Wrestling: Vernon ace a True champ (HWS roundup)

LOPATCONG TWP. -- True story. Vernon's championship drought is finally over.

Jackson Moore and True DiGiuseppe

Vikings senior True DiGiuseppe made history by decimating the field at 190 pounds to claim his school's first individual title in the 16th Hunterdon-Warren-Sussex Tournament at Phillipsburg High School.

DiGiuseppe (16-0), a four-time placewinner who finished third (2024) and fourth twice (2023 and '25) in previous appearances, was in a class by himself with three bonus-point victories, including decking North Hunterdon senior Owen Dandeo in 55 seconds for the championship and his second pin of the day. Vernon took home two medals in all as junior Jackson Moore finished fifth at 215. 

"Feels awesome. It's always been a goal to win at [any event]," said DiGiuseppe, who logged a 9-0 major decision in the semifinals over Phillipsburg's Kevin Buonocore, a champion in 2025 at 215. 

So how did DiGiuseppe pull it off?

"Just sticking to what I'm good at ... the basics pretty much," he said after becoming only the second finalist for Vernon, joining Jon Gemeinhardt, a runner-up at 285 in 2012. 

It also helps having a former HWS champion and Outstanding Wrestler Award winner in your corner. That familiar face you saw in the gym on Saturday sporting unfamiliar Vernon blue was former High Point star and state medalist Billy Talmadge, who is in his first season as a head coach.

"He's every helpful," said DiGiuseppe, a Sussex Tech student studying welding and whose older brothers, Storm and Sage, wrestled for the Vikings. "Gives me a lot of great tips and on tournament wrestling. He definitely keeps me mentally in check and prepared to wrestle."

Talmadge (far right) helped HP win 4 sectional and 2 Group 2 titles

Talmadge, who won the 138-pound title in 2020 en route to a fifth-place finish in the state tournament at Atlantic City before going on to wrestle in Division I at Lock Haven University, is looking to build Vernon up to a competitive level across the board. Having your star wrestler stay home and committed to the program certainly helps in the era of Non-Public school dominance.  

"It's really cool," said Talmadge, who spent last season as an assistant at High Point, where he placed twice (eighth in 2019) in the state tournament and won three district titles. "I see True work hard every day [in practice] and obviously at Vernon there's a wide array of experience. So it's cool to see True put his head down and come in the room and do whatever we're going over and become a young man."

DiGiuseppe, whose promising junior campaign was cut short by a neck injury, is laser focused on making his first trip to AC in pursuit of some other lofty goals. He's looking to join Jan Michaels, a two-time finalist and the Vikings' only champion (1979) and Brian Hoyt (seventh at 112 pounds in 2007) as the only Viking wrestlers to medal in the state tournament. Hoyt is also the lone member of the school's 100-wins club, going 114-31 from 2003-07. 

"We'll see," DiGiuseppe said of hitting 100 wins as he entered the week at 81-16 overall "I haven't even been keeping track of that to be honest. My goals are at the state tournament. That's where I have my eyes set on. I'm healed up properly and I'm ready to go."

Talmadge certainly thinks his wrestler has the talent to make some noise in March.

"True is phenomenal on his feet," Talmadge said. "I think we were able to fine-tune some skills on his feet so he's a really good offensive wrestler. He's a hard worker. We set goals at the beginning of the season and getting down to Atlantic City and doing some damage down there is definitely one of the goals."

Don't sleep on this Lion

"Nothing can happen if not first a dream." -- late North Carolina State men's basketball coach Jim Valvano, on his 1983 NCAA championship team. 

North Hunterdon produced a tournament-best 4 champs

North Hunterdon junior Aidan Yarussi pulled off the upset of the day with his 5-3 win over two-time Pope John state medalist and HWS champ Dalton Weber in their finals rematch at 132 pounds, while thwarting Weber's bid to become only the 11th wrestler to win three or more county championships. Yarussi's re-attack for a takedown with 24 seconds to go in the third period snapped a 1-1 tie and helped secure North Hunterdon's second team title and first since 2020 as the Lions produced a tournament-best four winners, including junior Cayden Wadle (106), sophomore Owen Fol (113) and senior Reid Buzby (126).

For his efforts, Yarussi (15-1), who finished third and second in his two previous HWS appearances, joined current assistant coach Andrew Gapas (2017) as the only North wrestlers to earn Outstanding Wrestler Award honors. It was also sweet redemption for the lopsided 18-5 loss to Weber in last year's title match at 132.

"I'm super proud of this," said Yarussi, a two-time state qualifier and 83-21 overall. "He's really good. I go to the same club and honestly, I'm surprised by myself with that win."

Well, maybe a little surprised. Yarussi said he actually dreamt the night before that he was going to win the rematch with Weber, who a three-time district and two-time region champ who placed third as a sophomore and eighth as a junior in the state tournament.

What was the difference this time around? 

"I had to go into the match poised because last year I almost got teched by him," Yarussi said. "I was just going at him [last season] and putting my hands on him and he kept slide-bying me. [This time] I kept my distance to get to my one good shot and split off to the double to finish the match."

