach Eric Hall said.

The Fernandes brothers went 5-1 on the day and Michael Fernandes, who is one of the senior captains, remained undefeated on the season at 21-0. Michael Fernandes (170) earned two technical fall victories on Saturday and pinned Isiah Solomon of Franklin in the second period to close out his day.

“I’m a pretty dominant wrestler on top, and the bottom is not a problem for me,” Michael Fernandes said. “I didn’t wrestle varsity my freshman year, so I was able to use the time with JV as a way to improve my technique.”

Last year, Michael lost 16-6 in the consolation semifinals of the Region V Tournament to Piscataway’s Joseph Hatcher in the 152-pound bracket, but he is still hopeful he can win at regions and place at states this year.

While Michael Fernandes has been able to lead by example this season with his undefeated record, he also motivates his teammates with his relentless work ethic during practice. His brother Scott knows just how hard Michael works as the two are often paired up  to spar at practice.

Wrestling with his older brother can be tiresome, but it has helped Scott Fernandes improve tremendously. Scott Fernandes (182) pinned his first opponent on Saturday in the first period but was defeated in his second match of the day with a 5-3 loss to Ridge’s Nolan Bianchi, who just clinched the 182-pound bracket in the Somerset County Tournament last week.

Despite the tough opponent, Scott Fernandes headed into the second period scoreless at 0-0, but quickly fell behind after a takedown and reversal by the county champ. Scott Fernandes escaped late in the second period to bring the score 5-2 heading into the third and was able to add another point, but the comeback fell short as time ran out.

Voorhees' Colby Kashinski (top) and New Brunswick Zion Blanko wrestle during their 113-pound match on Saturday at Franklin.

“He’s a pretty athletic kid but I just got to work on my feet more and set up more shots,” Scott Fernandes said about the loss to Bianchi.

Scott Fernandes earned a forfeit victory in his final matchup while the youngest brother Lewis Fernandes (220) wrestled in all three matchups and pinned each of his opponents.

Lewis Fernandes pinned Javan Mercado of New Brunswick in 4:59, then pinned Jake Hendershot in the second minute of regulation and closed out his day with another pin in the first period against Franklin’s Michael Grullen.

Lewis Fernandes was strong on top the entire meet and was able to turn his opponents to get the pins. As the youngest, he already is showing promise to become the next dominant star of the wrestling team alongside Scott Fernandes once his brother Michael Fernandes graduates.

For the Fernandes brothers, wrestling has become a staple of the family that has made the three brothers closer than they ever could have imagined.

“We’re really close so everything we do is typically the same,” Michael Fernandes said. “Everything is really wrestling. We go home and watch wrestling. We were always aggressive kids with three boys all around the same age and my dad just put me into wrestling and that was that. We all did it.”

Ridge goes 2-1 

In the final match of the quad meet at Franklin on Saturday, Ridge took the mat without its best wrestler.

Senior Nolan Bianchi (182) has been wrestling with a torn ACL the entire season and after starting the day 2-0, the coaches decided to give the Somerset County Tournament champion some rest in the final match against New Brunswick.

“Nolan didn’t wrestle so we couldn’t rely on his win,” Ridge coach Steve Hendershot said. “The rest of the guys came up big, and we won matches 2-1, and most importantly, three of our wrestlers kept the bonus points to a minimum, and that’s how we have to learn to wrestle as a team.”

Jake Hendershot defeated Keshon Davilla 2-1 in the 220-pound matchup to cut the New Brunswick lead to 15-6.

The Red Devils would continue to chip away at the lead and finally tied the match at 21-21 when Chris Love (126) pinned Fernando Lugo in the first period.

New Brunswick would take the next match with a 16-8 decision victory to bring the score to 25-21 but the Red Devils would take the lead after a forfeit victory and sealed the win when Dennis Kroeger pinned his opponent in the first minute of regulation to give the Red Devils a 33-25 lead with just one one match remaining.

“The last match was the best match we had all year as a team,” Hendershot said.

Ridge defeated Franklin 54-28, then lost to Voorhees 70-3 and closed out the meet with the 33-28 victory over New Brunswick.

For Ridge, which has just three upperclassmen starting at the varsity level, the final win was huge for the confidence of their young wrestlers.

“We have eight sophomores and three freshmen in our starting lineup,” Hendershot said. “With us momentum is a day-to-day thing. With the young guys, it’s always like two steps forward, one step back but they are doing a great job.”