Ken MacIver was an assistant coach with the Fort Lee Bridgemen for the last three seasons.

During that time he fulfilled the role of mentor, coach and driving instructor to some of Fort Lee's wrestlers and is even the godfather of coach Alex Almeyda’s son.

But Monday culminated in a new role for MacIver as he was now the opponent of Fort Lee in a make-up wrestling match from last Friday’s snowstorm.

MacIver returned to his alma mater this year as the head coach of the Dumont Huskies program and entered the contest with a little more than just wrestling on his mind.

“I wouldn’t have left Alex and the boys unless it was my high school,” an emotional MacIver said shortly after the match. “I knew what we were in for, and I had a good scouting report myself.”

The night began with MacIver’s new team recording back-to-back pins to gain an early lead over his former team 12-0.

Fort Lee then recorded a pin from junior Drew Dinkins at 119 and then a forfeit to tie up the score.

“The problem was I was yelling to Dinkins what to do,” MacIver said. “I was like, eh, hold on. I had to change. It didn’t matter because what we yelled for Dinkins we had to yell for our kid Connor [Rankin].”

After both teams secured another pin each, Dumont started to pull away with a 28-18 lead. But the Bridgemen had senior captain Anatoliy Alkazov due up in the next match at 152.

Alkazov wrestled to a major decision over junior George Kostantakis and then went up to hug his former coach after the match.  

“I’ll admit it was a bit emotional,” Anatoliy said. “I like to think of my opponent as my foe, and that includes the coach. But in this case, I knew the coach so it was tough.”

Down 28-22, the Fort Lee Bridgemen hoped to tie up the match but the Huskies earned back-to-back pins again with wins against junior Dariell Vasquez and freshman Thomas Tantillo.

Then the comeback started.

Trailing by 18 points with three matches left, Fort Lee would need three consecutive pins in order to force a tie.

Sophomore Nick Harilaou did it three minutes and sixteen seconds into his match. Fort Lee was behind by twelve.

Then, junior Demir Radoncic pinned his opponent just a minute and a half into his match.

“It broke my heart to see him on the other team,” said Radoncic, who credited MacIver with teaching him better wrestling moves and how to drive.

It all came down to the final match to decide who the winner would be.

With Dumont leading 40-34, Fort Lee sophomore Kevin Sabaci stepped onto the mat needing a pin of junior Francis Astarita to force a tie.

Sabaci was on the brink of earning the six points when he brought Astarita to the ground, but the heavyweight wrestler was unable to secure a pin before the first period buzzer sounded.

Both wrestlers continued into the next period where the Dumont Huskie was able to wrap Sabaci to the ground and earn the six points for MacIver’s new team instead.

“I got a little choked up,” said a teary eyed MacIver after the final match ended. “I’m not going to lie, I was really looking forward to my first win.”

MacIver now has his first win of the season at his alma mater, and he did it against his former team.

“You couldn’t have gotten it any closer,” MacIver said.