It's all a big blur now, but the third annual Hunterdon-Warren-Sussex Tournament is in the books. Hopefully, the second and last one held at Hunterdon Central, which ran the event like a novice tournament. More on that in the coming days.
There was some tremendous action, unfortunately a lot of it was missed with six mats going, on Saturday. Here's some bits and pieces from a grinder equal to a region tournament at most weights.
Rising rookies
The future of Sussex County wrestling was in full effect as four talented ninth-graders reached the finals. Leading the charge were High Point's Mike Derin and Jason Gaccione, at 120 and 138 pounds, respectively.
Derin dropped a 5-2 decision to Hopatcong senior Joe Cruz, while Gaccione came out on the short end of the same score against Delaware Valley senior Derek Zehnbauer. It took a pair of grizzled seniors to take the young 'Cats down. Both had great wins during the day -- Derin a dominating 7-0 victory over Del Val's Matt Gilmore in the semis and Gaccione's 3-2 upset of No. 2 seed Nick Romyns of Kittatinny in the quarters.
Peter Lipari was another frosh who had the joint jumping as he rolled to the 106-pound title -- scoring a very impressive 8-3 win over Warren Hills' Max Nauta, the No. 1 seed. Lipari, down from 113, is a huge 106. You can expect big things from him down the road. His teammate, Glenn Haines, also impressed with a top-four finish at 120.
Kittatinny freshman Tom Murphy earned a second-place medal in a rugged 132-pound class. Murphy upended No. 2 seed Tyler Kozimor of Hackettstown, 4-3, in the quarters before a 3-1 victory in sudden-death against Voorhees sophomore Christian Okulicz in the semis. Murphy fell, 7-3, to Belvidere's Dylan Thorsen in the finals. Thorsen also won, 4-3, when they met in the Cougar Classic finals on Dec. 27.
Bigger sure looks better
Voorhees junior Jadaen Bernstein is a monster at 160 pounds and blistered the field in claiming his second straight HWS title. Bernstein, the state runner-up at this weight last year, rolled to a 12-5 victory over Kittatinny's Kieran Gerrity for the gold medal.
Bernstein (15-0) said he began his descent from around 188 pounds at the start of the season and the weight just kept coming off.
"I started weighing out around 165 and felt I was too light to be a 170-pounder," Bernstein said. "I wanted to go 160 for this tournament. I feel good. I feel strong and quick. I'm going after that elusive state title."
As for this tournament, which is very unpopular with coaches, Bernstein enjoyed every bit of his experience aside from being a one-day affair.
"If it was two days like last year [at Hopatcong] it would be better," he said. "It's a long day. All big tournaments are two days. It was good competition We don't see a lot of the Sussex County teams. It's good to get different looks."
Outstanding in his field
Delaware Valley junior Mike Pongracz claimed that elusive county title by rallying for a 6-5 win over Lenape Valley's Matt Benvenuto, the only one of four 2011 champs who did not repeat.
Pongracz, a third-place finisher in each of the previous two tournaments, was in a 5-0 hole after being put to his back in the first period. Two reversals and a third-period takedown gave Pongracz the win and the Outstanding Wrestler award.
"This feels awesome," said Pongracz, an eighth-place finisher in last year's state tournament. "I just picked up the pace [down 5-0] and hoped to get some points. I just tried to keep chipping down the score."
Pongracz was unable to overcome that same deficit in last year's 119-pound semifinals against Newton's Steven Churchill, who lost in the finals against Benvenuto.
State of the 'Liners
It was a very good showing for Phillipsburg, which claimed its second straight team championship. The Stateliners piled up 184 1/2 points, as seniors Brandon Hull (220) and Anthony Pare (285) claimed individual titles.
Hull won his second county championship with a tight 1-0 decision over Warren Hills' Dan Smith. Pare captured his first by decking Vernon's Jon Gemeinhardt in 5:27.
