First, let me say it was a great atmosphere on Friday at Warren Hills Regional High School. Really reminded us old-time fans of the really big matches we used to have on a regular basis in the Hunterdon-Warren area.
Is the wrestling as good as it once was? That's a subject for debate at a later time. What we saw on Friday was pretty much a Groundhog Day revisited for the Warren Hills faithful.
The Blue Streaks once again had high hopes that this would "be the year" to finally end the drought against Phillipsburg. But on and on it goes as the Stateliners made it 26 straight in the series with a 50-7 rout that shed some light on both teams moving forward.
First, Phillipsburg is clearly on another level right now. Coach Dave Post and his staff have done a great job of bringing this team along. After suffering an early setback, as Joe Kratochvil got the hosts going with a huge 4-2 win over Max Elling, reversing a 9-4 loss to the 'Liner last weekend, P'burg seized the momentum back and essentially the match when freshman 132-pounder Jimmy Schuitema overcame a 9-2 first-period deficit to deck KC Wanamaker in sudden-victory overtime. That win jump-started the visitors and took the air out of the balloon for the hosts.
"I'm pretty happy with the way we wrestled," said Post a former standout wrestler for the 'Liners. "Even though [Schuitema] was down a lot of points, we had confidence in him. He's come through for us in big matches."
Phillipsburg never let Warren Hills back in the match from that point on -- something that good teams do. Other than Kratochvil, the only other Streak to win was a freshman -- Max Nauta who dominated Steve Friedman to the tune of an 11-3 major at 106.
Warren Hills scored the first points in five bouts -- winning two. At 170, Xavier Adetula hit a four-pointer against Phillipsburg senior Devin Grade, only to get pinned in 59 seconds. It was that kind of night for the hosts.
Warren Hills coach Jarrett Hosbach, a former Phillipsburg wrestler, was obviously disappointed with what he saw from his team on a night when a lot of the old guard -- former wrestlers, coaches, fans -- came out to see what they thought would be close, competitive match.
"We've got to get better," said Hosbach, now 0-7 against his alma mater. "We talked about it after [the match]. The result is not what we want it to be. We weren't hoping to keep it close, we wanted to win. We saw a lot of things that we've got to get better at. Namely on bottom."
The bottom position is certainly a weakness and one where the Stateliners (7-2) capitalized on. This was not a match that featured great execution from the neutral position. Nine bouts in, the takedown count was 9-5 in favor of P'burg after senior Brandon Hull's two in the 10th bout at 220.
Hull earned a 5-0 win over Dan Smith in what figures to be the second of four, maybe five potential meetings this season. Hull, who finished eighth in the state last year at 215, beat Smith, 1-0, in the Hunterdon-Warren-Sussex finals. This series reminds me of the one between former state champ Marc DeFrancesco and Warren Hills' Brian Olmes back in the mid-90s. DeFrancesco was clearly the superior wrestler and beat Olmes five times that season -- including the state final
Hull (17-3) sees his team heading toward big things down the stretch.
"People underestimated us coming into the season," Hull said. "We're training to become [Group 4] champs. We wrestle our hearts out and coach Post has confidence in me and all of the 14 wrestlers he sends out there."
Warren Hills (10-3) must regroup in a hurry after another tough loss to its Warren County rival. With only three seniors in the lineup on Friday, the Streaks have plenty of hope that next year "will be the year," against P'burg.
It's funny. P'burg owns this series like Easton owns the rivalry with P'burg. The 'Liners are now 51-14 against the Streaks, while P'burg trails, 60-14, against the Red Rovers.
Right now, next year can't come soon enough for either P'burg or Warren Hills.
PHILLIPSBURG 50, WARREN HILLS 7
126 -- Jr. Joe Kratochvil (11-8), WH, d. Fr. Max Elling (11-6), 4-2.
132 -- Fr. Jimmy Schuitema (15-5), P, p. Sr. KC Wanamaker (13-6), 6:53 OT.
138 -- Jr. Anthony Johnson (6-2), P, d. Jr. Kevin Bundschuh (4-5), 4-3.
145 -- So. Jake Kocsis (11-6), P, d. So. Nate Detrick (9-4), 5-0.
152 -- Sr. V.J. Delmonico (14-8), P, d. So. Evan Butka (4-5), 1-0.
160 -- Sr. Joe Moyer (10-10), P, p. So. Ryan Ostir (5-7), 5:25.
170 -- Sr. Devin Grade (11-7), P, p. Jr. Xavier Adetula (8-9), :59.
182 -- Sr. Shaun Maloy (11-8), P, d. Sr. Ryker Kern (9-6), 3-1.
195 -- Sr. Derek Pierson (7-6), P, d. So. Ryan Witner (7-12), 3-0.
220 -- Sr. Brandon Hull (17-3), P, d. Sr. Dan Smith (15-3), 5-0.
285 -- Sr. Anthony Pare (18-3), P, md. Fr. Andrew Pacheco (7-3), 8-0.
106 -- Fr. Max Nauta (17-2), WH, md. Fr. Steve Friedman (11-10), 11-3.
113 -- Jr. Zach Fisher (16-7), P, p. So. Tai Adetula (17-3), 4:32.
120 -- Jr. Andrew Kaluzny (7-6), P, md. Sr. Chris Greenwald (13-3), 10-2.
Records: Phillipsburg 7-2; Warren Hills 10-3.
Referee: Tim Vanderhoof.
No comments:
Post a Comment