North also had plenty of motivation coming off a disappointing 35-30 loss to Phillipsburg in this gym on Wednesday as coach Dave Bell's team was bidding for a third straight win over the 'Liners after sweeping the series last season, including a Group 4 title victory.

"Whole team was upset and we wanted to get them back at the county tournament ... and we got 'em." 

Back points

Delaware Valley enjoyed one of its best tournament performances in quite some time as all 12 of its entries placed in the top six to give the third-place Terriers their fourth straight top-four finish. Coach Andy Fitz's team also produced two champions -- Michael Hasson (144) and Hunter Taffera (157) -- for the first time since 2012, when Mike Pongracz (126) and Will Van Doren (170) won golds. This well-balanced group should give Phillipsburg a run when the teams meet back here on Friday.  

Speaking of P'burg, the second-place Stateliners matched North Hunterdon with six finalists as senior Massimo Gonzalez (138), junior Owen Garriques (150) and senior Ben Ellis (285) all won their first HWS titles -- giving the Warren County school a record 43 winners overall. Garriques joined his father, John, as a county champion and will have a chance to match him next season. John Garriques, a three-time state medalist and runner-up in 1997 for P'burg, won two titles in the former Hunterdon-Warren event in 1995 and '96 to go with a runner-up finish in '94 after transferring from Hackettstown following placing third in '93. 

 And speaking of Hackettstown, junior Joseph Rowinski, a winner at 106 last season, became the Tigers' seventh champion overall and joined Alex Carida (2017-18) as the only ones to win multiple titles with an impressive 7-3 win over Phillipsburg's Anthony Pettinelli at 120 pounds. It was only the third time that Hackettstown produced multiple finalists (junior Steven Vidal was a runner-up at 106) and first since 2018 (Carida and Joe Andes won titles at 145 and 285). 

Voorhees had two finalists for the first time since 2018

Sparta senior Liam Hassloch became his school's seventh HWS champion after being pinned in last year's title match at 215 pounds. Hassloch scored a 6-5 win in sudden victory over Voorhees' Dimos Maroulis to become the Spartans' first champ since Connor White (215 in 2024). "It feels amazing to get first after finishing second last year," Hassloch said. "Connor White was our last [champ] and wrestling with him, he pushed me hard to get me where I'm at now."

Maroulis and fellow senior Christian Bollette (144), who earned his 100th career win in the opening round, gave Voorhees multiple finalists since brothers Scott (runner-up at 195) and Lewis Fernandes (champ at 220) in 2018. Scott Fernandes also lost to a Sparta opponent when he was pinned by Robert Gennat in 3:43. Lewis decked Jake Brown from Pope John (located in Sparta) in 3:59 for the first of his two HWS titles. 

It's been a long time since South Hunterdon produced a top-four county finisher but it came in the Eagles' first HWS appearance after reforming the program and competing on the varsity level last season. Senior Parker Rampel placed fourth at 215 pounds, giving South its first HWS medalist and the school's first since Paul Simone finished fourth at 215 in the 1997 Hunterdon-Warren Tournament. South dropped the program following the 2000-01 season. Former Delaware Valley star and wrestling good guy Leigh Hall took on the challenge of bringing it back and was a successful coach at every other Hunterdon County posts during stops at his alma mater, Voorhees and Hunterdon Central as an assistant. More individual success is sure to follow.

Wallkill Valley, which also returned to a single program after a co-op with Vernon for a few years in recent seasons, had two HWS placers for the first time in quite awhile as junior Scottie Weiss (165) and sophomore Gabe Perrotto-Wald (175), a 12 seed, finished fourth. The Rangers, who were dead last in the team standings last season with seven points, placed 15th as a team and hadn't been higher than 16th since the program's best finish of seventh in the inaugural event in 2010.

Crosstown rivals Kittatinny and Newton meet in what could be a very interesting dual on Jan. 20 in Hampton Township. Newton, which is coached by former Kittatinny state placer Eric Bollette, went 2-1 in head-to-head meetings with the Cougars at HWS. The Braves had one finalist in senior Tyler Morodan (157), the school's first since Thaylor Sibblies (runner-up in 2022), while Kittatinny (one fifth and five six-place finishers) did not have a finalist or a top-four placewinner for the first time in HWS history. 

Hunterdon Central went 0-2 in the finals, but freshman phenom James Fearon (126) arrived on the scene with a stunning and dominant 7-1 semifinal win over Warren Hills senior Augie Szamreta, a state placer and returning HWS champion. Fearon avenged a 6-2 loss when they met in a December dual meet.

Pope John senior Cole Dunham (175) won his second HWS title, while junior Lukas Katsigiannis (165) picked up his first to give the Lions multiple champs for the 10th straight tournament. Dunham looked very good in a 10-4 win over Phillipsburg state qualifier Gavin Geleta, while Katsigiannis scored an 11-0 major of High Point's Jayden Ruplall. Former Lions star JoJo Aragona, now an assistant coach, had a ringside seat and was the first of just four wrestlers (three from Pope John) to log four consecutive HWS titles.