Region 5 wrestling: Bound Brook's Casey looks for 4th title, East Brunswick's Polito goes for third

Two seasons ago, they pulled off a pair of shocking upsets.

In the 2016 Region 5 quarterfinals, Delaware Valley’s A.J. DeRosa and Hillsborough’s Anthony Donnadio each stunned top-seeded wrestlers as the No. 8 seed in their respective weight classes. Now, both are well-known and may be on a collision course to meeting in the 126-pound final.

The Region 5 tournament begins with Wednesday’s first round at Hunterdon Central and continues with Friday’s quarterfinals and concludes with Saturday’s finals and consolation finals. The top four finishers in each of the 14 weight classes advance to the NJSIAA Individual Championships at Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall on March 2-4.

READ: Convenient link to access complete brackets and seeds for all regions

READ: Official Region 5 wrestling tournament pairings and seeds

READ: Printable brackets for the Region 5 wrestling tournament

READ: Official Region 4 wrestling tournament pairings

READ: Printable Region 4 wrestling tournament brackets

Among the other top storylines involving MyCentralJersey.com area wrestlers are Bound Brook’s Joe Casey (152 pounds) going for his fourth region championship in a loaded weight class; East Brunswick’s Mitchell Polito (120) shooting for his third region title ;and Hunterdon Central’s Hunter Graf (132) and Piscataway senior Michael Petite (160) each looking to become a four-time region finalist and a two-time champ. Additionally, Graf could tie the school record for wins in the process

A trio of Greater Middlesex Conference wrestlers earned top seeds – Joseph Pacheco (106) of Perth Amboy, Polito and Petite. The Skyland Conference’s No. 1 seeds include DeRosa, Graf, Casey and Manville heavyweight Michael Tyle.

And as always, possible intriguing early-round matchups and upsets loom. Here is a primer on storylines to follow.

Need more trophy-case space?

Bound Brook’s Casey (26-0) is the latest in a run of great wrestlers for the Crusaders. Last season, he was joined by four seniors winning region titles in Robbie Cleary, Stephen Glasgow, Mekhi Lewis and George Walton. Now, Casey looks to join Bound Brook legends Andrew Campolattano and Lewis, now at Virginia Tech, with four region titles.

This weight class is one of the toughest in the region. It includes Piscataway’s Joseph Hatcher (25-1), third-seeded Scott Dupont (36-2) of Holmdel, fourth-seeded Steven O`Campo (31-1) of West Windsor-Plainsboro South, fifth-seeded Kevin Ciresa of Hunterdon Central (26-8) and sixth-seeded freshman Blake Clayton (20-9) of St. John Vianney, the District 19 champ.

Of note, Hatcher beat Dupont, 5-4, in a consolation match at last year’s state tournament. At Saturday’s District 17 final, O’Campo beat Ciresa, 4-2.

Casey, though, is the clear favorite. His list of region championship victories is impressive. As a freshman, Casey beat Graf, 6-5, at 106; as a sophomore, he beat DeRosa, 4-0, at 113, and last season he beat then-East Brunswick senior Mark Schleifer in overtime, 6-1. Schleifer is now wrestling at Princeton University.

Casey, a three-time state placewinner, missed time in December because of a preseason injury. On Jan. 13, he pulled out a 3-2 win over Hillsborough’s Kevin Faulkner in the Somerset County final. During a quad on Jan. 20, Casey beat two of the best wrestlers in the state at their respective weights. At 170, Casey won 3-2 in overtime against Delbarton’s A.J. Lonski and at 160 he beat Holy Spirit’s Tim Fitzpatrick 7-4.

Since then, all of his wins on the mat have come by pins or major decisions, including an impressive 13-1 win over Hatcher in last Saturday’s District 18 final. Wrestling Full Circle ranks Casey third in the state and Hatcher sixth. In the 2017 region final, Hatcher lost to Glasgow in the final.

No longer Cinderellas

Two seasons ago in the region 113 pound quarterfinals, the freshman DeRosa threw Manville’s senior Brian Kuhlman, a returning state placewinner, late in the match to win 9-5, and he went on to reach the final. At 120, the sophomore Donnadio beat Hunterdon Central's Peter Nace, 7-5, in overtime, but did not place. 

Now, both are hungry to reach Atlantic City after not qualifying for the state tournament in 2017.

