Tony Morello ’81
Career Record: 44-11, Medalist
Tournaments Championships: James B. “Pat” Reilly Invitational
1981 – 112 lbs.: District Runner-Up, Regional Runner-Up, State Third (33-6)
1980 – 105 lbs.: (11-5)
Lightest of the original “Magnificent Seven”, Tony Morello earned a state bronze medal as Easton won their first team state championship in 1981.
As a sophomore, Morello sat behind John Cuvo. When Cuvo started the 1980 season up at 105 pounds, Morello earned his first varsity spot at 98 pounds. He won his first varsity match in their season opener with Northampton, where he beat future two-time D11 champ Stephan Billy, 6-5. Morello won his first seven varsity matches, running his streak all the way to the finals of the Pat Reilly Invitational, where he finished second. He did not suffer his first dual loss until February. When Cuvo made the descent to 98 pounds, Morello filled in as an undersized 105. That included a 7-4 win in his Phillipsburg debut over Jim Laubach, which helped Easton clinch the East Penn championship. He entered the District 11 tournament at 105. He pinned Dave Lutz (William Allen) in his opening match, then took state bronze medalist Mike Levandusky (Whitehall) to the wire in a 2-0 loss. However, in his first wrestle back, Morello gave up a late takedown and fell to Jeff Haas (Bethlehem Catholic) to end his season.
Morello started his senior season at 119 pounds. After a 2-1 start, he moved down to 112 where he hammered Northampton star Matt Billy, 12-3 to mark himself a statewide contender. He advanced to the semifinals of the Top Hat tournament in Williamsport, where he lost to state champ and NCAA All American Sean Finkbeiner (Saucon Valley), then dropped his medal match to take fourth. He was one of seven Easton medalists as they took home the team title. He followed that up with a championship at the Pat Reilly Invitational, avenging his finals loss from 1980 to Keith Maurer (Hazleton) by beating the eventual state bronze medalist 10-4. From there he caught fire, winning thirteen straight matches to close the regular season, including a dramatic 20-11 major of Mike Underkoffler (Shikellamy), which turned out to be the deciding bonus point in a 22-21 win at Shikellamy for the unofficial state dual championship, an 11-3 major of New Jersey state bronze medalist Jim Smith (Phillipsburg), and a wild 16-11 win over eventual 105 pound state champion John Worley (Red Land). Morello entered the D11 tournament as the favorite at 112. He won his first two matches by a combined score of 21-4, then pinned future state finalist Jim Albanese (Nazareth) in the third period of their semifinal. That set up one of the premier finals of the tournament, Morello versus Saucon Valley star Bill Hershey. After giving up the first takedown, Morello came back with an escape and a reversal for a 4-4 tie going into the third period. But it was Hershey who escaped and scored a match clinching takedown to beat Morello 7-5 in the bout of the night. The following weekend at Regionals, Morello pinned John Eck (Jersey Shore) in his quarterfinals to draw undefeated D2 champ Vince Macri (Wilkes-Barre Meyers) in the semifinals. Morello hit what he thought was the winning takedown with thirty seconds left to take a 6-5 lead, but gave up a match tying escape in the final seconds. In overtime, Macri was clinging to a 1-0 lead on top when he was hit with stalling to tie the match at one. Morello then escaped after the restart for a 6-6, 2-1 (OT) win to get a rematch with Hershey. The Northeast Regional final was nearly a carbon copy of their D11 final, with Hershey scoring a pair of takedowns in a 7-5 win. Morello was one of a school record seven state qualifiers for the Red Rovers as they looked to win their first official team title (and first unofficial championship in seven years). Morello opened the tournament with a 10-9 win over Ron Holman (Erie Academy). He clinched a medal with a decisive 11-6 quarterfinal victory over WPIAL champ Bill Perri (Mount Lebanon). He was one of four Red Rovers in the semifinals. But he met his match, giving up three takedowns in a 7-2 loss to eventual state champ John Aumiller (Cedar Cliff). On the back side, Morello advanced to the bronze medal match via referee’s decision over Tom Skovira (Southmoreland) then finished his career with an 8-4 win over George Ciotti (Erie Cathedral Prep) for a third place finish in the state. After the season, Morello defeated Tom Skovira (Southmoreland) in the D11 vs. WPIAl All Star match at the Dapper Dan Classic.
History of Easton Wrestling 