WRESTLING: South Plainfield falls in Virginia Duals quarterfinals

After a thrilling opening-round victory decided on criteria I, the South Plainfield High School wrestling team endured a 46-6 loss to Colonial Forge (Va.) in the quarterfinals of the Virginia Duals at the Hampton Roads Coliseum in Norfolk, Va.

The highest the Tigers can now finish in the 16-team tournament, which South Plainfield won in 2013, is third.

South Plainfield will face Independence of West Virginia in the loser’s bracket of the double-elimination tournament on Saturday at 10 a.m.

St. Augustine and Don Bosco Prep, which at No. 30 in the country, according to InterMat, is the only nationally ranked school competing in the tournament, are also representing New Jersey at the Virginia Duals.

The Hermits kept their championship hopes alive with a 41-25 victory over McDonough (Md.), while defending Virginia Duals champion Don Bosco Prep was upset in the quarterfinals, falling 46-21 to Council Rock (Pa.).

South Plainfield advanced to Friday afternoon’s quarterfinals with a thrilling 31-30 victory over Fauquier (Va.) in the morning session.

After teammate Dakota Pauls pinned his opponent at 220 pounds, heavyweight Matt Szeman’s 3-1 decision in the final bout created the dual’s fourth and final draw at 30-30.

The Tigers, who split bouts with Fauquier, earned the win on criteria I, most near falls.

“I don’t think we wrestled the way we should of,” South Plainfield head coach Kevin McCann said. “It shouldn’t have come down to criteria. We were lucky to get through (to the next round) on criteria. We caught a break. The same thing hurt us in the quarterfinals.”

South Plainfield won just two bouts – Kyle Bythell (132) and Frank Ferraro (145) – against Colonial Forge.

Colonial Forge won seven of the first nine bouts – two in sudden victory – by a total of 16 points.

“It doesn’t seem like we are getting the effort we need out there to win those close matches,” McCann said. “We have to change our mentality in the practice room. If that happens, it can carry over to the matches.”

South Plainfield will now attempt to duplicate its 2010 feat, when it rebounded from a quarterfinal loss to win four and a row for a third-place finish.

The Tigers record now stands at 11-2.

Match #1 Champ. Round 1: South Plainfield defeated Fauquier 31-30

106 - Joe Heilmann (South Plainfield) over Kyle Budd (Fauquier) Dec 3-0

113 - Ty Foster (Fauquier) over Jake Giordano (South Plainfield) Fall 5:15

120 - Daniel Ariola (Fauquier) over Ryan DuHamel (South Plainfield) Dec 3-1

126 - Ryan Walsh (South Plainfield) over Camden Franklin (Fauquier) Fall 2:18

132 - Kyle Bythell (South Plainfield) over Kyle Roche (Fauquier) Fall 3:46

138 - Matt Raines (Fauquier) over Dan Hedden (South Plainfield) Dec 5-3

145 - Frank Ferraro (South Plainfield) over Franco Camarca (Fauquier) Dec 6-1

152 - Garrett Tingen (Fauquier) over Christopher Maszczak (South Plainfield) Fall 2:36

160 - Clifford Harrison (Fauquier) over Jordan Handwerger (South Plainfield) Dec 8-4

170 - Nick DiFrancesco (South Plainfield) over Vito Camarca (Fauquier) Dec 4-2

182 - Eric Lemus (Fauquier) over Christian Gonzalez (South Plainfield) Fall 1:59

195 - Andrew Smith (Fauquier) over John O`Sullivan (South Plainfield) Dec 7-0

220 - Dakota Pauls (South Plainfield) over Ian Carrillo (Fauquier) Fall 4:00

285 - Matt Szeman (South Plainfield) over Thomas Palmer (Fauquier) UTB 3-1

South Plainfield's team score was adjusted by 1.000 for Criteria I

Match #2 Quarterfinal: Colonial Forge defeated South Plainfield 46-6

106 - Levi Englmen (Colonial Forge) over Joe Heilmann (South Plainfield) Dec 2-1

113 - Liam Mairena (Colonial Forge) over Jake Giordano (South Plainfield) Dec 7-4

120 - Marc Garofalo (Colonial Forge) over Ryan DuHamel (South Plainfield) Dec 3-0

126 - Joshua Nail (Colonial Forge) over Ryan Walsh (South Plainfield) Dec 5-3

132 - Kyle Bythell (South Plainfield) over Clay Smith (Colonial Forge) Dec 5-1

138 - Jeff Stone (Colonial Forge) over Dan Hedden (South Plainfield) Dec 6-2

145 - Frank Ferraro (South Plainfield) over Jared Lough (Colonial Forge) Dec 4-1

152 - Mason Woodall (Colonial Forge) over Christopher Maszczak (South Plainfield) SV-1 6-4

160 - Josh Garza (Colonial Forge) over Tommy Dunn (South Plainfield) SV-1 3-1

170 - Anthony Carter (Colonial Forge) over Nick DiFrancesco (South Plainfield) Maj 12-4

182 - Robert Winters (Colonial Forge) over Ryan Marston (South Plainfield) Fall 4:51

195 - Cameron Houston (Colonial Forge) over John O`Sullivan (South Plainfield) Fall 0:58

220 - Patrick Grayson (Colonial Forge) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf

285 - Brodie Jones (Colonial Forge) over Matt Szeman (South Plainfield) Dec 4-0