Wrestling: Stateliners have enough to corral Cougars

HAMPTON TWP. -- Phillipsburg's young and still relatively inexperienced wrestling team can't afford to look past most opponents on a brutal schedule. But coach Dave Post thought that was the case in his team's 40-18 win over Kittatinny on Thursday night in an independent road matchup before a very sparse crowd at Kittatinny Regional High School.

"It was the simple fact that we came out like gangbusters [in a 35-19 win against Hunterdon Central on Wednesday] and we underestimated [Kittatinny]," said Post, who voiced his displeasure with the overall performance to the 'Liners in the locker room afterward. "We were not prepared. It had nothing to do with inexperience. We weren't taking this seriously."

P'burg is now 19-6 all-time vs. Kittatinny since 1994.

Still, P'burg (4-0), ranked No. 13 in the state by the New Jersey Wrestling Writers Association, managed to win 10 bouts, including pins by sophomores James Day (113) and Nate Zastowny (160) and junior Logan Maczko (126), against Kittatinny (1-2), which has now dropped 10 straight in the series.

Maczko snapped a 12-12 tie by decking freshman Andrew Knutelsky with an arm bar in 1:04 seven bouts in to start the Stateliners' run of seven straight wins, until Brycen Mafaro closed out the match by pinning P'burg sophomore David Pierson with a cradle at 182.

"Everybody says we're young and they're doubting us, but I think by the end of the season, all the gears will be working together," said Maczko, who plans on making the drop to 120 pounds next week for a tough stretch of dual meets against North Hunterdon (Wednesday), Toms River North (Thursday) and High Point (Saturday, Jan. 18 at The Pit) -- all ranked in the NJWWA Top 20.

"There were some positions where we could have done a lot better. It was not a perfect dual meet, but it was not a bad one."

On the plus side for P'burg were victories recorded by senior Jared Kukor (145), sophomore Matt D'Onofrio (152) and senior Denny Perez (170) -- as all three have endured their share of struggles early on this season.

Kukor countered a headlock attempt by Steven Dalling to convert the winning takedown with 34 seconds left in sudden victory, while D'Onofrio racked up seven of the Stateliners' 23 takedowns in a 17-7 major of Craig Molfetto. And in one of the more entertaining bouts, Perez surrendered the tying takedown before getting a reversal with 23 seconds left in the third period en route to a 5-3 win over Evan Raposo.

"The 145-pound match was one we considered a tossup bout," said Post, now 10-0 all-time against Kittatinny and 151-23 overall in his 10 seasons at the helm. "Denny has been away from the sport for essentially three years, so we told him to temper his expectations. We told him that he won't be the same wrestler in February that he was in December. Those are guys we need to get wins because we will be leaning on them later [in the season]."

Kittatinny, which only has two seniors in the lineup, is trying to overcome inexperience and the loss of two starters. Gill confirmed that heavyweight Jacob Mafaro will not rejoin the team, while junior Patrick Franco (132-138) is dealing with a serious leg/hip injury that will keep him out indefinitely and perhaps most, if not all, of the season.

There were some bright spots for the Cougars, who got a nice win from freshman Chris Casale at 120 and some good efforts in losses, especially at 285, where sophomore Ty Eldred, a newcomer to wrestling, dropped a 3-1 decision in sudden-victory overtime. Junior Jackson Crawn (220) and sophomores Shane Nelson (106) and Brycen Mafaro (182) all won as expected, but Crawn appeared to tire in the second period and gave up a late takedown before hanging on for a 4-2 win over Gage Horvath.

"We won five matches last week [in a 48-24 loss to High Point] and we only won four tonight," said Gill, now 6-19 all-time against P'burg. "But overall, I felt better tonight than I did last Thursday. I was happy for Casale who got his first win in our home gym. Hopefully the first of many, many more. I was more proud of some of the kids who lost. I hope it's a glimpse of improvement."

Both teams will next be in action on Saturday in the Hunterdon-Warren-Sussex Tournament at Phillipsburg -- where the Stateliners will make their home debut.

"We tell the kids, you have six minutes to showcase your talent," said Post, whose team won the takedown battle, 23-7. "You can't wait until the last 30 seconds to wrestle. That's not the way we train. [Wednesday] night went pretty great. We didn't have a complete dual meet like that in a number of years. This was our first Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, we do those a lot, and maybe if anything that's some of the sophomoric issues. We're a lot better team than what we showed here tonight."

PHILLIPSBURG 40, KITTATINNY 18
195 -- Sr. Jacob Wicks (10-6), P, d. Sr. Robert Bruce (5-4), 11-9.
220 -- Jr. Jackson Crawn (7-1), K, d. Jr. Gage Horvath (9-5), 4-2.
285 -- Sr. Cody Cruts (9-4), P, d. So. Ty Eldred (5-4), 3-1 SV.
106 -- So. Shane Nelson (8-0), K, p. So. Sean Stasiulaitis (4-6), 3:17.
113 -- So. James Day (12-4), P, p. Fr. Anthony Ferrari (2-7), 1:24.
120 -- Fr. Chris Casale (2-2), K, d. So. Hakeem Ransdell (3-6), 3-2.
126 -- Jr. Logan Maczko (7-2), P, p. Fr. Andrew Knutelsky (3-5), 1:04.
132 -- So. Joey Innamorato (9-4), P, d. Jr. Connor Hanna (0-1), 3-0.
138 -- Jr. Jason Tino (10-8), P, d. Jr. Scott Wallgren (4-6), 10-3.
145 -- Sr. Jared Kukor (5-6), P, d. So. Steven Dalling (5-5), 3-1 SV.
152 -- So. Matt D'Onofrio (5-8), P, md. Jr. Craig Molfetto (3-6), 17-7.
160 -- So. Nate Zastowny (12-4), P, p. Sr. Gian Knippenberg (3-6), 3:11.
170 -- Sr. Denny Perez (4-6), P, d. So. Evan Raposo (1-6), 5-3.
182 -- So. Brycen Mafaro (7-2), K, p. So. David Pierson (8-6), 3:20.
Records -- Phillipsburg 4-0; Kittatinny 1-2.
Officials -- Frank Leitner and Al Abdel-aziz.