RARITAN TWP. -- There was a mix of disbelief and disappointment for Phillipsburg's wrestling team after the dust settled from a 38-21 loss to Hunterdon Central in a key Skyland Conference Raritan Division matchup on Wednesday night at the Field House.
Hunterdon Central (10-0, 4-0 division), ranked No. 8 in the New Jersey Writers Association Top 20, is now firmly in control of the division title chase with road matches against Voorhees (Wednesday) and Delaware Valley (Jan. 31) -- both rate as heavy underdogs -- left on the Raritan Division slate. Meanwhile, No. 5 P'burg (4-1, 2-1) saw its goal of finishing unbeaten in New Jersey fall by the wayside.
"One of the things we told the guys is we have to win tight dual meets," said P'burg coach Dave Post, now 8-3 all-time against Central. "To win, we have to be in those battles. Last year, we had a tough one every night because our conference was so strong. The guys take [losses] pretty heavy. They have the weight [of an entire town] on their backs."
It's not often the Stateliners are held without bonus points (other than a forfeit at 170 in their six victories) and it's certainly unusual when they surrender four pins, including a tone-setting fall by Hunterdon Central sophomore Lukas Bakerian at 195 to open the match.
It was that kind of evening, as the Red Devils snapped a five-match skid in the series, beating the 'Liners for just the eighth time in 48 meetings dating to 1962. Phillipsburg, which now owns a 39-8-1 edge in the all-time series, has lost five times in the past nine seasons, falling for the first time since a 30-29 setback in the 2013 North 2, Group 4 sectional final. Central also won, 34-30, in the regular-season dual that season.
"It was a fun evening in front of a packed house," said coach Jon Cantagallo-Rohm, who picked up his first win in four meetings against the 'Liners. "We preached to the kids to not make this one any bigger than the rest, even though some of them knew the magnitude of this match. They definitely rose to the occasion."
Let's take a look at some of the key moments:
1. Upper class: In order to pull this one off, it was a given that Hunterdon Central needed to control the upper-weight matchups. Bakerian rallied from a 4-2 deficit in the third period for a stunning pin of Shamyr Brodders, who had the only two takedowns of the bout until getting reversed and decked in 5:08. Had P'burg pulled that one off, certainly an upset, it likely would have changed the entire complexion of this one. Senior Reese Young, who had just seven career varsity bouts under his belt coming into the season, made it 12-0 with an early pin at 220. Senior Patrick Sharpe stopped the bleeding temporarily for the 'Liners with a 5-1 win over Angelo Crespo (who for some reason kept trying to lock up for a throw despite giving up about 60 pounds) at 285, but the damage had been done.
"No doubt about it," Cantagallo-Rohm said when asked about Bakerian's win swinging the early momentum. "We gave up a takedown right away and I'm thinking, 'Oh boy.' Brodders is pretty athletic and we thought Lukas' strength and athleticism could counter that. Brodders got another takedown and all of the sudden I'm thinking we're going to have make up points somewhere. But we hit a switch and Brodders lost his balance, and we rolled right on top. Reese Young bumping up a weight class and getting up a pin was huge. We stormed out to a 12-point lead early and took their crowd out of it right away."
2. Jones-ing for a win: Phillipsburg was in a 17-6 hole through five bouts after Cullen Day held off talented Central freshman Colton Washleski for a 6-2 win at 113. Junior Travis Jones made his own statement with a 7-0 win over Jack Bauer, a two-time Region 5 runner-up. The way Jones did it was more impressive as the tough mat wrestler racked up three takedowns for a win in which he got no turns for back points, unlike last year's bout when he had no takedowns (but one huge peterson roll for five) in a 7-2 win over Bauer. P'burg coach Dave Post has been saying for some time how much Jones has improved in the neutral position and it showed in this one. In fact, holding a seven-point lead after converting a third takedown with 55 seconds left, Jones signaled that he wanted to let Bauer up to try for a major decision, but Post told him to stay on top.
"You can't make kids like [Jones]," Post said. "You can ask our strength coach, he hasn't missed a lift since last season ended."
3. Moving day: In conversations with Post leading up to this one, he indicated that they were looking at the possibility of winning nine of the 14 bouts. P'burg won six, but it had Central on the ropes at 195, 138, 152 and 182. Those all could have gone either way. Junior Kyle Tino gave one-time state placewinner Hunter Graf all he could handle in a 7-4 loss. Tino led 3-2 after two periods and went for a headlock, which he nearly converted, with the score tied at 3 in third period, but he slipped off and Graf got a decisive takedown -- adding another merely for window dressing at the buzzer. At 152, Vincent Romaniello needed two back points with four seconds left for a 6-4 win over P'burg junior Jason Zinsmeister. Zinsmeister, who led 4-2 after two periods, was caught riding high with legs in and gave up a tying reversal with 45 seconds left in the third period.
"We knew had to win a lot of decisions where we typically get bonus points," said Post, whose team scored just 12 points through the first 10 bouts. "We put ourselves in position to win nine, 10 bouts. We couldn't make the scrambles happen. But we can't shoot ourselves in the foot. We put ourselves in bad spots. We need to know the difference between go-to defense and what tertiary defense should be. [Central] is a little different than they've typically been. They were tough on top and we wrestled more on our feet than we typically would. They have a good team and were a tough matchup for us."