By the way, my vote for OW would have went to Pare as I thought he dominated a pretty good 285-pound class that was wide open coming in. He built an 8-1 lead after two periods against Gemeinhardt, who was fourth in Region 1 last year.
Steve Friedman (106), Zach Fisher (113), V.J. Delmonico (152) and Joe Moyer (160) all finished in the top four for P'burg.
Exciting freshman Max Elling (126) overcame a tough draw, hitting Pongracz in the quarters and falling into the wrestlebacks. Elling scored a thrilling 4-2 win over Belvidere's Jesse Thorsen with backpoints in the final seconds of the consolation semifinals before taking out Warren Hills' Joe Kratochvil in the fifth-place bout.
Surging Streaks
Warren Hills enjoyed a fine day with nine wrestlers placing among the top five spots at their respective weight classes. The Blue Streaks finished third as a team with 158 1/2 points, 11 back of second-place Voorhees.
Nauta (106) and Smith (220) picked up silver medals as the lone finalists for the Washington-based school, while Tai Adetula (113) and KC Wanamaker (132) both finished third. John Fluck (120), Kratochvil (126), Ryker Kern (182), Ryan Witner (195) and Andrew Pacheco (285) all navigated their way through the wrestleback rounds to place for the Streaks, who host Phillipsburg in a big Skyland Conference showdown on Friday.
Warren Hills trails that series, 50-14, and is looking for its first win over Phillipsburg since beating the 'Liners twice during the 1989-90 season, including a 34-30 victory in the North 2, Group 3 sectional final. P'burg has won 25 straight in the series since that sectional loss. Warren Hills finished as the state's No. 1 team that season under former coach Jim Reynolds.
Johnney on the spot
For all of the complaining about travel time and distance by some coaches, guess which team was the first to show up on Saturday? That's right, the High Point Wildcats were the first to arrive at Hunterdon Central Field House.
High Point and Vernon have the longest journeys to Flemington of any in the 18-team field. 'Cats coach John Gardner was happy to be back in the tournament after a one-year hiatus due to a scheduling conflict after dates for last year's event changed after the team's schedule was finalized.
Perhaps some of the coaches who complain the most about this event should follow Gardner's lead and stop whining about everything and anything connected with it. After all, High Point has only won the Group 3 title twice in the last four years and produced a staggering four individual state champs in 2011.
Gardner, as we say in the trade, gets it. His team was ready to go too, as backup heavyweight Chris Epperly pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the day, a 6-5 first-round win over previously-unbeaten Forrest Wooden of Del Val, the No. 3 seed.
By the numbers
North Hunterdon and Delaware Valley now share the lead with six individual titles each in the tournament's brief three-year history. Beau Vrancken (152) and Liam Korbul (182) won for the Lions, while Pongracz (126), Zehnbauer (138) and Will Van Doren (170) won for the Terriers. P'burg and Lenape Valley are next on the list with five winners apiece. ... Phillipsburg is no stranger to county team titles. The Stateliners won a record nine Hunterdon-Warren titles from 1992-2007 and have now claimed four team championships in the last five county tournaments. Only High Point interrupted that run with its title in 2010. ... For all of the talk about team parity among the three counties, 13 of 14 No. 1 seeds advanced to the championship round with 11 winning titles. Only Belvidere's Evan Bray missed the finals at 182, while Nauta (106) and Gemeinhardt (285) were the only No. 1s to fall in the finals. By the same token, only eight No. 2 seeds made the final round. Korbul and Pare (285) were the only No. 2s to win golds. Lipari, a No. 3 seed, was the only champion not seeded among the top two spots. ... Vrancken and Moynihan both got their 100th career wins on Saturday. Vrancken ironically recorded his with a 4-3 win in the finals against Moynihan. Earlier in the day, Moynihan decked Hackettstown's Scott Anderson in 1:17 to reach the century mark. It was incorrectly announced that he reached the milestone with a win in his quarterfinal match.
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