Phillipsburg's wrestling team continued the "drive for five" with an impressive 35-16 win over North Hunterdon in a North 2, Group 4 sectional semifinal on Thursday night at Phillipsburg High School.
The Stateliners (14-2), the No. 2 seed and now a perfect 39-0 all-time in sectional semifinal matches, will hit the road as they bid for the program's 37th championship at top-seeded Middletown North on Friday night. It's the fourth straight postseason meeting between the teams as P'burg won the two previous title matches -- 45-16 in 2016 and 36-27 in '17 -- after a 57-9 victory in the '15 semifinals.
"We just have to keep wrestling the way we are," said 'Liners coach Dave Post, whose team took a step closer to its ultimate goal of a fifth straight Group 4 title by winning nine of 14 bouts against North Hunterdon. "We are wrestling as well as we have at any point in any season."
After scoring a 41-15 win over North Hunterdon during the regular season on Jan. 24, Post and his staff made a championship decision on the scale as they opted to weigh seniors Brian Meyer and Lance Wissing up one weight class, while bumping the lineup from 145 through 195.
"We wrestled a near-perfect dual the last time and we put 41 on the board, which is a very high number," Post said in his postmatch interview with Mike Moore of Stateliner Sports Network. "We knew we couldn't score as many with this more conservative lineup, but we figured we had eight [wins] locked up [no matter how North weighed in for the rematch]."
North Hunterdon (16-5), which has now lost 15 in a row against P'burg since its last win in 2007 and trails, 8-54-1 in the all-time series, was able to win three straight from 145 through 160 -- cutting Phillipsburg's lead to 18-16 through 10 bouts -- but the 'Liners, now 6-3 all-time vs. the Lions in postseason meetings, swept the final four, with Wissing's 9-1 major over Nathaniel Fossett at 195 clinching the match.
In the featured bout of the night, North Hunterdon senior Andrew Gapas scored a 5-3 win over junior Cody Harrison in a matchup between eighth-place finishers in last year's state tournament. In addition, Gapas became the 12th wrestler at his school to reach 100 career wins -- and it came despite some late drama.
Gapas (28-1) built a 5-2 lead with takedowns in each of the first two periods, but he nearly found himself in a heap of trouble when Harrison hit a throw at the edge of the mat with 19 seconds left in the third period. But official Barry Jackson ruled they were out of bounds, and confirmed the call with assistant Russ Scorese, while Post pleaded a case for his wrestler at the table.
The match started at an ideal spot for P'burg, which won five of the first six bouts in racing out to an 18-4 lead. Junior Bryce Parenti, in just his second varsity bout, scored a 3-0 win at 120, while senior Cullen Day (113) and junior Travis Jones (126) scored bonus-point wins. Speaking of bonus, North managed just one major decision (Connor Robinson at 106) to go with four regular decisions.
"I'm very happy with how we wrestled in the wins and the losses," Post said. "If we only give up one bonus point in matches, we're going to be a tough team to beat."
PHILLIPSBURG 35, NORTH HUNTERDON 16
285 -- Sr. Patrick Sharpe (18-12), P, d. Jr. Francis Vitelli (8-14), 1-0.
106 -- Jr. Connor Robinson (25-4), NH, md. Fr. Logan Maczko (14-12), 11-1.
113 -- Sr. Cullen Day (23-7), P, md. Fr. Frank Diesso (18-8), 13-4.
120 -- Jr. Bryce Parenti (2-0), P, d. Fr. Connor Quinn (7-2), 3-0.
126 -- Jr. Travis Jones (28-4), P, md. So. Evan Klimas (12-14), 15-0, 4:34.
132 -- Jr. Kyle Tino (16-8), P, d. So. Kyle Anderson (13-13), 11-4.
138 -- Sr. Andrew Gapas (28-1), NH, d. Jr. Cody Harrison (23-3), 5-3.
145 -- Jr. Michael Wilson (26-4), NH, d. So. Ryan Mitzak (0-3), 7-1.
152 -- Sr. Tucker Kirchberger (26-6), NH, d. Jr. Jayson Zinsmeister (15-10), 6-4.
160 -- Sr. William Hughes (18-4), NH, d. Sr. Josh Ramos (16-7), 8-2.
170 -- Sr. Brian Meyer (26-2), P, p. Fr. Andrew Franklin (0-3), 1:47.
182 -- Jr. Austin Roth (16-8), P, d. Sr. John Spies (12-16), 6-0.
195 -- Sr. Lance Wissing (29-3), P, md. So. Nathaniel Fossett (22-9), 9-1.
220 -- Sr. Shamyr Brodders (13-12), P, md. Jr. Richard Kimmick (1-17), 11-2.
Records -- North Hunterdon 16-5, Phillipsburg 14-2.
Officials -- Barry Jackson and Russ Scorese.
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