Results starting to show with Bangor’s effort
Progress is measured in many ways in wrestling, but nothing does a team’s soul better than winning dual meets.
“It’s definitely better going back into the room after winning,” Slater David Sipley said.
Bangor has been in a rebuild the last couple years. It is time this season to see some of the fruits of the labor by coach Richie Smith, his staff and his wrestlers.
Tuesday night’s 40-25 comeback win over Wilson was the latest in Bangor’s progression. The Slaters recovered from a 25-point hole by winning the last eight matches, sparked by Sipley’s pin at 145 pounds.
“With Carter [Smith], Sipley and Aidan [McNulty],” Smith said, “they can spark a lot of energy for our team. They are really good leaders in the room. A lot of kids look up to them. Sipley’s pin sparked us. You could see it in the next couple matches after that.”
Bangor is 6-7 this season with two more dual meets — Thursday at Palisades and Friday vs. Belvidere (New Jersey) — before Christmas. That already is one more victory than it had all of last season and equaled its win total from two seasons ago.
“Mentally, it makes practice a little less tough,” Smith said. “The corrections we go over on film, they definitely take the corrections a little bit easier when we win as a team. It becomes easier to communicate with the kids because they believe in themselves, have a better mental attitude when they come to practice.”
Dual-meet victories are harder to come by for Bangor and Wilson. Both teams forfeited two weight classes Tuesday. The Slaters started in a 12-0 hole because they don’t have 107 and 114 pounders. The Warriors finished the match with consecutive forfeits at 215 and 285.
Wilson (1-2), in a program rebuild under third-year coach Jeremy Hartrum, won the first three matches on the mat. Giovanni DiBiagio got a major decision at 121 to start it.
David M’Balla’s 5-4 win at 133 over Bangor’s Carter
Smith was one of the night’s most entertaining bouts.
The Warriors senior is proof of progress. He won one varsity match two years ago, then 21 last season and was fifth at districts. M’Balla is 9-1 in 2023-24 after holding off Smith (11-5).
M’Balla’s reversal gave him a 5-3 lead with 55 seconds left. Smith escaped with 15 seconds remaining, but M’Balla stayed out of trouble the rest of the way to win a match that was full of potential danger for both wrestlers.
“It was tough to finish my shots because he was really heavy with his hips,” M’Balla said. “But I just found a way to get the job done. I have to get used to wrestling taller kids because he’s a really lanky kid.
“I’ve started to get better on top, riding kids better, and my neutral is getting better and better. At practice, I try new things and [my teammates] in the room push me.”
There were several instances when Smith and M’Balla were in scramble mode with both appearing to have advantages at times but neither finished in a scoreless first period.
Busy young man
Noah Hillis is a member of many academic and service clubs at Bangor. He was a significant contributor the last two seasons to the Slaters football program. The senior has regular chess battles with younger brother Noah.
Hillis is working toward a possible appointment to the Naval Academy. But he’s found time the last four years to try wrestling. He had six wins the previous two seasons to show for his dedication to the sport.
The 172-pounder is off to a 2-2 start this season thanks to a 6-5 comeback win Tuesday night. It came courtesy of a takedown with 20 seconds left against Wilson’s Ian Feckete.
Hillis never led until that point but maintained pressure on Feckete until the decisive points late in the match.
“Noah has been a true success story,” Smith said. “He came in the wrestling room, knew nothing about wrestling. It’s been four years of him working hard and understanding the sport of wrestling. It really clicked at some point last year that he understood about positioning on the mat.
“That last takedown at the end is something we’ve been going over, trying to ride up with that high crotch and cut to a double, and if the guy on top overcompensates you can slide your head on the other side and crack down and get to his hip and that’s what he did.”
Following footsteps
Wilson’s Santino Micci, sporting a new hair color, registered a pin at 127 pounds after committing to Franklin & Marshall. Anthony Micci, Santino’s brother, is a senior chemistry major at F&M after winning more than 100 matches at Wilson.
Santino Micci is 4-2 so far this year after a 24-win second junior year and a district runner-up finish.
Career debut
Josh Jasionowicz made his debut Tuesday night — as a wrestling official. The 2021 Stroudsburg graduate who was a three-time District 11 medalist and 2021 state medalist, officiated the junior high and JV matches. It is great to see former wrestlers turning to officiating to stay involved in the sport they love.
Morning Call reporter Tom Housenick can be reached at 610-820-6651 or at thousenick@mcall.com
Bangor 40, Wilson 25
107: Western Slingland (W) by forfeit
114: Colton Yetter (W) by forfeit
121: Giovanni DiBiagio (W) maj. dec. Jace LaBar, 15-3 127: Santino Micci (W) pinned Luke Dalton, 1:51
133: M’Balla (W) dec. Carter Smith, 5-4
139: Aidan McNulty (B) dec. Rider Heckman, 6-0
145: David Sipley (B) pinned Connor Millen, 2:24
152: Jaxson Kreider (B) maj. dec. Danny Thatcher, 12-3 160: Riley Waldron (B) pinned Jacob Montalvo, 1:57 172: Noah Hillis (B) dec. Ian Feckete, 6-5
189: Sam Woolverton (B) pinned Zeandros Johnson, 3:08
215: T.J. McLain (B) by forfeit