Phillipsburg's wrestling team needed a game changer on Thursday night.
Sophomore Max Elling was only too happy to oblige. The 138-pounder overcame a one-point deficit in the second period for a stunning pin to help send the Stateliners to a 46-18 victory over cross-county rival Warren Hills in a Skyland Conference Raritan Division clash at The Pit.
Phillipsburg (6-1 overall, 3-1 division) was coming off a disappointing 34-30 loss to Hunterdon Central at home the previous evening. Elling, meanwhile, was looking to overcome his own early-season struggles. Down 4-3 to Warren Hills' Kevin Bundschuh, Elling got an escape and a takedown -- using a chin whip to secure the fall in 3:44.
"That was the turning point of the whole match," said P'burg coach Dave Post. "We were still worried. We has this match worked out a couple of different ways with a 7-7 split. We thought we needed to win heavyweight. Max is dangerous and if you put yourself in bad positions, he's going to capitalize."
Elling's win gave the 'Liners their first lead nine bouts in and they never looked back, winning the next five bouts to close out the victory -- the program's 27th in a row against this Warren County opponent since 1991. Warren Hills, which trails, 52-14, overall, has not defeated P'burg since a pair of wins in 1990.
"I've had some tough matches this year," said Elling, who improved to 12-8 with the victory. "We were looking to come together as a team. After 120 [Steve Friedman's 5-4 win over Tai Adetula] we knew we were going to come back. We kept the ball rolling from there."
Phillipsburg squandered a 24-6 lead against Hunterdon Central, but never relinquished their advantage in this one as Post's team won the final seven bouts starting with Anthony Johnson's pin at 132.
"It's amazing how different we can look after one night," Post said. "The guys were behind each other and that's what we asked them to do. We haven't wrestled as many dual meets as other teams have, and after last year [an early-season loss to Franklin] things just clicked in dual meets."
Warren Hills (9-4, 2-2) was coming off a tough loss of its own -- 43-18 at Delaware Valley on Wednesday. Blue Streaks coach Jarrett Hosbach noted the improvement from his squad in this loss.
"It was a better effort, but not a better result. We still lost," said the former P'burg wrestler, now 0-8 against his alma mater. "We're not content with a good effort. We had a lot of guys wrestle well in spots."
Ryan Witner's 7-3 win at 195 pounds got Warren Hills going out of the gate and started a run of three straight wins to open the match. After a forfeit win by Tyler Bridygham at 220, Warren Hills sophomore Andrew Pacheco gutted out a 9-7 decision over Jarrett Williams in a much-anticipated rematch of their 285-pound final on Saturday in the Hunterdon-Warren-Sussex finals.
Part II did not disappoint, as Williams opened an early 5-0 lead off a takedown. It was a reversal of their first meeting, as Pacheco hit a five-pointer to open the scoring en route to 12-10 win in the ultimate tiebreaker.
Williams led this one, 5-1, after one period. And escaped in the second, before Pacheco hit a five-point move to nearly flatten Williams late in the second period. A penalty point for a full nelson gave Williams the lead back at 7-6 after two periods. In the third, Pacheco escaped to tie it at 7, before converting a takedown with 43 seconds left to go ahead for good. Williams appeared gassed in the third, but it was later revealed that he injured himself while fighting off his back.
On Wednesday, P'burg lost senior 195-pounder Kyle Kinney with a dislocated elbow and is not expected to have him back for several weeks.
"We liked where we were at early," said Hosbach, whose team led, 12-0, after Pacheco's win. "But even then we kind of knew we needed bonus points."
Freshman Brandon Patezell got P'burg on the board with a pin at 106, before Warren Hills seized the momentum back with sophomore Max Nauta's 4-2 win over Zach Fisher in sudden victory overtime.
Nauta (14-4), a district and region runner-up last year, beat Fisher, 16-2 in the HWS finals. This time, Fisher did a nice job of defending on bottom as to avoid a repeat of Saturday -- when Nauta turned him five times, including four occasions with a power half.
Trailing, 15-6, Friedman all but ended Warren Hills' bid for a potential upset when he tilted Adetula for two back points late in the second period. Adetula, who had two takedowns earlier to build a 4-1 lead, opted to start on bottom in the third. Trailing, 5-4, he never came close to getting out.
Senior Joe Kratochvil kept Warren Hills in the match with a 7-5 win over Corey Zinsmeister at 126 -- his second win over the Stateliner in six days -- but that was the Streaks' final win of the night.
Johnson, Elling, Jimmy Schuitema (152), Jake Kocsis (160) and Joe Maso (182) all had pins in the final seven bouts. Schuitema decked Evan Butka, who he beat 7-0 in the HWS semis, while Maso reversed a 6-4 loss to Cleaver in that tournament.
PHILLIPSBURG 46, WARREN HILLS 18
195 -- Jr. Ryan Witner (10-7), WH, d. So. So. Tim Hinkle (9-10), 7-3.
220 -- Sr. Tyler Bridygham (8-8), WH, forfeit.
285 -- So. Andrew Pacheco (17-4), WH, d. Sr. Jarrett Williams (17-5), 9-7.
106 -- Fr. Brandon Paetzell (16-5), P, p. So. Austin Pidoto (11-7), 2:32.
113 -- So. Max Nauta (14-4), WH, d. Sr. Zach Fisher (15-6), 4-2 SV.
120 -- So. Steve Friedman (13-9), P, d. Jr. Tai Adetula (10-6), 5-4.
126 -- Sr. Joe Kratochvil (17-2), WH, d. So. Corey Zinsmeister (14-8), 7-5.
132 -- Sr. Anthony Johnson (4-2), P, p. Fr. Raymond Steinmann (0-1), 1:23.
138 -- So. Max Elling (12-8), P, p. Sr. Kevin Bundschuh (15-6), 3:44.
145 -- Sr. Andrew Kaluzny (14-8), P, d. Sr. Tom Rush (3-16), 9-4.
152 -- So. Jimmy Schuitema (16-3), P. p. Jr. Evan Butka (12-10), 2:46.
160 -- Jr. Jake Kocsis (15-5), P, p. Sr. Xavier Adetula (4-4), 3:45.
170 -- Jr. Broderick Bupivi (13-8), P, md. Jr. Ryan Ostir (12-11), 9-0.
182 -- So. Joe Maso (5-3), P, p. Jr. Steve Cleaver (10-10), 3:09.
Records -- Warren Hills 9-4, 2-2; Phillipsburg 6-1, 3-1.
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