Hunterdon Central wrestling second at Caldwell Tournament

Editor’s note: We will provide team scores along with results of all championship and thrid-place bouts ASAP, so please revisit this link.

The Hunterdon Central High School wrestling team stormed back from a significant early-round deficit to close the gap on the front-runner, but despite crowning four champions in the finals, the Red Devils could not overtake Upper Perkimen in Saturday’s Caldwell Tournament.

Peter Nace (113), Joe Scerbo (170), Nick Suk (182) and Nestor Crespo (195) won individual titles for Hunterdon Central, which finished with 181 points, seven fewer than the team champions.

The Red Devils were shorthanded with a couple of starters out sick and some wrestlers not competing at their eligible certified weight class.

“We wrestled a great tournament overall,” said Hunterdon Central rookie head coach Jon Cantagallo-Rohm. “We had several kids filling in the lineup. Everybody did their job and at least put us in line at a shot for the title. I’m proud of their performance.”

Randolph’s A.J. Vindici, a four-time tournament champion who scored a 1-0 decision over incumbent state qualifier Evan Drill of Somerville in the 126-pound final, was named Outstanding Wrestler.

Upper Perkimen, which crowned just one individual champion, racked up pins in the early rounds of the tournament to build a sizable lead.

Hunterdon Central was in fourth-place entering the final round of the eight-team tournament.

Hunter Graf (106) and Chris Taylor (132) placed second for the Red Devils, while teammate Leo Aquino (220) finished third.