Not having Tino at 132 also limited Post's options and the ability to keep Graf down at 132. It would not have changed the outcome, but P'burg trailed 23-9 and lost both at 132 and 138, where they had designs on and really needed a split.
"He's just getting adjusted to being a 132-pounder," Post said. "The way he performed, we're really proud of him."
"They made their moves with Tino and [Cody] Harrison at 138, and [Brian] Meyer and [Josh Ramos] at 160," Cantagallo-Rohm said. "I think they clearly underestimated Vizzoni. We moved him around a lot [last season] to get matchups and he had a mediocre [9-6] record. We knew they were trying to pin [Central senior Kevin] Ciresa up top against Meyer and get [Lance] Wissing on [Dan] Furmato. Up top, I thought we had a better advantage. Pins are usually hard to find in a P'burg match. But I've got to have faith in my guys."
4. Unlikely heroes: In addition to Young, sophomore Grant Bloch (132) and Pasquale Vizzoni (145) came up with big efforts for Central. Bloch, who has seen sparse varsity action the past two seasons, got a pin after a scoreless first period to put the Red Devils ahead 29-9 through eight bouts, while Vizzoni gave a good account in a 4-3 loss to Harrison, a state placewinner.
The ability to pull off big points in the final seconds, usually a hallmark of P'burg teams, was huge for Central as freshman Brett Ungar got a takedown with five seconds left to earn a technical fall victory, in addition to a late pin by Anthony Romaniello at 126.
"Bonus points beat us last year [a 34-24 loss at P'burg]," Cantagallo-Rohm said. "We didn't pick them up and they won the one tossup [Wissing beat Bryce Hall, 6-4, in a critical next-to-last bout]. I had the opportunity as an assistant under Steve Gibble when we beat P'burg twice [in 2013] to make the lineups for those matches. I know what a chess game it is and how important bonus points are. Our guys capitalized on their opportunities."
5. The rookies: Ungar and Washleski are the real deal. Having those two at the top really balances this Hunterdon Central lineup. Ungar is one of the top 106-pounders in the state, while Washleski is one to keep an eye on down the road -- Cantagallo-Rohm thought his wrestler had two and two late in the second period that would have given Washleski a 6-4 lead through two periods against Day. It's a darn shame that the Red Devils will almost certainly tangle with No. 3 Howell in the Central Jersey, Group 5 sectional final as the NJSIAA in its infinite widsom sought to move Howell out of South Jersey. These are clearly the best two Group 5 teams and their state final last season was an epic clash -- a 28-27 loss for Central. As for P'burg, Central has now earned five of its eight career victories in the series since 2010, and may be poised to keep this rivalry tight for the foreseeable future.
"We're starting three freshmen -- Norman Cella (8-4 at 152) has been a nice surprise for us, but he didn't wrestle against P'burg," Cantagallo-Rohm said. "There's been such an intimidation factor in the past, and P'burg has a swagger to it. We've told our guys to just wrestle the opponent in front of you. We're not losing much. The rivalry has been one-sided and I think we're changing that with what we've done at Central. Our goal is to make this less one-sided and have a packed house every time."
HUNTERDON CENTRAL 38, PHILLIPSBURG 21
195 -- So. Lukas Bakerian (12-3), HC, p. Sr. Shamyr Brodders (4-8), 5:08.
220 -- Sr. Reese Young (7-5), HC, p. So. Cody Cruts (4-7), 1:10.
285 -- Sr. Patrick Sharpe (11-5), P, d. Sr. Angelo Crespo (5-3), 5-1 SV.
106 -- Fr. Brett Ungar (14-0), HC, tf. Fr. Logan Maczko (8-6), 16-1, 5:55.
113 -- Sr. Cullen Day (11-4), P, d. Fr. Colton Washleski (11-4), 6-2.
120 -- Jr. Travis Jones (13-4), P, d. Jr. Jack Bauer (10-3), 7-0.
126 -- So. Anthony Romaniello (11-2), HC, p. Jr. Luke Hardin (1-4), 5:23.
132 -- So. Grant Bloch (3-3), HC, p. Jr. Thomas Abode (0-2), 3:04.
138 -- Sr. Hunter Graf (14-1), HC, d. Jr. Kyle Tino (6-3), 7-4.
145 -- Jr. Cody Harrison (13-2), P, d. Jr. Pasquale Vizzoni (4-1), 4-3.
152 -- Jr. Vincent Romaniello (11-3), HC, d. Jr. Jayson Zinsmeister (9-7), 6-4 .
160 -- Sr. Brian Meyer (11-2), P, d. Sr. Kevin Ciresa (11-4), 6-0.
170 -- Sr. Lance Wissing (17-2), P, forfeit.
182 -- Jr. Dan Furmato (13-2), HC, d. Jr. Austin Roth (5-4), 5-3 SV.
Records -- Phillipsburg 4-1, 2-1; Hunterdon Central 10-0, 4-0.
Officials -- Stu Kohn and Joe Knipper.
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