Blair comes back to edge Delbarton in a Jersey thriller

Each team won seven bouts, decisive pin by Neves at 285 was only fall of the night

Two national wrestling powers collided Friday night, on the mat at the Delbarton School in New Jersey. The Battle for New Jersey supremacy saw the No. 1 team in the land in Mat Scouts team rankings, Blair Academy, facing No. 6 Delbarton, which is the No. 1 team in the NJ Team Rankings (Blair does not participate in NJ’s state series, so they are not included in the state rankings).

Both squads were missing a Top Gun – Blair’s Tyler DeKraker (No. 7 at 106) and Delbarton’s Cross Wasilewski (No. 24 at 150). There was still plenty of firepower left, though, and it provided for an exciting night of entertainment for the packed house.

“It was a great dual,” Blair coach Ross Gitomer said. “It was very exciting. I knew it was going to be a tough dual for us because of the way we matched up with them. It was just a really electric atmosphere. The match came down to bonus points. We did a really good job managing not to give up bonus points. When we needed to get bonus points, I felt like we got ‘em.”

The Green Wave jumped out to an 8-0 lead on the strength of back-to-back major-decisions. At 106, Dylan Palentchar posted an 11-0 blanking of Ben Koch, while No. 12 Jayden James (113) used a slew of takedowns against Ryan Meier to put a 13-2 count in the scorebook.

The Buccaneers recovered from the quick deficit claiming wins in the next three bouts, including two major decisions of their own. At 120, Leo DeLuca (No. 6 at 113) had his hands full with No. 21 Dan Jones. A scoreless first frame gave way to an action packed second, with Jones starting on bottom and escaping.

DeLuca got a takedown, only to see Jones score on a reversal, then pulling off his own reversal for a 4-3 lead going into the final period. DeLuca would post an escape point and that would be it for the scoring as neither competitor could secure a takedown in the closing stages. DeLuca’s final count was 5-3.

No. 2 Marc-Anthony McGowan (126) posted five takedowns and an escape in his 11-3 victory over Chase Quenault. The final takedown with 20 seconds left gave McGowan the major decision. No. 14 Matty Lopes followed a similar script at 132, posting six takedowns, with his opponent, Trevor Jones, scoring all his points on escapes for a 13-4 major, giving Blair an 11-8 edge.

“DeLuca, McGowan, and Lopes came through big,” remarked Gitomer. “The kid DeLuca wrestled (Dan Jones) is a New Jersey State Champion. He’s tough, so that was a big win for him.”

No. 11 Tyler Vazquez evened things back up at 138 with a 6-2 decision of William DeKraker. Vazquez came out like gang busters scoring a quick takedown and going on to pocket two more takedowns. Oddly enough, all of the scoring for this match occurred in the first period as each grappler rode the other out in the subsequent stanzas.

At eleven all, Blair’s Logan Rozynski (No. 18 at 138) pitched a shutout, 4-0, over Joe Davi at 144. William Henckel (No. 2 at 144) followed that with an 8-2 win over Carl Betz at 150, pushing his Bucs out front, 17-11.

---

RELATED: Who are the 25 best pound-for-pound high school wrestlers in the nation in 2022-23?

Delbarton rallied at this point, though. The Green Wave had three top-ten wrestlers coming out in the next three matches and they all did their jobs. No. 7 Alessio Perentin got by Paul Ognissanti (No. 22 at 150), 5-3, at 157lbs. No. 6 Louis Cerchio (165) needed overtime to claim his victory, getting a takedown in the sudden death portion for a 3-1 win over Peter Snyder.

With the score tied at 17, No. 3 Simon Ruiz stepped on the mat at 175 for the home team. Ruiz would face Lorenzo Norman (No. 3 at 165). Ruiz took a 3-0 lead on a first period takedown and an escape in the second. Norman executed a reversal in the last period to pull within one, 3-2, but Ruiz got away once more to make the final score, 4-2, and give Delbarton the lead again, 20-17.

“They have a very talented team,” Gitomer added. “In the middle they have some really strong individuals with Ruiz, Perentin, and Cerchio. We prepared this week, and all three of those (matches) we fell a little short, so we have stuff to work on there.”

At 190, Josh Anthony came out and did the “take ‘em down, let ‘em up” thing and rolled to a 12-6 win over Henry Forte to even the team score back up, 20-20.

Vincent Lee (No. 21 at 190) bumped up to 215 and the strategy worked as Lee tacked on a bonus point win with a 12-4 major-decision of Ramon Martinez.

The Green Wave was back in front, 24-20, with one match left. Unfortunately for them, Blair was trotting out the No. 3 heavyweight in the country and as that lofty designation would suggest, Neves overwhelmed Connor Martin hitting a cradle from the neutral position to gain the only fall of the night, 31 seconds into his bout to propel the Bucs to a 26-24 victory.

“Every match was big,” reflected Gitomer. “Josh Anthony came up really big against Henry Forte, who has beat some really good guys. He put a physical press on him. Obviously, the pin at heavyweight was big. But the big thing was, at 106 and 113, keeping the points to a minimum. We gave up four and four there. Rozynski was a huge match at 144. I thought he controlled and dominated the match, which was nice to see.”

***Team Rankings referenced are from Mat Scouts and NJ.com. The individual rankings are from SBLive Sports’ National Rankings.

Blair Academy 26, Delbarton 24

106-Dylan Palentchar (D) maj-dec Ben Koch, 11-0

113-Jayden James (D) maj-dec Ryan Meier, 13-2

120-Leo DeLuca (BA) dec Dan Jones, 5-3

126-Marc-Anthony McGowan (BA) maj-dec Chase Quenault, 11-3

132-Matty Lopes (BA) maj-dec Trevor Jones, 13-4

138-Tyler Vazquez (D) dec William DeKraker, 6-2

144-Logan Rozynski (BA) dec Joe Davi, 4-0

150-William Henckel (BA) dec Carl Betz, 8-2

157-Alessio Perentin (D) dec Paul Ognissanti, 5-3

165-Louis Cerchio (D) dec Peter Snyder, 3-1 OT

175-Simon Ruiz (D) dec Lorenzo Norman, 4-2

190-Josh Anthony (BA) dec Henry Forte, 12-6

215-Vincent Lee (D) maj-dec Ramon Martinez, 12-4

285-Carter Neves (BA) pinned Connor Martin, :31