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WRESTLING: South Plainfield falls short in bid to place at Virginia Duals

Greg Tufaro
@GregTufaro

The South Plainfield High School wrestling team, which was not competing at full strength, fell short in its bid to place at the Virginia Duals, dropping a 35-30 consolation round decision to Arvada West of Colorado in the Virginia Duals at the Hampton Roads Coliseum in Norfolk, Va. on Saturday night.

The Tigers went 2-2 in the tournament including a 36-22 victory over Independence of West Virginia in the loser's bracket on Saturday morning.

South Plainfield won five of the first six bouts against Arvada West to build an 18-6 lead. Arvada West stormed back winning six of the next seven bouts – three by pin – to take a 35-24 advantage before forfeiting at heavyweight.

"They were tough up top," South Plainfield head coach Kevin McCann said. "We were one match short. If we were at full strength, we probably would have beaten them (by a point) at least."

McCann said his team came together over the weekend, which is what he wanted to see with a big dual meet week ahead.

South Plainfield, ranked No.1 in the Home News Tribune Top 10, wrestles second-ranked Monroe on Friday at the Rutgers Athletics Center before the Scarlet Knights take on Penn State University.

The following day, South Plainfield will wrestle Jackson Memorial and Paramus in a tri-meet.

Arvada West went on to defeat New Jersey's St. Augustine Prep 48-22 in the consolation semifinals.

Fauquier, which South Plainfield defeated 31-30 in Friday's opening round, knocked New Jersey's Don Bosco Prep out of the tournament with a 36-32 setback.

In case you missed it, here is our report about South Plainfield going 1-1 on the opening day of the tournament on Friday: mycj.co/1IzjtLk

Match #3 Cons. Round 2: South Plainfield defeated Independence 36-22

106 - Joe Heilmann (South Plainfield) over Tanner Harris (Independence ) Dec 3-1

113 - Jake Giordano (South Plainfield) over Alex Hart (Independence ) SV-1 3-1

120 - Ryan DuHamel (South Plainfield) over Hunter Taylor (Independence ) Dec 5-0

126 - Ryan Walsh (South Plainfield) over Conner Gibson (Independence ) Maj 12-2

132 - Kyle Bythell (South Plainfield) over Will Cox (Independence ) Dec 9-2

138 - Cody Clifton (Independence ) over Dan Hedden (South Plainfield) SV-1 3-1

145 - Frank Ferraro (South Plainfield) over Conner Priddy (Independence ) TF 20-5

152 - Jacob Hart (Independence ) over Christopher Maszczak (South Plainfield) Dec 12-10

160 - Ben Lundy (South Plainfield) over Dustin Justice (Independence ) Dec 5-0

170 - Noah Adams (Independence ) over Nick DiFrancesco (South Plainfield) Maj 19-7

182 - Christian Gonzalez (South Plainfield) over Tucker Lawson (Independence ) Fall 0:44

195 - Alex Daniels (Independence ) over Dion Pender (South Plainfield) Fall 2:47

220 - Trey Williams (Independence ) over Julio Gonzalez (South Plainfield) Fall 1:33

285 - Dakota Pauls (South Plainfield) over Marcus Duvall (Independence ) Fall 4:25

Match #4 Cons. Round 3: Arvada West defeated South Plainfield 35-30

106 - Joe Heilmann (South Plainfield) over Estevon Maldonado (Arvada West) Maj 11-3

113 - Jake Giordano (South Plainfield) over Noah Vigil (Arvada West) Dec 4-2

120 - Cody Fatzinger (Arvada West) over Ryan DuHamel (South Plainfield) Fall 0:35

126 - Ryan Walsh (South Plainfield) over Alex Larson (Arvada West) Maj 14-1

132 - Kyle Bythell (South Plainfield) over NICHOLAS SMITH (Arvada West) Maj 12-0

138 - Dan Hedden (South Plainfield) over BENNIE PACHELLO (Arvada West) Dec 9-4

145 - Jimmy Rothrock (Arvada West) over Frank Ferraro (South Plainfield) Fall 1:10

152 - PAYTON TAWATER (Arvada West) over Christopher Maszczak (South Plainfield) Maj 15-4

160 - VINCENT CASADOS (Arvada West) over Ben Lundy (South Plainfield) Dec 5-3

170 - TAYLOR BERGQUIST (Arvada West) over Nick DiFrancesco (South Plainfield) Maj 14-3

182 - Christian Gonzalez (South Plainfield) over TYLER LEWIS (Arvada West) Fall 1:14

195 - ZACHARY GOMEZ (Arvada West) over John O`Sullivan (South Plainfield) Fall 5:48

220 - DEVIN ROTHROCK (Arvada West) over Dakota Pauls (South Plainfield) Fall 1:35

285 - Matt Szeman (South Plainfield) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf