Three from CVC pick up wins in AC before dropping to wrestle-backs
Although three of eight Colonial Valley Conference wrestlers were able to win their openers at the New Jersey State Championships in Atlantic City on Thursday, all of them are now in the wrestle-backs after the first two rounds.
Junior 126-pounder Anthony Viscido of Robbinsville was the first to post a victory when he dominated from the top position to beat St. Joe’s Montvale’s James Sloan, 4-1. Viscido (33-5), however was then pinned in the pre-quarterfinals by Southern’s Conor Collins in a time of 5:00.
Princeton’s 132-pound sophomore Blase Mele got off to a nice start with a 9-2 win over Mason Livio of Pinelands, but next up was top-seeded and undefeated Anthony Santaniello of Brick Memorial. A state finalist last year, Santaniello (35-0) pinned Mele (35-5) in 1:19.
The third CVC wrestler to win in the preliminary round was Ewing junior 215-pounder Collin Elam (34-4). He prevailed by the score of 11-5 over Steven Coghan of St. Thomas Aquinas and was then beaten by Mt. Olive’s Anthony Moscatello, 6-0. Ellam fell behind by the score of 5-0 after one period, and gave up only an escape from there.
Among the area wrestlers who won twice on Thursday were North Hunterdon’s top-seeded Logan Wadle (32-2 at 106), Alex Uryniak (36-2 at 190) and Brendan Raley (34-3 at 215), Delran’s Drew Roskos (40-3 at 150), and Delaware Valley’s Garrett Tettemer (22-1),
who pinned in 27 seconds of his 165-pound prequarterfinal.
While Viscido, Mele and Elam did manage to advance out of the opening round, it was a different story for five other CVC wrestlers who were sent into the wrestlebacks. They will return to action Friday morning.
At 113 pounds, Allentown’s Charles Case (36-4) was beaten by
the score 8-1 by Jake Talarico of St. Peter’s Prep. Also at this weight, Princeton’s Cole Rose (33-9) was pinned by Robert Duffy of Christian Brothers in a quick 27 seconds.
In the 157-pound weight class, Notre Dame’s Nick Franzen (395) ran into a formidable opponent and was beaten by Camden Catholic’s Austin Craft (21-3) on a major decision 11-2.
Robbinsville’s second representative at the tourney, 175-pound Richard Esterly (33-5) also lost his opener. He was pinned by North Bergen’s Joshua Palacio (40-1) at the 1:50 mark.
Finally, Hamilton sophomore heavyweight Jacob Howland (294) lost his opener when he was pinned by Daniel Elyash of Paramus in a time of 3:13.