Voorhees’ Fernandes is our Area Wrestler of the Year
There may be only four high schools with wrestling programs in Hunterdon County, but as is so often the case this hasn’t prevented them from having the biggest representation on The Trentonian’s All-Area Team.
One of them is our Boys Wrestler of the Year in Voorhees’ two-time heavyweight state champion Lewis Fernandes. Another is Hunterdon Central sophomore Brett Ungar, who also won a state title over the weekend at 106 pounds.
Hunterdon Central completely dominates our All-Area first team with six in all. And Hunterdon Central’s Jon Cantagallo-Rohm is our Coach of the Year after guiding his team to another No. 1 ranking in the area and the Group V Group championship match.
Fernandes earned the Wrestler of the Year following a season that was truly of legendary stuff. In addition to going to 47-0, Fernandes pinned 38 opponents and received nine forfeits. None of his bouts went the distance and the only time he didn’t pin came on a technical fall early in the second period against a wrestler who was ranked No. 2 in the state at the time.
It goes on and on for the Cornell University-bound Fernandes. The Voorhees senior gave up only one takedown all year and of his 38 pins, 36 of them incredibly came in the first period. One of those pins was in three seconds, which set a national record. Fernandes’ record over the last two years was 90-0.
In just about any other season, Ungar would have been our Wrestler of the Year. The Hunterdon Central sophomore was ranked No. 1 in his weight from start to finish and also went undefeated with a record of 42. Obviously, he’s on course to set all kinds of records.
Also on the first team from Hunterdon Central are sophomore Colton Washleski (35-7 at 120) as well as seniors Jack Bauer (38-8 at 126), Pasquale Vizzoni (28-5 at 145), Vincent Romaniello (35-9 at 152) and Kyle Barrett (22-12 at 182). Romaniello was a Region V champion, while Washleski , Bauer and Vizzoni were second at regions.
Barrett heads up a weight class that was a bit weird this year in that no one from the area advanced to states at 182 pounds. Nine area wrestlers from the area made regions at 182 and combined they only won one bout.
The other Hunterdon County first-teamer was North Hunterdon senior Michael Wilson, a Region V champion and seventh in the state with a record of 39-6 at 160 pounds.
While Hunterdon County has eight first-teamers in all, Mercer County and Burlington County each have three. The Mercer contingent is led by Princeton senior 138-pounder Alec Bobchin, who was a repeat Region 5 champion and finished fourth in the state. Bobchin was 39-4 and had 140 career wins.
Robbinsville’s Garrett Bilgrav gets the nod at 170 pounds. He took a seventh in the state, won a second region title and finished with a record of 46-2. He also became Mercer’s all-time win leader with 146.
The other CVC wrestler is Allentown junior Joe Lamparelli (39-3 at 113). Lamparelli won a second region title and is on course to smash the CVC record win record with 116 in the books after his junior year.
Burlington County’s wrestlers on the first team are Cherokee sophomore Cooper Pontelandolfo (38-8 at 132), Rancocas Valley senior Drew Bowker (44-6 at 195) and Bordentown/Florence senior Jajuan Hayes (38-5 at 220).
Pontelandolfo scored a huge win at states when he handed Delran’s Bryan Miraglia his first loss and went on to finish sixth. Bowker also took a sixth at states and Hayes finished in the eighth
spot in Atlantic City after capturing a second straight region title.
Finally, our first Girls Wrestler of the Year is Princeton High sophomore Chloe Ayres. After being the first girl to place at the MCT by taking a sixth, Ayres captured the girls 105-pound state championship with two lopsided victories. She is Princeton’s first state champ and just the fourth in the history of Mercer County.