More often than not, a sports season a ends with you wishing there had been more of it. More time to watch favorite team or sport, but often more time to see how a particular athlete would have continued to develop. An athlete like Verona High School senior wrestler Franco Camerota.
By all counts, Camerota got off to a slow start this wrestling season. His first three matches ended in losses. But the technical fall he scored over an East Orange opponent in early January was the first step in turning the season around.
Camerota’s final four matches were all wins, and substantial wins at that. There was an 8-6 decision over Fabian Nazaire of Montclair, followed by a 5-0 defeat of Newark Academy’s Sam Wohlforth and a 4-2 win over Jeff Noel of Orange. And then there was the very last match of the season: Camerota took on Josh Levine of Bernards High School, and came away with a pin at the 5:44 mark.
Camerota returned to VHS football this past fall and made his mark there as well. When the Hillbillies routed the Montclair Immaculate Lions 35-7 last October, it was an interception and run by Camerota that set up Verona’s fifth touchdown of the game. Come this fall, Camerota expects to be heading to college and then follow his older brother, Vincent Camerota, into the U.S. Marines.
During the 2011-2012 school year, the Verona Sports Boosters will be recognizing a different senior athlete at Verona High School every week. The Boosters support male and female athletes in all VHS sports through a variety of fundraisers and recognition events.
