Trailing 29-27 with two bouts left after Newton's surprise wins at 285 and 106 pounds, P'burg needed its light-weight hammers to come through as sate qualifiers Cullen Day (113) and Travis Jones (120) scored a pin and a technical fall, respectively, to rescue the Stateliners (2-0), who were coming off a 64-6 waxing of Delaware Valley the previous evening in a one-night only return to The Pit.
"We didn't perform at our best, but we still put up 38 points," said coach Dave Post, whose team registered four pins and one technical fall in six contested bouts as senior Brian Meyer (160) received a forfeit for his 98th career win.
"The Newton guys came to wrestle. They have a tough team, with three stud freshmen. That's a quality team."
Newton (2-1), which still holds an 8-7-1 lead in the all-time series, including a 31-27 win in the previous meeting in 2009, won six of eight bouts from 152 through 106, to get the crowd buzzing again. Braves coach Eric Bollette opted to bump his lineup by running senior Jonathon Borgognoni up to 170, where he turned the match by rallying from an early 4-0 deficit to pin Josh Ramos in 5:04. The visitors reeled off wins in five of the next six to grab their first and only lead of the night.
"We won the toss and we were able to move up top," said Bollette, who was soundly booed for the forfeit to Meyer -- a third-place finisher in last season's state tournament-- but Newton had no other eligible wrestler for that weight class. "I thought we were better [in some of those weights]."
After Lance Wissing's pin at 182 for P'burg, Joseph DeLuca (195) and Luke Fischer (220) answered with a pin and a technical fall. DeLuca slapped on a cradle to deck Shamyr Brodders in 1:52. Fischer built a 10-0 lead on Cody Cruts, but he couldn't get the fall, turning the sophomore twice after starting on top in the second period.
"We won at 195 and 220, but we can't leave points on the mat," Bollette said. "We have to get the pin there. I'm happy with the way we wrestled overall. We won seven bouts, but when you lose by nine points against the Group 4 [championship] favorite, you start wondering what you could have done to win the match."
Newton junior Matt Somers (285) and freshman Nathan Fitt (106) really made it interesting.
Somers, who is splitting time on the varsity and junior varsity levels, converted a second-period takedown en route to a 3-2 win over Patrick Sharpe, who opened the season by placing seventh in the rugged King of the Mountain Tournament. Fitt, who displayed some serious funk moves, gave up two takedowns early on before hitting a five-pointer in the third off a scramble for a 7-4 decision over Logan Maczko. In the last bout, talented freshman JoJo Lotruglio got the opening takedown before Jones pulled away behind four three-point nearfalls.
"We shot ourselves in the foot in some matches," Post said. "Josh was down against Borgognoni -- one of the best kids in the Hunterdon-Warren-Sussex area -- but 285 and 106, we did it to ourselves. [Sharpe] snapped the guy into his legs. Logan had a chin and ankle, he was in really good position, but he stopped spinning with [Fitt].
"I thought we were wrestling well [until 170]. That match took a little steam out of us."
Thoughts of a Newton upset could have disappeared for good as P'burg freshman Tyler Marason set an early tone with his 2-0 decision over junior Matthew Rosa in a bout the Braves were counting on.
Marason (5-2) converted a controversial takedown with 15 seconds left in the first period that proved to be the winning margin as they took turns riding each other out in the final two periods. Bollette was irate over the call -- saying that Marason never got on Rosa's hip to earn the takedown -- and voiced his objection to referee Lou Ricciardi.
Newton junior Michael Freda picked his team up with an 8-3 win in the next bout at 132, but P'burg stretched its lead to 15-3 with pins by Kyle Tino and state placewinner Cody Harrison at 138 and 145.
"We were hoping to win the first two," said Bollette, now 1-4 all-time against P'burg.
The only letdown was Meyer weighing in at 160, instead of 152 for a matchup against Braves junior Wyatt McCarthy, a returning state qualifier. McCarthy started his team's comeback with a 9-4 win over Jayson Zinsmeister.
Newton will next participate in the 60th annual John Goles Invitational at Warren Hills on Wednesday, while P'burg heads to the Bethlehem Holiday Wrestling Classic at Liberty High School in Pennsylvania on Thursday and Friday.
PHILLIPSBURG 38, NEWTON 29
126 -- Fr. Tyler Marason (5-2), P, d. Jr. Matthew Rosa (4-2), 2-0.
132 -- Jr. Michael Freda (4-2), N, d. Jr. Luke Hardin (0-2), 8-3.
138 -- Jr. Kyle Tino (2-0), P, p. Sr. Tim Houlihan (1-4), 4:57.
145 -- Jr. Cody Harrison (6-1), P, p. So. Trevor Aughenbaugh (0-2), 2:25.
152 -- Jr. Wyatt McCarthy (6-0), N, d. Jr. Jayson Zinsmeister (4-3), 9-4.
160 -- Sr. Brian Meyer (6-1), P, forfeit.
170 -- Sr. Jonathon Borgognoni (6-0), N, p. Sr. Josh Ramos (4-3), 5:04.
182 -- Sr. Lance Wissing (9-1), P, p. Jr. Nick Brigante (3-3), 2:18.
195 -- Sr. Joseph DeLuca (5-1), N, p. Sr. Shamyr Brodders (3-3), 1:52.
220 -- Jr. Luke Fischer (6-0), N, tf. So. Cody Cruts (2-3), 15-0, 3:40.
285 -- Jr. Matt Somers (1-0), N, d. Sr. Patrick Sharpe (6-3), 3-2.
106 -- Fr. Nathan Fitt (2-4), N, d. Fr. Logan Maczko (4-3), 7-4.
113 -- Sr. Cullen Day (6-1), P, p. Fr. Danny Cleary (2-3), 1:38.
120 -- Jr. Travis Jones (5-3), P, tf. Fr. JoJo Lotruglio (3-2), 17-2, 3:46.
Records -- Newton 2-1; Phillipsburg 2-0.
Official -- Lou Ricciardi.
JV score -- Phillipsburg, 43-24.
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