Saturday, February 22, 2020

Wrestling: District recap for HWS by the numbers

Let's review what happened in the 12 districts that house teams from the Hunterdon-Warren-Sussex area. In all, there are 113 wrestlers from the HWS area still competing -- down 12 from last season and five from the first two seasons of this absurd realignment that was introduced in 2017.

Here's the team-by team breakdown of qualifiers:

North Hunterdon and Phillipsburg (14); Pope John and Warren Hills (11); Kittatinny, Delaware Valley, Hunterdon Central (8); High Point and Sparta (7); North Warren (6); Hackettstown and Voorhees (5); Lenape Valley and Newton (4); Belvidere (2); Hopatcong (1).

We had seven schools win team championships: Pope John (D2), Kittatinny (D3), Warren Hills (D12), Phillipsburg (D13), Hunterdon Central (D18), Delaware Valley (D19), North Hunterdon (D20).

Here's a closer look by the numbers:

North advanced all 14 to Region 5 (Photo/Chris Hrunka).
219 -- North Hunterdon, which posted a school-record 23 wins in the program's first unbeaten season, won its fourth consecutive team championship and second straight in District 20, while Chris Hrunka was named Coach of the Year at Red Bank. The Lions produced seven champions for the first time since doing so in 1975 and '93, including two-time winner Nate Fossett (182). Freshmen Logan Wadle (106), whose father, Rudy, won his third title in '93, and Daniel Delusant (120), along with juniors Connor Quinn (132) and James Holder (170) and seniors Evan Klimas (145) and Ian Gaburo (220) all won their first titles for the Lions, who now have 219 champions overall -- missing having at least one winner just once in 2008.

39 -- Hunterdon Central, which earned its 1,000th win as a program last weekend, cruised to its fifth straight team championship (with 197.5 points) and 10th in the last 12 years to raise the program's total to 39. Sophomore Tanner Peake (138) won his second title, while freshman Henry Wilkinson (106), senior Anthony Romaniello (152) and junior Norm Cella (160) all won their first championships for the Red Devils, who are sending eight to Region 5, including runner-up Colton Washleski (145), a district champ as a sophomore in 2019.

16 -- Since going six straight years without a district champion, Sparta has now won 16 titles over the last seven seasons as senior Cooper Stewart (113), a first-time winner, joined his brothers, Spencer Stewart (132), who won his second title and senior Garrett Stewart (138) -- the first to win three titles since Todd Sheaffer won four (1978-81). The Stewarts are also the first trio of siblings in program history to win titles in the same year. For the third straight season, the Spartans advanced seven to Region 1, including sophomore Nick Hwang (third at 145) and runners-up Troy Schmitzer (152) and Joey Liotta (285).
Jacob Wicks (left) won his 2nd title.
65 -- With nine champions, including two-time winners Joey Innamorato (126), Jacob Wicks (195) and Gage Horvath (220), Phillipsburg won its 47th team championship while Dave Post was named District 13 Coach of the Year. Wicks made it five titles in his family as his father, Jamie, a Delaware Valley legend and two-time state champion, won three for the Terriers (1986-88). The Warren County school has produced at least one champion for 65 straight tournaments since missing in 1955. James Day (113), Jason Tino (132), Jared Kukor (145), Nate Zastowny (160), David Pierson (182) and Cody Cruts (285) all won their first titles -- giving the program at least nine for a fifth time, including a program record 11 in 2002. The others were 10 in 2000 and nine in both 1983 and 2018. The only other year that the 'Liners came up empty was 1950. Bill Lowe was the program's first champion at 103 pounds in 1948.

