It was a tough Saturday morning for wrestlers in the Open Mike area (Hunterdon-Warren-Sussex) as only eight reached the medal round at their respective weight classes.
Still going for the gold are Delaware Valley Mike Pongracz and Hunterdon Central's Gary Dinmore in the 126-pound semifinals, while Phillipsburg's Brandon Hull is carrying the flag for Warren County at 220.
Pongracz (37-2), who finished eighth last year, rolled to a 5-0 win over Belleville's Justin Colon in the morning quarterfinals. Pongracz won without a takedown, reversing Colon in the second period and turning him for three backs in the third after Colon, unwisely, took bottom against a tough mat wrestler in Pongracz.
Pongracz will have his hands full in the semifinals with two-time state champion Anthony Ashnault, now 42-0 this season and 128-0 overall. Teammate Will Van Doren is still going in the wrestlebacks at 170 and is guaranteed a medal -- one of six for Hunterdon County wrestlers.
Dinmore (27-7) pulled off one of the morning stunners with a late reversal for a 4-2 win over Burlington Township's Kevin Devoy in another quarterfinal. Devoy (40-1) has placed fourth here three times.
Hull (36-3) needed overtime to produced a 3-2 win over freshman Zack Chakonis of Don Bosco. Hull, seeking to become his school's first champ since 1996 and Warren County's first since '98, was able to ride Chakonis out in the ultimate tiebreak period. P'burg teammates Jimmy Schuitema (132) and Anthony Pare (285) each fell one round shy of a medal.
Kittatinny's Clarke Moynihan (152) is the only placewinner for Sussex County -- avenging an earlier loss to North Hunterdon's Beau Vrancken to reach the medal round. Moynihan decked Vrancken in 4:58.
North Hunterdon also has two placers in freshman Ryan Pomrinca (113) and Liam Korbul (182). Voorhees' Jadaen Bernstein, second last year at 160, is still going for third at that weight.
Pomrina got absolutely hosed in his quarterfinal loss to Seton Hall's Brenden Calas, the 103-pound champ in 2011. Pomrinca held a 3-2 with 35 seconds left, but was hit for stalling by referee Carmel Morina to eventually force overtime. Calas escaped for a 4-3 win the second tie-break period.
Medal count by region
Region 1, for what I believe is the first time in quite awhile, will have the least amount of medals (10) among all eight regions. Hull is among seven still going in the championship round.
Region 4 has the most placers with 18, followed by Regions 3 and 6 with 17 each. Regions 2, 5 and 7 all have 13 and Region 8 has 11.
Region 4 has the most in the semifinals with 10. Regions 3, 6 and 7 all have eight in the semis. Regions 2 and 5 have six, while Region 8 has just three going for gold medals.
Tigers on the prowl
South Plainfield is trying to make state history with four wrestlers in the semifinal round. Coach Kevin McCann's group is attempting to match High Point's incredible feat of four state champions in 2011 -- the first time in the region era (1961 to the present) that one team crowned four individual champions.
Newton holds the state record with eight in 1947. The Sussex County school also was the last to win four titles (1949) before High Point a year ago. Pascack Hills and Toms River South in 1977 and Jackson in 2008 are the only other schools to have three champs in a single tournament since 1970.
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