Cedeno is Fair Lawn phenom by JJ Conrad of The Record
FAIR LAWN — Fair Lawn’s Dylan Cedeno spent over 10 hours at his hometown high school Saturday.
Arriving about 7 a.m. and remaining there until well past 5 p.m., the freshman phenom wrestled for all of 76 seconds in those 10-plus hours, promptly and impressively triple-pinning his way to the 106-pound title at the 22nd annual Cutter Classic.
The highly touted Class of 2020 grappler, who captured a pair of recreational state titles the past two years as a seventh- and eighth-grader, started his high school career in emphatic and dominant fashion.
Just like he expected.
“I thought I would come into this tournament and dominate,” Cedeno, 14, said. “Throughout the whole season, I want to dominate. Every tournament. Every match. I want to show everybody how good I really am.”
Seeded third at 106, Cedeno pinned Indian Hills’ Joe Nacinovich in 24 seconds, pinned Teaneck’s George Rivera in 15 seconds and capped his impressive debut performance with one final pin of River Dell’s Jared Wagreich in 37 seconds in the title bout.
Dominate, he did.
“He’s a program changer,” said Fair Lawn coach Shane DeLucca, who added Cedeno routinely practices against kids in higher weight classes to constantly challenge himself. “With his talent, he’s a guy who changes the whole program. I had him in rec, too, and he’s just got a different mentality.
“Right off the bat, you knew he was someone destined for success.”
Cedeno, who exudes confidence when he speaks, could have opted to attend a higher profile, non-public program. He chose to stay home, though, namely because of his friends, he said. That’s not to say he hasn’t paid attention to the likes of Bergen Catholic, Don Bosco, DePaul and Queen of Peace wrestlers in recent years.
One of Cedeno’s role models is former Bergen Catholic great Nick Suriano, a four-time state champion now at Penn State who finished his high school career undefeated at 159-0 in March.
“Nick Suriano is the goal,” Cedeno said. “He’s done everything and he’s definitely been one of the guys I’ve watched and have taken a lot of influence off of.”
In its most recent rankings posted Dec. 14, IntermatWrestle.com has Cedeno rated the 15th-best 106-pounder in the nation and third in New Jersey – behind only Gateway junior Dante Mininno and Delbarton freshman Anthony Clark.
Cedeno’s mind-set, undoubtedly, is to be standing atop the podium with a first-place finish at Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall in three months. He expects greatness from himself.
“That’s absolutely his focus right now,” DeLucca said. “He believes he can do it. We believe he can do it. Now he’s got to go out there and prove it. Absolutely [it could happen].”
Cedeno headlined an impressive performance from Fair Lawn on Saturday. The Cutters sent eight wrestlers in 14 weight classes to championship bouts, winning five of them.
Fellow freshman A.J. Puerto captured the 132-pound title as the No. 6 seed, pinning New Milford’s Paul Dimarco in 4:38, senior Ben Cohen won the 152-pound title with a 9-6 decision over River Dell’s Paul Kallensee, junior Joe Covino captured the 170-pound crown with his 10-1 victory over Secaucus’ Robinson Reyes and junior Ryan Rue claimed the 195-pound title with a 9-5 victory over Saddle Brook’s Dean Setticase.
“Dylan is a guy who makes everyone on this team better because of his level of competition… it kind of forces everyone else to step their game up. We had eight guys in the final, 13 place in the top four. It’s just a really well-balanced team with a lot of experience and the new guys like A.J. and Dylan, they’ve made the team even deeper.”
New Milford’s John Burger was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Wrestler after capturing the 138-pound title. Burger, part of New Milford’s sectional finalist football team in the fall that reached MetLife Stadium for the North 1, Group 1 final, defeated Cresskill’s Michael Chambers, 15-0, in the championship bout.