Wrestling: Bonus baby! P'burg 'fantastic' against NH

Phillipsburg's wrestling team had some serious soul searching to do in the days following one of the program's worst defeats in the last quarter of a century. Coach Brad Gentzle's Stateliners discovered that they are a pretty resilient bunch.

P'burg won 10 bouts, including key decisions at 215 and 106 pounds, en route to an impressive and dominant 44-14 win over North Hunterdon in a big Skyland Conference Raritan Division clash on Wednesday night in Lopatcong Township.

P'burg is now 57-11-1 overall against North.

"This was by far our best overall team dual meet performance," Gentzle, whose team bounced back from a tough 35-15 loss to Warren Hills on Friday with a 37-22 win over Livingston on Monday, told Mike Moore of Stateliner Sports. "We took one on the chin on Friday. We learned a lot about ourselves as wrestlers, as kids, as coaches. We told the kids, 'We're going to find out what type of team we are tonight.'

Indeed they did. Phillipsburg (5-1, 2-0 division), ranked No. 16 in the New Jersey Wrestling Writers Association Top 20, flipped the script from the Warren Hills loss against No. 13 North Hunterdon (8-3, 2-1), which was seeking its fourth straight win over the 'Liners dating to 2020. Senior David Pierson's 5-3 win over Brendan Raley in the second bout at 215 got the crowd going and sophomore Dawson McWilliams delivered a critical 6-4 win at 106 in what was considered a tossup bout.

"We certainly found out on Monday that we could deal with adversity and wrestle a good team and perform," said Gentzle, whose team trailed, 11-2, in takedowns through five bouts and went 14-3 on its feet over the final nine. "But we needed 14 performances tonight for this match to go the way that it did. We got 14-plus as far as I'm concerned. Some of our guys just did their job better than we could have hoped for in some cases. They just wrestled their tails off. It was just a great overall team performance."

The seeds for this one were planted early as North, which was heavily favored at 190 and 285, wasn't able to get enough up top. Junior Alex Uryniak needed a five-point move in the closing seconds of the third period to pull off a 13-3 major against undersized Connor Hille in the opening bout, while Akers, also a state placewinner, managed three takedowns in a 7-1 win over sophomore John Wargo. 

But in between, Pierson put a huge dent in North's hopes with a 5-3 decision after surrendering a first-period takedown to Raley, whose suffered his second loss to Pierson in 11 days (2-0 in the Hunterdon-Warren-Sussex Tournament semifinals).

After McWilliams, who nearly stuck Shane Wysocki with a cradle in the first period, put P'burg in the driver's seat, freshman Gavin Hawk decked Ben Makaritis with a cradle in the sixth bout at 120 to give the Stateliners a 12-11 lead they would not relinquish. 

"He's stoic. He goes out there and he just stays in good position," Gentzle said of Hawk. "His demeanor never wavers. He doesn't make mistakes. If you make a mistake, he's going to capitalize and he is strong as an ox. He's going to continue to win a lot of matches for us."

"[McWilliams] got off to a slow start with an injury and missing some time. He went out there from the get-go and was in charge of that match."

Senior Joey Innamorato added a huge 7-3 win over Daniel Delusant at 138, while sophomore Liam Packer all but iced things with a 3-0 win in another tossup at 144. P'burg won the flip so North had to show first at 138, but at that point, Lions coach Chris Hrunka needed to sweep both weights to stay in the hunt and sent out Delusant, who would have been a big favorite vs. Packer.

"Big win there," Gentzle said of 144. "We really only needed one of those at 138 and 144 and I just went back to Joe and said, 'I have one hundred percent confidence and faith that you're going to go out and win the dual meet, and I sent our best guy out there. We could have made a move, but it wasn't necessary and Liam went out there and took care of business, too."

P'burg won six straight to close it out, including pins by senior Matt D'Onofrio (150) and sophomore Caleb Rivera (175). In all, the 'Liners logged three pins, two majors and a forfeit, while yielding just two majors and two regular decisions.

"They all just kind of gained some confidence from seeing their teammates perform tonight, which is the opposite of what we saw last weekend," said Gentzle, whose team now rates a big favorite in the Raritan Division title chase.

PHILLIPSBURG 44, NORTH HUNTERDON 14

190 -- Jr. Alex Uryniak (19-2), NH, md. Jr. Connor Hille (7-8), 13-3.

215 -- Sr. David Pierson (16-4), P, d. Jr. Brendan Raley (19-2), 5-3.

285 -- Sr. Liam Akers (19-1), NH, d. So. John Wargo (12-7), 7-1.

106 -- So. Dawson McWilliams (4-6), P, d. So. Shane Wysocki (6-5), 6-4.

113 -- Jr. Logan Wadle (12-5), NH, md. Sr. Miguel Lopez (9-10), 8-0.

120 -- Fr. Gavin Hawk (19-5), P, p. Sr. Ben Makaritis (10-9), 1:31.

126 -- Sr. James Day (18-2), P, md. Jr. John Van Doren (8-9), 10-1.

132 -- Sr. Nick DeLorenzo (11-4), NH, d. Fr. Luke Geleta (13-7), 8-6.
138 -- Sr. Joey Innamorato (15-5), P, d. Jr. Daniel Delusant (17-5), 7-3.

144 -- So. Liam Packer (5-6), P, d. Sr. Ian Hewitt (4-5), 3-0. 

150 -- Sr. Matt D'Onofrio (10-8), P, p. So. Brian Wilson (10-8), 1:25.

157 -- Jr. Hunter Cleaver (14-6), P, md. Sr. Tucker Lewis (10-10), 12-1.

165 -- Sr. Nate Zastowny (8-5), P, forfeit.

175 -- So. Caleb Rivera (12-8), P, p. Sr. Luke Yager (7-9), 4:59.

Records -- North Hunterdon 8-3, 2-1; Phillipsburg 5-1, 2-0.

Officials -- Frank Leitner and Anthony DeFlumeri.