Wyoming Seminary Stuns No. 4 Delbarton in Wrestling Thriller, Sets Up Must-Watch Clash With No. 3 Blair

Behind clutch bonus points and a dramatic finale at 285, No. 11 Wyoming Seminary outlasted No. 4 Delbarton and now turns its attention to another national power in Blair Academy.

Anderson Palian's 1-0 win over August Moser, at 215, clinched Wyoming Seminary's 30-26 win over Delbarton. / Anderson Palian

Wyoming Seminary’s Kingston, Pennsylvania campus is the scene of two high-powered dual meets this weekend. Friday night’s encounter went splendidly for the No. 11 Blue Knights as they slayed No. 4 Delbarton from New Jersey, 30-26.

Blue Knights Seeking a Weekend Jersey Sweep

On Saturday afternoon at 1 P.M., Seminary play hosts to another Jersey power, National Prep Rivals, No. 3 Blair Academy. That match and Friday’s can be viewed on Mat Scouts’ Rokfin page (subscription required). Replay is available if you can’t watch Saturday’s showdown live.

High School on SI will be glued to the screen, documenting the happenings as we did on Friday night. Both teams were down some firepower, but at this time of the year, injuries and illness are commonplace. The best teams are the best, because they handle adversity well.

The squads met the challenge on this night and gave those on hand an engaging dual that went down to the wire.

Delbarton Steals a Win at 106, But Falls Short in the Dual

Despite Delbarton stealing a win in the opening match at 106 pounds when unranked, Finn Anderson, picked off No. 20 Lucas Forman, 3-2, they were staring at a 22-10 deficit when No. 1 Jayden James’ time to roll came up at 165 pounds.

The World Champion righted the ship for the Green Wave with his dominant, 19-4, technical fall of Chaney Lewis, that saw James do all he could to gain a pin. James’ five brought Delbarton within seven points but they allowed Seminary to answer with a tech of their own at 175 pounds to get it back to 12 (27-15).

Betz's Move to 215 Helped the Green Wave Move Within One Point

Following Lucas Parietti’s 16-0 blanking of Ryder Bernholz, Delbarton coach Bryan Stoll chose to present Jesse DeNigri at 190 pounds, where he was given a forfeit, and raised No. 4 CJ Betz up to 215 pounds. Betz dropped a tech on Nolan McCarthy to set up a heavyweight finale with the match up for grabs as the scoreboard read, 27-26, in favor of the Blue Knights.

With that two-match series going the way Delbarton hoped, and Anderson’s unexpected win, the Green Wave didn’t seem to be battling nefarious forces. What they did encounter, though, was a fired-up home team that came out slamming, leaving Delbarton reeling.

After Anderson’s win at 106 pounds, Alex Rosciano was catching a break at 113 with No. 38 Will Webb sidelined with a shoulder issue. The first strike against Delbarton came from Ryan Haynes, who filled in admirably, taking control in the first period with a takedown and four back points to jump out to a 7-0 advantage. Rosciano tried to claw his way back, but Haynes wouldn’t relent. The Blue one added an escape and takedown in the third to end with a 12-5 decision.

Wyatt Spencer's Strong Effort Saved Seminary Bonus Points

Stoll was probably expecting bonus points from No. 4 Cam Sontz at 120 pounds when he met unranked Wyatt Spencer. Instead, Spencer brought it and pushed back, falling 4-2, but kept Sontz scoreless for two periods until he registered an escape and takedown in the closing round.

Fives Wins in Six Matches Propelled the Knights to Victory

This is where things went off the rails for Delbarton as they were handed losses in five of the next six matches. The Green Wave was without No. 25 Tommy Marchetti and had no suitable candidate to run out at 126 pounds, so they surrendered a match to the Blue Knights’ namesake, Alex Marchetti.

At 132 pounds, Marcus Heck won his bout with Braden Jones, 6-1. No. 4 Dale Corbin was kept in check a bit at 138 as he managed just a 10-4 tally versus Nico Marchetti. After those three consecutive victories, the host were up, 15-6.

No. 29 Ryan DeGeorge gave Delbarton a needed jolt when he added a late, controversial takedown, to gain the extra points needed for a major decision, 11-1, at 144 pounds. The points weren’t initially awarded, but a conference between the two referees as action ended resulted in the final takedown being signaled.

A nice matchup at 150 pounds pitted No. 17 Michael Turi against No. 19 Nicholas Schwartz. Turi kept Schwartz from scoring in 4-0 outcome that tilted the axis back in Seminary’s favor. No. 33 Brain Chamberlain would tack on four more points at 157 pounds with his 10-2 count over Trevor Jones, to bring our tale back to James’ arrival on the scene.

After James, DeNigri, and Betz helped Delbarton storm back, it left Mr. August Moser in a very familiar spot. Honestly, it’s a pretty common occurrence for the big guys in evenly matched duals that start at 106 pounds like this one. But that still doesn’t make it any easier to bear the weight of that burden. When two teams of this magnitude tangle, rarely does it result in a rout.

Moser has been cast into stressful finales in recent duals versus two national powerhouses. He was the savior when Delbarton took down then No. 2 Faith Christian Academy (PA). Moser was heavily overmatched with Mark Effendian, in that one, but just needed to not get pinned.

When the Green Wave met Blair, Moser had to face another nationally ranked foe, No. 11 Cael Mielnik, but needed a win in order to replicate the prior finish. That ended up not being possible as Mielnik easily handled Moser.

Anderson Palian's Escape Allows Blue Knights Clinch Victory

Friday would afford Moser another moment to shoulder the load and topple a foe more highly regarded than himself in No. 31 Anderson Palian. Any kind of win would secure the team glory for the victor.

Moser hung tough and was close to making it happen a few times. The only scoring was a Palian escape in the second. Moser had the choice in the final frame and chose neutral instead of going under the bigger Knight. It was a decision that doomed Moser as he could not gain the winning takedown. Palian was hit for stalling with 14 seconds left but was sly enough not to get hit again and send it to overtime.

Palian’s 1-0 win delivered the big win to Blue Knights, who look to be peaking at the right time with the National Prep Tournament coming in two weeks. Saturday afternoon’s clash with Blair will give us another read on the young Seminary squad.

Wyoming Seminary 30, Delbarton 26

(match started at 106)

106-Finn Anderson (D) dec Lucas Forman, 3-2

113-Ryan Haynes (W) dec Alex Rosciano, 12-5

120-Cam Sontz (D) dec Wyatt Spencer, 4-2

126-Alex Marchetti (W) won by forfeit

132-Marcus Heck (W) dec Braden Jones, 6-1

138-Dale Corbin (W) dec Nico Marchetti, 10-4

144-Ryan DeGeorge (D) maj-dec Matt Dailey, 11-1

150-Michael Turi (W) dec Nicholas Schwartz, 4-0

157-Brian Chamberlain (W) maj-dec Trevor Jones, 10-2

165-Jayden James (D) tech fall Chaney Lewis, 19-4

175-Lucas Parietti (W) tech fall Ryder Bernholz, 16-0

190-Jesse DeNigri (D) won by forfeit

215-CJ Betz (D) tech fall Nolan McCarthy, 21-6

285-Anderson Palian (W) dec August Moser, 1-0