Wrestling: Hunterdon Central’s five straight falls spark win

CLINTON – Hunterdon Central High School’s wrestling team has reserved its tradition of bleaching their hair blonde for special nights over the years. One of those occasions came Wednesday night, and the momentum built in the early morning bleaching was sustained in a 39-29 victory over North Hunterdon.

Through the years, there’s always been the case of one of the wrestlers missing the bleach, or choosing not to do it, and one of the kids not flashing the dirty blonde look was 220-pound sophomore Victor Lacombe, a native of France, whose father’s job has taken the family to China and India among other places.

Lacombe had never wrestled before his freshman year, and now he’s 2-0 after a pin that left him smiling, but not exactly sure how to describe it. Lacombe had the second of five straight pins that had the outcome wrapped up after sophomore 113-pounder Peter Nace pinned Paul Robinson giving the Red Devils (5-3, 1-1) a insurmountable 39-6 lead.

“They introduced me to their hair this morning at 6 a.m. at our morning workout. I had no idea,’’ said coach Jon Cantagallo-Rohm. “I said if you’re going to dye your hair you better go and win. They had a focus, a focus like I hadn’t seen this year. They knew we matched up well and you could see we took advantage of opportunities.’’

Lacombe, who had been unbeaten on the junior varsity level, was named the night’s Outstanding Wrestler, just another interesting event in a match that was sealed with four bouts to go. That was something new in a series where the previous seven matches over the past four years before Wednesday was decided by eight points and five by two or less.

North Hunterdon junior standout Brian Smolinsky opened with a first period fall at 152. But then Joe Scerbo edged Mike Sicola at 160, Mike Iodice scored late to nip Wyatt Vrancken 6-5 at 170 and Nick Suk beat Tyler Gapas 5-0 at 182.

“We were looking at scores, and we won close bouts against quality wrestlers,’’ said Cantagallo-Rohm.

The Red Devils scored five straight falls – Nestor Crespo (195), Lacombe at 220, Leo Aquino at 285, Hunter Graf at 106 and Nace. That made it 39-6.

“Once Nace pinned we were going nuts, the fact we had five pins a row, just showed you we had our kids amped for this match,’’ said Scerbo.

The Red Devils were so pumped, Cantagallo-Rohm pulled them together for some quiet time.

North Hunterdon (5-2, 1-2) capped the night with five straight wins -- Andrew Gapas (120) and Lucas Approvato (126) had pins, Matt Mohan and unbeaten senior Ryan Pomrinca had major decisions at 132 and 138 pounds, respectively. Derek Ciavarro won a decision at 145, but the match had long been decided.