DELSEA WRESTLING – Sentinel Sports

DELSEA WRESTLING ENDS DIFFICULT START TO THE SEASON 2-2

By Sentinel Sports Writer Jacob Keppen
Wrestling is truly back now! Delsea made their return to the mat a week after competing in the Robin Leff Tournament by participating in the Kingsway South Jersey Duals.

They did not have the luxury of wrestling against an easy team as a tune up to start the season; no Delsea had to wrestle Don Bosco, a top 10 in the state team. Delsea would lose that match, a tough 35-31 defeat to receive their first loss of the year. Last year Delsea had not lost a match until the Group 3 State Finals. Delsea would recover from their loss with a 42-30 win over Camden Catholic. After going down early, Delsea would see consecutive pins by Seth Summers at 152, Mason Maxwell at 160, Billy Janzer at 170, Vince DeGeorge at 182, and Tommy Maxwell at 195. Justin Moore would also get a pin at 285, as well as John Patterson at 120. Chris Recinto received a 9-4 decision win, and freshman Tim Spatola received a 6-2 decision win. The win was the perfect answer to a tough loss against Don Bosco.

Delsea would wrestle Bound Brook in the 3rd place match at the South Jersey Duals. The match started off at 152, with earning a 7-6 decision over Matthew Duarte. It was an exciting match that previewed what was to come in the clash of the two powers. At 160 Bound Brook’s state champion Stephan Glasgow pinned Mason Maxwell in 1:55.

At 170 came the match of the night, as state champion Mekhi Lewis squared off against Billy Janzer who is one of the state contenders at 170. The thrilling match went into overtime, with Lewis gaining the hard fought 2-1 victory. That was two tough losses for Janzer, to two state contenders (Dominick Mandarino and Mekhi lewis) that would surely make for fantastic state final matchups.

Delsea rebounded with a Vince Degeorge 4:45 pin over Travis Hays. At 195 George Walton of Bound Brook received a forfeit. At 220 Tommy Maxwell gave Delsea possibly their most important win of the night with an 11-0 Major Decision Victory over Michael Borja. At heavyweight Bound Brook’s Jervey Sistrunk would defeat Malcolm Henry in a 4-1 decision. At 106 Justin Dougherty received a forfeit victory. At 114 Mark Venson defeated Delsea’s Chris Recinto in a tight 5-4 decision. In the other most important victory of the night, Delsea’s John Patterson, who looks much improved this year, pinned Sean Snodgrass in 1:45. Edison Echavarria and Tim Spatola would receive forfeits to seal the victory for Delsea.

Delsea hoped to ride the momentum from their victory when the traveled to Hunterdon Central on Friday the 30th. The early match started at 145, with HC’s Mark Dellavalle defeated Vito Genna in a 9-4 decision. Next at 152, Kevin Ciresa dominated Seth Summers to an 11-0 Major Decision. Delsea looked to have righted the ship after a rocky start, when both Mason Maxwell and Billy Janzer received pinfall wins (of 2:46, and 1:23). At 182 came the biggest match. Delsea needed to ride the momentum from their last two pins with another victory, but HC’s Michael Iodice pinned Vince Degeorge in 3:31. Delsea tried to keep themselves in the match when Tommy Maxwell, who has looked dominant, tech falled Lukas Bakerian. At 220 HC would deliver a dagger to Delsea, when Victor Lacombe pinned Malcolm Henry in 5:24. At heavyweight Justin Moore received another victory, a 2-1 decision over Angelo Crespo. After this it was all Hunterdon Central. At 106 Anthony Romaniello pinned Justin Dougherty in 2:29. At 113 Jack Bauer defeated Chris Recinto in an 8-0 Major Decision. At 120 Hunter Graf pinned John Patterson in 3:33. Hunterdon Central officially won the match with a Peter Nance 10-4 decision victory over Edison Echavarria at 126. At 132 Vincent Romaniello defeated Tim Spatola in a 6-3 decision. Nick Bennett ended the match with a dominant 2:41 pin over Bryce Hall.  The final score was Hunterdon Central 41 Delsea 28.

Although this was not the result Delsea had hoped for, hopefully there is much to learn from a loss like this. Hunterdon Central is a top team and Delsea can learn from their mistakes in the match. Delsea will travel to Triton for their first match of 2017, and will participate in a quad meet on Saturday the 7th against Jackson Memorial, Northern Highlands, and Pope John, their first home match of the season. Hopefully Delsea can pull out as many victories as they can from this week.