Hunterdon Central pulls away from North Hunterdon
FLEMINGTON » The calendar says its not even Christmas, but the battle for dualmatch bragging rights in Hunterdon County scholastic wrestling is basically already over.
With neither Delaware Valley or Voorhees looking all that strong, North Hunterdon was the only team given any kind of realistic chance of hanging with Group V state power Hunterdon Central.
The Lions (1-1) did what they could and made things somewhat interesting Friday night behind their strong set of middleweights, but in the end it was Hunterdon Central pulling away for a 42-24 victory in front of a near-capacity crowd in the Red Devils’ fieldhouse.
The match started at 106 in what also figured to be one of the highlight bouts of the evening with Central’s Brett Ungar taking on junior Connor Robinson.
Robinson won 27 bouts a year ago and was second in his district, but Ungar showed why he’s a very highly touted freshman by sticking the Lion wrestler in a quick 1:15. For his efforts, Ungar was named the match’s “Outstanding Wrestler.’’ When Central freshman Colton Washleski came out strong at 113 pounds and built up a 6-0 lead, it looked like the Red Devils were really rolling. Instead, Frank Diesso stunned Washleski by catching him in a cradle and pinned in the third period to tie the match at 6-all.
From there, Central built up a 20-6 lead with three straight wins, including a lightning-fast 13-second fall by Jack Bauer at 120 pounds, before North Hunterdon launched the expected comeback in the middle.
The big victory in that run was Andrew Kichberger’s 6-3 decision over a tough customer in Vincent Romaniello at 152 pounds.
Kirchberger’s win gave North Hunterdon a 21-20 lead, but the thing to remember is the Lions are not as strong as originally projected after two upperweights who would have started decided at the last minute not to wrestle this year.
As a result, Central won five of the last six bouts, starting with a technical fall by 160-pound hammer Kevin Ciresa.
Lukas Bakerian later clinched the match with a pin at 220 pounds. Angelo Crespo, who will be dropping down to 220 pounds shortly, wrapped the evening up with a 6-1 decision at heavyweight.
Although Central now owns a victory over its toughest Hunterdon County competition this year, what the Red Devils are really looking to do is to take it a step further after coming up one point short last season against Howell in the Group V Group final.
As bad luck would have it, Central and Howell are now both in the same Central Jersey section. This means the match between what could very well be the best two Group V teams in the state would happen before groups in Toms River.
Hunterdon Central (2-0) 42 North Hunterdon (1-1) 24
106: Brett Ungar (HCR) over Connor Robinson (NOHU) (Fall 1:15) 113: Frank Diesso (NOHU) over Colton Washleski (HCR) (Fall 5:32) 120: Jack bauer (HCR) over Drew Doscher (NOHU) (Fall 0:13) 126: Anthony Romaniello (HCR) over Evan Klimas (NOHU) (MD 12-2) 132: Hunter Graf (HCR) over Kyle Anderson (NOHU) (MD 9-1) 138: Michael Wilson (NOHU) over Alex Kiledjian (HCR) (Fall 3:15) 145: Andrew Gapas (NOHU) over (HCR) (For.) 152: Tucker Kirchberger (NOHU) over Vincent Romaniello (HCR) (Dec 6-3) 160: Kevin Ciresa (HCR) over James Holder (NOHU) (TF 16-0 3:53) 170: Dan Furmato (HCR) over Nathaniel Fossett (NOHU) (Dec 7-2) 182: John Spies (NOHU) over Kyle Barrett (HCR) (Dec 5-3) 195: Reese Young (HCR) over Richard Kimmick (NOHU) (TF 17-2 5:33) 220: Lukas Bakerian (HCR) over Lorenzo Becerril (NOHU) (Fall 4:55) 285: Angelo Crespo (HCR) over Francis Vitelli (NOHU) (Dec 6-1).