14 -- Pope John rolled to its sixth district team championship overall and the Sussex County school's third since 1981 as the Lions matched a program record seven champions for the second time in three seasons since doing it in 2018. Senior Eddie Ventresca (126), the OW in District 2, is just the fifth four-timer for the Lions, who have had 14 win at least three titles in their history, along with junior Shane Percelay (120) and senior Kaya Sement (145). The others to win four are Mike Frick (1969-72), Hugh Albora (1972-75), Brian Unkert (1987-90) and Jake Rotunda (2015-18). Ventresca, a three-time state medal winner and returning champion, is one shy of becoming the fifth Sussex wrestler to reach the 150-win mark, including record holder and former teammate JoJo Aragona (158-6 from 2015-19), now at Rutgers University. In all, the Sparta-based school, which also won team titles in 1975, '77, 2018 and '19, crowned at least six champions for only the fourth time (also achieved in 1975 and 2019).
5 -- Since Washington High School became Warren Hills following the 1966-67 school year, the Blue Streaks have produced at least five champions in a season on just three occasions, including six in 1990 and 2017. The Warren County school had five champs while winning the District 12 team title at Becton Regional High School on Saturday. Winning their first titles were sophomores Jared Lee (120), Stephen Malia (152), Owen Frizzell (160) and Tyler McCatharn (285), along with senior Geir Nemeth (138), as the Streaks advanced 11 to Region 3. Runners-up were seniors Greg Slivka (113), Logan Nauta (132) and Nick Hildebrant (170), and freshman Jarett Pantuso (182). Dave Sbriscia, a two-time champ for the Streaks, was named Coach of the Year.

Devon Liebl (left) and Billy Talmadge (right).
126 -- High Point senior Billy Talmadge (138), one of 14 wrestlers to win at least three district titles for the Wildcats, who have 126 overall, was denied in his bid to join Gavin Tarsa (2005-08), Nick Francavilla and Drew Wagenhoffer (2008-11) as the program's only four-time winners. Talmadge (36-1) lost a tough 12-8 decision to St. Joseph-Montvale junior Michael Cetta, who won the Outstanding Wrestler Award, in the District 1 finals at Fair Lawn. Brian Soldano (160) secured his second title and fellow sophomore Clayton Utter (113), whose father, Paul, was a three-time champion (1985-87) while uncle Alan won twice (1981 and '82) for the 'Cats, joined them with his first championship after a runner-up finish in 2019. Senior Devon Liebl, a D1 champion in 2019, was a runner-up at 126 and recorded his 100th win via forfeit in the quarterfinals. John Gardner, a three-time winner for the Sussex County school who led the program to a Group 2 title last weekend, was named District 1 Coach of the Year.

27 -- It was quite the family affair as District 3 team champion Kittatinny extended its streak with at least one winner to 27 straight seasons as junior Jackson Crawn (220), along with sophomores Steven Dalling (145) and Brycen Mafaro (182), all won their first titles. Dalling's father, Steve, a two-time state champ who put the Sussex County school on the map, according to longtime coach John Gill, was the first in program history to win four district titles (1988-91), while Mafaro joined his brothers, Zach (2017-19) and Jacob (2018-19), to give the trio a combined six championships.

116 -- Delaware Valley senior Gage Crater (126) was a winner in his third finals appearance as the Terriers produced three champions in District 19, including Tyler Lagun (160) and senior Ryan Sutter (285), who also won their first titles to give the program 113 overall and extend its streak of at least one winner to 23 straight seasons since missing in 1997. Sutter is the 10th heavyweight at the Hunterdon County school to win a title and first since Marek Tomanek in 2014.

7 -- Belvidere and Hackettstown combined to advance seven wrestlers to the Region 3 Tournament. The County Seaters crowned one champion in District 12 as junior Hunter Lensi (106) won his first title -- the Warren County school's 57th overall -- while sophomore Austin Zellars (106) and senior Zebulon Burke (152) picked up their first championships for the Tigers, who now have 65 overall, in District 11 at Morristown High School.

8 -- Over in District 8, Lenape Valley sophomore Daniel Haws (120) and senior Eric Falleni (138) won their second titles. It must have been a proud moment for alum Joe Lotruglio, who won a district title for the Patriots in 1992, as his son, JoJo, captured his first for Newton over in District 2 at River Dell High School. Hopatcong, which has 75 champions overall, trailing Lenape Valley now by one, missed for only the fourth time since 1989. Andrew Costa (third at 145) advanced to Region 2 for the Chiefs.
Posted by Mike Weilamann at 11:36 PM

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