On Jan. 26, DeRosa won 6-1 over Donnadio, a two-time Somerset County champ. But first, Donnadio, the District 17 champ may have to face No. 2 seed Mike Botte (29-8). In last week’s District 19 final, DeRosa pinned Botte in 4:40.

Intriguing weights 

Seeding is based on a number of criteria, including past performances in the region. That’s one of the reasons that Hunterdon Central freshman Brett Ungar (34-1), the District 17 champ, got the second seed and St. John Vianney’s ninth-grader Dean Peterson (30-0), the District 19 winner, garnered the fourth seed instead of possible higher seeds.

Top-seeded Perth Amboy senior Joe Pacheco (31-3) is coming off a 10-8 loss in the District 20 final to Monroe sophomore Joseph Fiordaliso (26-9), who got the third seed.

Pacheco, though, was the region runner-up at 106 last season and finished fourth as a sophomore, just missing a state berth – the NJSIAA changed the rule for the 2017 season that allowed the top four in each region to advance instead of the top three.

This season, Pacheco beat Fiordaliso 7-5 in the GMC Tournament final on Jan. 27 and 7-2 in a dual meet four days later. Of note, Ungar beat Fiordaliso, 15-0, on Feb. 7.

At 138, Princeton High School’s Alec Bobchin (30-4) is the top seed and finished fourth in last season’s region at 126 to qualify for the state tournament. He might have to meet the winner of the possible quarterfinal match between Delaware Valley’s fourth-seeded Pasquale Vizzoni (21-5) and Monroe’s fifth-seeded Andy Lombard (30-6). Vizzoni started late after offseason knee surgery, and has wrestled some quality opponents, including losing 4-3 to Phillipsburg’s Cody Harrison, a returning state placewinner. On Feb. 7, he beat Lombard, 5-1.

Lombard, whose older brother Nick was a star at Monroe and is now wrestling at the University of Michigan, knows about upsets. He beat state-ranked Aaron Coleman of J.F. Kennedy 8-3 to win the GMC Tournament on Jan. 27 after losing to Coleman 9-0 two weeks earlier. Of note, in last season’s region consolation semifinals, Bobchin pinned Lombard in 1:53.

Pingry’s Aidan Dillon (29-7) drew the No. 2 seed and took sixth last season at 132. In last week’s District 19 final, Bobchin pinned Dillon in 2:47, and Bobchin won 9-5 on Jan. 19. The third seed is Raritan’s AJ Erven (30-8), who split with Lombard this season.

At 195, an interesting quarterfinal matchup is set between fourth-seeded Kaylon Bradley of Monroe (23-5) and fifth-seeded Eli Kalfaian (24-6) of Delaware Valley. The two seniors received byes in the first round. Bradley placed fourth last season at this weight to qualify for Atlantic City and is the District 20 winner. Kalfaian is the District 19 winner.

Graf, Polito, Petite looking to win again

At 120, the top-seeded Polito (30-0) could meet Hunterdon Central’s Jack Bauer (22-6) in the final for the third season in a row. Polito, who took third in the state last season, won 11-1 in the 2017 final at 113 and got a fall in the 2016 final at 106.

The school record for wins for the storied Hunterdon Central program is Pat Strizki's 141 from 2003-2007. Graf (33-3) has 138, and he could tie that mark. As a sophomore, Graf won the 113-pound region title.

There could also be an interesting rematch in the semifinals. Raritan's second-seeded Russell Benson (37-2) edged Perth Amboy's James Rodriguez (29-3) in last week's District 20 final, 3-1. 

Last season, Benson won the region at 132 and Rodriguez placed third as a freshman.

Piscataway's Michael Petite (31-1) burst on the scene by winning the region title as a ninth-seeded freshman at 160. In the next two seasons, though, he lost in finals against Woodbridge's Bryan McLaughlin and two-time state champ Stephan Glasgow of Bound Brook.

Region 5 Wrestling Tournament

When/Where: Wednesday, Friday and Saturday at the Hunterdon Central Fieldhouse, 84 Route 31, Flemington.

Wednesday: First round, 5:30 p.m.

Friday: Quarterfinals, Friday, 5:30 p.m.

Saturday: Semifinals, 10 a.m.; Consolation finals, 2:30 p.m.; Finals, 4 p.m.