Nottingham Wrestler Marc Jordine - A Student of the Sport

Nottingham Wrestler Marc Jordine poses in “The Swamp”. The senior is 23-5 and reached the 220-pound finals of the Mercer County Tournament. Photo by Michael A. Sabo

By RICH FISHER
Fish4scores.com

Jan. 31: After an eventful past four days, Marc Jordine was raring to go tonight.

Unfortunately, the only place he went was out to the middle of the mat to have his arm raised, as he was one of four forfeit winners in Nottingham’s 63-17 win over Princeton on Alumni Night in the Swamp (with Swamp Rat, Ron “The Swamp Fox” Nicklow on hand).

“I wanted to wrestle,” Jordine said.

And it’s easy to see why.

On his first full year of varsity, the senior is 23-5 and reached the 220-pound finals of the Mercer County Tournament Saturday.

“After being on JV for two years and last year on and off JV and varsity, I worked real hard over the summer,” Jordine said. “I was going to a couple different things, working hard all summer long and lifting. I knew that this was gonna be my season to come up. I’m not surprised, I knew I would be better than before.”

He is also a student of the sport. After losing to Ewing’s Chris Seifert, 12-3, in the MCT finals, Jordine turned the tables and took an 8-6 decision over the Blue Devil Tuesday night.

“I think it was maybe just nerves,” he said of the MCT. “It was the first time being in a big match like that, and after losing I just watched the match over and over again to see what I did wrong. I fixed my mistakes Tuesday night and came out on top.”

In the finals, Jordine trailed 5-1 entering the third period and tried to throw Seifert.

“I was just too nervous, too not sure, and I got thrown so that’s why I ended up being so high,” he explained. “He let me up and just did his thing for the rest of the match.”

Knowing he was in for an immediate rematch, Marc sat and studied film and knew what not to do on Tuesday.

“I stayed out of the tie-up because he’s real strong, obviously,” Jordine said. “I knew if I stayed in the tie-up it’s not my type of match, so I just tried to work around that and actually ended up throwing him at the end of the third period to come out on top.”

The outcome could not have been more pleasant for Northstars coach Jason “The Rock” Marasco, who has been impressed by Jordine’s work ethic over the past four years.

“He put in a lot of work and took a lot of beatings,” the coach said. “He is definitely one of those program guys. It’s his first year on varsity and he’s doing great. Next man up is our mentality. He stepped in some big shoes, right behind (Devion) Stokes and he’s doing just as well, if not better. Some of his losses are to some quality guys. One was to a state qualifier from Monroe. But he’s right in these matches.

“For him to get that win back that he just lost to the Ewing kid in the county tournament, it gives him a lot more confidence that he can beat somebody like that.”

Jordine has that same vibe.

“I feel pretty confident,” he said. “I feel it’s gonna help my seed even though Ewing’s not in our district. I think whatever the seed I get I’m gonna do pretty well and I have high hopes of moving on to the next round.”

And he wants to move on to regionals with heavyweight Sylvester Freeman, a two-time county champ who has been his workout partner for the past two years.

“I wrestle Sylvester every day, I think that’s a big reason I am where I am,” Jordine said. “He was with me over the summer working hard every day, working moves, constantly practicing. He was trying to get better too. I saw this thing one time on Instagram where it was a picture of a 160 and 170 pounder together, and I said to Sylvester ‘We gotta be that dynamic duo, the 220 and heavyweight, let’s go everywhere together.’”

The region tournament would be a good place to start.

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[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”81″ gal_title=”Nottingham Wrestling vs Princeton – Jan 31, 2018″]

Of the matches that were wrestled tonight, Nottingham got pins Jeffrey Isaac (113 pounds), Sudesh Gurung (120), Daniel Dempsey (145), Jerry Andaluz (252), Franklin Hytegha (182) and Freeman. Wild Jeff Fileus won a 6-4 decision at 132.

152: Jerry Andaluz (N) pin James Romaine, 3:29;

160: Daniel Cortez (N) wbf:

170: Joshua Almanzar (N) wbf;

182: Frank Hytegha (N) pin Sylvio Soto, 0:46;

195: Geordany Alexis (N) wbf;

220: Marc Jordine (N) wbf;

Hwt: Sylvester Freeman (N) pin Rayshawn Kelly, 2:32;

106: Chloe Ayres (P) t-fall Andy Beaubrun, 16-1, 3:43;

113: Jeffrey Isaac (N) pin Mikyo Kalabacos, 1:47;

120: Sudesh Gurung (N), pin Luis Munoz, 1:55;

126: Daniel Monahan (P) wbf;

132: Wild Jeff Fileus (N) dec. Eric Song, 6-4;