DELSEA WRESTLING
By Angelo Teti – Delsea student Sports Writer for The Sentinel of Gloucester County Weekly Newspaper; Published in Print Edition Week of 2/20/2020
Delsea Wrestling team opened up the NJSIAA Group 3 team tournament against Gateway on Monday February 10th. Delsea cruised past the Gators 43-19 with pins coming from Travis Griffith (132 lbs.), Tim Spatola (145 lbs.), Asa Walton (160 lbs.) and Justin Dougherty (170 lbs.).
Delsea moved onto the second round and would wrestle against Absegami. Delsea won 39-24 against Absegami to secure their spot in the Title bout versus Lacey. Starting at 106, Alex Zimmerman won for the Crusaders; at 126, Tyson Derenbeger got the pin; at 138, Travis Griffith got another pin for the Crusaders. Delsea got three more pins in a row after Griffith. Tim Spatola at 145 with the pin, Justin Dougherty at 152 with the pin, and at 160, Jared Schoppe with another pin. Delsea also got a match sealing win from heavyweight Tygen Johnson in overtime.
Delsea now looked to get their tenth straight Sectional Title against Lacey in the Group 3 Final. Delsea continued that streak with a 37-30 win against Lacey. Match started at 160 LBS with Justin Dougherty getting the pin. Delsea was up 6-0, at 170 Pierce Lightfoot dropped a tough match 3-1; Delsea still led 6-3 with Asa Walton on deck. Asa got the major decision 15-2 and Delsea was up 10-3. Cade Beradelli wrestled tough at 195, Delsea still led 10-6. Matt Kratzer was up next at 220 and Lacey took their first lead of the match 12-10 after the pin. Now at heavyweight Tygen Johnson was up and Lacey got another pin and went up 18-10.
Now back at 106, Alex Zimmerman was up and got the decision 2-1; Lacey still led 18-13. At 113, Jake Hassett was up and Lacey got another pin to go back up 24-13. At 120 Gio DeGeorge got the decision 6-5 and Delsea now trailed by only 8. Now at 126, Tyson Derenbeger got the decision and Delsea cut the lead to 24-19. Now at 132, Travis Griffith was up and Lacey got another pin to go up 30-19 with three matches left. At 138, Marius Fennal led Delsea’s comeback with a pin to make it 30-25. Now at 145, Tim Spatola was up for the Crusaders and got a pin to put Delsea ahead 31-30 with one match left. The winner of this bout would take home the sectional title, at 145 lbs. Delsea Freshman Jared Schoppe took it home with a pin. Delsea won the match 37-30 in a crazy comeback over Lacey.