The Patriot senior 152-pound wrestler erased losses of last year and last week with an 18-second fall in the Region 1 preliminaries Wednesday night.
Anthony Duardo purged some negative memories in the preliminary round of the Region 1 wrestling tournament Wednesday night at Wallkill Valley High School.
And the North Warren senior 152-pounder did so with a bang.
There was the dispiriting defeat in the same round of the regionals last year to Christian DalCais of West Milford that ended Duardo’s season.
And there was Saturday’s loss by fall to Phillipsburg’s DJ Wissing in the District 1 final that cost the top-seeded Duardo a chance to win a district title.
The target of all that frustration became Pequannock senior Trevor Warner, who Duardo tossed to the mat with ludicrous ease and awe-inspiring power for the night’s fastest pin in 18 seconds flat.
“It feels pretty good to get the pin and get this round past me,” said Duardo, now 31-2 on the season. “That was the goal tonight.”
Duardo is the last Patriot wrestler standing after Wednesday’s prelims. Junior 132-pounder Shannon Grogan fell 9-2 to Richard Reimers of Roxbury while senior Alex Leontaris was pinned in 1:46 by Kittatinny’s Luke DeGroat at 195.
For Duardo, though, Wednesday was redemption.
“I wanted this badly,” he said. “I really wanted this badly. You’re really on edge tonight knowing your season could be over.”
Duardo said the loss to Wissing came when he relaxed for a second on the mat, and said the loss may prove a valuable lesson as he tries to reach Atlantic City.
“That is not going to happen again,” said Duardo, the #3 seed at Region 1 who will meet West Morris Central’s Marco Gaita in Friday’s quarterfinals. “I am ready for DJ (they could meet in a semifinal).”
Duardo may well wrestle better, relieved of the weight of some of those negative memories.
Brad Wilson may be reached at bwilson@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @bradwsports. Find Lehigh Valley high school sports on Facebook.