Wrestling: 'Cats ride early surge to win over Cougars

WANTAGE TWP. -- High Point ace Billy Talmadge called it a good "stepping stone" for a team that has some pretty lofty goals this season.

But the Wildcats will certainly relish a 48-24 win over archival Kittatinny on Thursday night to open the dual meet portion of the schedule -- even though coach John Gardner's team has its sights firmly on a return trip to the Group 2 final in February.

High Point now owns a 29-14-1 edge in the series.

"It's always a first step, but we're not satisfied," said Talmadge, a Lock Haven University commit who aided a run of six straight pins to open the NJAC Freedom Division clash that gave High Point a 36-0 lead. "We have a lot more work to do. We expect to perform our best, and that's what we did the first six matches. Our little guys are pretty tough."

High Point (1-0, 1-0 division), ranked No. 8 in the state by the New Jersey Wrestling Writers, came out firing as freshman Shane Woolf's 41-second pin of Tyler Redden capped the run. Talmadge (8-0), a fifth-place finisher in the state tournament last season who helped lead the 'Cats to a Mustang Classic team championship recently at Brick Memorial, decked Scott Wallgren in 1:56. None of the first six bouts reached the third period and the match before a near-capacity crowd was completed in about an hour as sophomore state qualifier Brian Soldano sealed it in the eighth bout with a 44-second pin.

"For our kids, and I'm sure [Kittatinny's] kids as well, this is en event, not just a match,"said Gardner, who got over the .500 mark against Kittatinny at 11-10 overall in his 22nd season. "We knew every match was going to be competitive and they had some guys coming [in the upper weights]. Anytime you go out and get a win, it's a good one."

Kittatinny (1-1, 0-1), which came in as a heavy underdog, needed some things to fall into place to have a shot at six wins. The Cougars won five of the last eight bouts, thanks in part to winning the flip, as sophomore Steven Dalling got them on the board with an 8-2 win at 152. Veteran coach John Gill opted to bump Dalling up from 145 for a better matchup and also senior Gian Knippenberg from 160 to 170, but he dropped a 6-1 decision to High Point sophomore Alex Buchwald, who looked good in his season debut.

"A bad night would have been three or four wins. You always want to do a better job against a quality team," said Gill, now in his 40th season as Kittatinny's head coach and 13-25-1 all-time in a series of which he's never been a big fan. "We were getting smoked [early in the match]. It was good to get this over on Jan. 2."

Buchwald, who was coming off an injury sustained during the football season, was a highlight for High Point in the upper weights, which were dominated for the most part as expected by Kittatinny, as he took Knippenberg to his back for a four-pointer to break it open in the second period.

"He was a little limited coming off football, but he's worked hard," Gardner said of Buchwald, who went 15-14 as a freshman. "He's a strong, athletic kid with a competitive nature."

High Point will next compete in the Sam Cali Tournament on Friday and Saturday before another big dual matchup against No. 14 Howell at home on Tuesday.

"We're going to chip away and hope our kids will build off this one tonight," said Gardner, whose team finished with a 20-6 edge in takedowns. "Hopefully, we'll continue to be healthy."

Kittatinny, which is fielding its youngest and most inexperienced teams in recent memory, will need to regroup in a hurry with an independent match against Phillipsburg at home looming next Thursday before the Hunterdon-Warren-Sussex Tournament on Saturday. Gill said that senior Jacob Mafaro (285), a returning district champion who has not wrestled this season, has until Friday's practice to make his return, while junior Patrick Franco (2-1 at 132) missed this one due to an injury.

"Right now, he hasn't joined the team," Gill said. "We only had two seniors in the lineup tonight. We had guys drop down a weight and they made it right after the holiday. I was impressed. I would have loved to see some of our guys in the third period."

 HIGH POINT 48, KITTATINNY 24
113 -- Fr. Roman Citro (2-3), HP. p. Fr. Anthony Ferrari (2-6), 1:39.
120 -- So. Clayton Utter (4-1), HP, p. Fr. Chris Casale (1-2), 3:03.
126 -- Sr. Devon Liebl (5-0), HP, p. Sr. Ryan Turner (0-1), :16.
132 -- Jr. Josh Gervey (6-2), HP, p. So. Avery Yeager (0-1), 3:26.
138 -- Sr. Billy Talmadge (8-0), HP, p. Jr. Scott Wallgren (4-5), 1:56.
145 -- Fr. Shane Woolf (6-4), HP, p. So. Tyler Redden (0-1), :41.
152 -- So. Steven Dalling (5-4), K, d. So. Noah Ripley (3-5), 8-2.
160 -- So. Brian Soldano (8-0), HP, p. Jr. Craig Molfetto (3-5), :44.
170 -- So. Alex Buchwald (1-0), HP, d. Sr. Gian Knippenberg (3-5), 6-1.
182 -- So. Brycen Mafaro (6-2), K, d. Sr. PJ Soldano (4-3), 3-1.
195 -- Sr. Robert Bruce (5-3), K, p. Jr. Sean Van Wingerden (3-4), 2:23.
220 -- Jr. Jackson Crawn (6-1), K, p. Jr. Justin Klass (4-4), 1:14.
285 -- Jr. Troy Van Orden (1-0), HP, d. So. Ty Eldred (5-3), 8-5 OT2.
106 -- So. Shane Nelson (7-0), K, forfeit.

Records -- Kittatinny 1-1, 0-1; High Point 1-0, 1-0.

Officials -- Gary Kessel and Gary Szucs.

JV score -- Kittatinny, 61-18.