Kittatinny's wrestling team is grooming its younger wrestlers for bigger matches down the road. If Tuesday's performance was any indication, the Cougars should just fine in primetime.
Sophomore Garrett Armstrong recorded one of three pins and several reserves got a chance to show their stuff as Kittatinny rolled to a 45-18 victory over host Newton on Tuesday in a Northwest Jersey Athletic Freedom Division clash at Henry Boresch Gymnasium.
Kittatinny (6-1) has won two straight in this longtime series after snapping a four-match skid with last year's 37-21 win at home. The Cougars lead the series, 27-15, which began in 1976. Veteran coach John Gill was pleased with his team's effort over a pretty undermanned Newton team that fell to 2-7.
"They've had our number and beat us twice in (2009 and 2010)," said Gill, now 27-10 all-time against the Braves. "We had some good matchups with some of my sophomores against [Newton's] seniors. Hopefully it was exciting for the fans. It was exciting for us right until the end."
Senior Jerry Hendershot (126), one of four backups to see action, got Kittatinny going early with a 3-0 decision over Michael Larsen.
Freshman Tom Murphy had the crowd on the edge of their seats with a gutsy effort in a 16-10 loss to Newton ace Steven Churchill in the next bout at 126. Churchill (15-0) dominated early with a pair of takedowns before Murphy scored a reversal with 44 seconds left in the first period to make it 4-3. That seemed to turn the tide as the talented rookie converted a takedown with eight seconds remaining in the period to tie the bout at 5. After the period ended, Churchill took a brief injury timeout but was able to continue.
Churchill, third in Region 1 last year, got another takedown in the second and racked up four more in the final period to secure the win. But Kittatinny won five of the next six bouts, including an impressive 12-0 major by Clarke Moynihan over Josh Sibblies at 152, to take a commanding 29-6 lead.
Moynihan (12-1), now two wins shy of 100 for his career, used a tough crab ride to turn Sibblies three times for a total of eight backpoints. Kieran Gerrity (160) and Rob Marciano (170) picked up forfeit wins and sophomore Garrett Armstrong added six more with a 56-second pin of Gus Protogeropoulos at 182.
In another dogfight at 195, unbeaten Newton senior Jake Connelly survived by converting a takedown with 25 seconds left in sudden-victory overtime for an 8-6 win over sophomore Dylan Wunder. Connelly (13-0) led 4-3 after two periods and converted a takedown in the third to go up 6-4 with 1:23 left. Wunder later escaped to close the gap, and it appeared Connelly was on his way to certain victory before referee Barry Jackson banged him for stalling to tie the bout at 6 with two ticks left on the clock.
"This was scary as a coach because you don't know how much pressure you can put on first-year [varsity] sophomores," Gill said. "Tonight was tremendous to see them not back down and go nose-to-nose. Hats off to Churchill and Connelly. It was fun."
Jake Drelich stretched the lead to 35-9 with a match-clinching pin at 220 before Newton posted back-to-back wins at 285 and 106. Nick West (113) and Zac Zgola (120) closed things out with a major and a pin, respectively, for the Cougars.
Newton was up against it coming in as Ashley Iliff (106), Jason VanDerGroef (120), Evan Loveland (126) and Justin Hu (152) all sat due to illness, while Benjamin Sibblies (145) and Garrett Richards (160) suffered season-ending injuries.
KITTATINNY 45, NEWTON 18
126 -- Sr. Jerry Hendershot (2-2), K, d. So. Michael Larsen (0-2), 3-0.
132 -- Sr. Steven Churchill (15-0), N, d. Fr. Tom Murphy (8-5), 16-10.
138 -- So. Nick Romyns (11-1), K, md. So. Niko Grello (7-9), 11-1.
145 -- Sr. Logan Morales (5-5), N, d. Fr. Brandon Olsen (5-9), 3-1.
152 -- Sr. Clarke Moynihan (12-1), K, md. Jr. Josh Sibblies (12-5), 12-0.
160 -- So. Kieran Gerrity (11-1), K, forfeit.
170 -- Jr. Rob Marciano (2-0), K, forfeit.
182 -- So. Garrett Armstrong (9-3), K, p. Fr. Gus Protogeropoulos (0-7), :56.
195 -- Sr. Jake Connelly (13-0), N, d. So. Dylan Wunder (9-3), 8-6 OT.
220 -- Sr. Jake Drelich (7-7), K, p. Jr. Jacob Lazar (1-2), :48.
285 -- Sr. Brandon Grant (8-6), N, d. So. Tom Smith (4-5), 3-1.
106 -- Fr. Trevor Morales (3-3), N, p. Fr. Thomas Chernati (0-1), 4:17.
113 -- So. Nick West (5-7), K, md. So. Anthony Brown (1-6), 13-1.
120 -- Jr. Zac Zgola (1-1), K, p. Jr. Josh Harr (0-1).
Records -- Kittatinny 6-1, 2-0; Newton 2-7, 0-2.
Officials -- Barry Jackson and Gary Szucs.
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