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Wrestling: Manville's Caswell avenges loss at Region V

Harry Frezza

@thefrez56

Bound Brook’s Mekhi Lewis (right) and Holmdel’s Chris Anmirad wrestle in a Region V bout on Friday at Hunterdon Central.

RARITAN TWP. - Manville High School senior 145-pounder T.J. Caswell went to the film the last few days. He studied and kept on studying. The homework paid dividends Friday night.

Caswell, beaten by tiebreaker in the 138-pound Region V consolation final last season by Hunterdon Central’s Kevin Ciresa, avenged the loss with an 8-2 victory in a 145-pound Region V quarterfinal Friday night at the Hunterdon Central Fieldhouse.

“T.J. had a huge win,” Manville coach Pat Gorbatuks said

“That was a big one for me,” said Caswell, who improved to 32-3.

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Semifinals begin at 10 a.m.Saturday at the Hunterdon Central Fieldhouse. Consolation rounds will continue with finals to start about 4 p.m.

Caswell will get the chance to avenge two of his losses Saturday when he faces two-time region champ Joe Casey of Bound Brook in a semifinal. Caswell was beaten twice by identical 7-0 scores by Casey at the District 18 and Somerset County Tournament finals.

“I watched the match (the consolation final last season) at least eight times today, and I realized I didn’t move at all on my feet, I didn’t take one shot,” Caswell said. “I just dominated on my feet (in the rematch), kept moving, kept weaving. I didn’t change everything, I changed what I did on my feet. That was everything. It was the first time I ever made it (to the regions last year), it was crazy, it was loud.”

Caswell’s teammate, junior 285-pounder Mike Tyle, was the other Mustang to advance. He edged Monroe’s Lou Ceras. The two are attempting to become Manville’s first region champ since John Perone won at 160 pounds in 1998.

“Michael has been wrestling well lately and has started opening up his offense,” Gorbatuk said. “In the past he has been content to go to overtime and win matches by a point, but Michael has been more aggressive and its paying off big time.”

Casey, a two-time state tournament place winner, was one of six Bound Brook wrestlers to move into the semifinals. Bound Brook’s big five - Casey, senior defending state and region champs Steven Glasgow (152) and Mehki Lewis 160) and defending region champs and state place winners George Walton (182) all won by fall. Senior 138-pounder Robert Cleary, a region champ two years ago at 120 for Edison, also won by pin. Sophomore 285-pounder Jervey Sistrunk was the sixth Crusader to advance. He beat Keansburg’s Paul Liseno 5-2.

Glasgow did some road work around town Friday afternoon when he found he was a pound overweight. He missed the tournament as a freshman because he missed weight, but he was able to cut two pounds. He pinned Spotswood’s Shea Obado in 1:47 to improve to 29-1.

Manville’s Shane Demeter and Raritan’s Russell Benson compete in a 132-pound bout at the Region V quarterfinals on Friday.

Hunterdon Central 120-pounder Hunter Graf (36-1), who became the first junior in Red Devils’ history to win his 100th career match last week in a District 17 semifinal, survived what he thought was a poor effort. Graf won last year at 113 last year and was a runner-up at 106 two years ago. So he said he should have known better to let up against Montgomery’s Matt Lisanti. Lisanti scored five points and led 6-2 until Graf regrouped to win 10-6.

“I stopped wrestling for a couple of second and that’s all it took,” Graf said. “You are always going to have some off matches. I didn’t think I had a good one tonight.”

Hunterdon Central senior 220-pounder Victor Lacombe, 35-2, who won a region title at the same weight last season before going on to place fifth in the state tournament, won by fall.

106: 8-Tyler Klinsky (Middletown North) d. 1-Tyler Pepe (St. John Vianney) 6-4; 4-Chris Lanciano (Hopewell Valley) d. 12-Brandon Murray (WWPS) 6-0; 3-Joseph Pacheco (Perth Amboy) d. 6-Mike O’Brien (Edison) 6-4; 2-Robert Taddeo (Raritan) d. 7-Joseph Fiordaliso (Monroe) 9-2.

113: 1-Mitchell Polito (East Brunswick) tf. 9-Maximus Parra (Piscataway) 19-4 5:24; 4-Charles Barrale (Raritan) d. 5-Nicolas DePalma (Monroe) 11-9; 3-Jake Wiatroski (Old Bridge) p. 11-Michael Holland (Middletown South) 3:10; 2-Jack Bauer (Hunterdon Central) d. 10-Freddy Luchs (Middletown North) 4-2.

120: 1-Mark Schleifer (East Brunswick) p. 9-Daniel Monahan (Princeton) 2:20; 5-Jaleel Gopaul (Matawan) d. 4-Mike Botte (Old Bridge) 3-2 TB2; 3-Norberto Torres (Perth Amboy) p. 6-David Loniewski (Bishop Ahr) 3:33; 2-Hunter Graf (Hunterdon Central) d. 10-Matt Lisanti (Montgomery) 10-6.

126: 1-Peter Nace (Hunterdon Central) p. 9-Mark Pacheco (South River) 1:53; 4-Alec Bobchin (Princeton) d. 5-Thomas Tarantino (Pingry) 3-2; 3-Dylan O’Connor (Bishop Ahr) d. 6-Alexis Soriano (Perth Amboy) 7-3; 2-Alec Gleason (East Brunswick) d. 7-Andrew Lombard (Monroe) 3-2.

132: 1-Russell Benson (Raritan) md. 8-Shane Demeter (Manville) 11-3; 5-Troy Gallo (Holmdel) d. 4-Aidan Dillon (Pingry) 5-2; 6-James Rodriguez (Perth Amboy) d. 3-Connor Mills (Delaware Valley) 6-2; 7-Joey Zargo (South River) d. 2-Vincent Romaniello (Hunterdon Central) 7-5.

138: 1-Robert Cleary (Bound Brook) p. 8-Dean Gallo (Holmdel) 1:43; 5-Sean Thompson (WWPS) d. 4-Bryce Hall (Hunterdon Central) 5-3; 3-Donald Albach (Monroe) d. 6-Jack McLafferty (Saint John Vianney) 3-0; 2-Matthew Kolonia (Delaware Valley) tf. 10-Ryan Butcavage (Hopewell Valley) 18-3.

145: 1-Joe Casey (Bound Brook) p. 9-Ryan Naiduk (Edison) 2:40; 5-TJ Caswell (Manville) d. 4-Kevin Ciresa (Hunterdon Central) 8-2; 3-Stanley Wojdylak (Middletown North) d. 6-Rhys Zigich (Delaware Valley) 3-2; 2-Nicholas Lombard (Monroe) p. 10-James VanFechtmann (Raritan) 5:58.

152: 1-Stephan Glasgow (Bound Brook) p. 8-Shea Obado (Spotswood) 1:47; 5-Scott Dupont (Holmdel) d. 4-Francis Dillon (Pingry) 9-4; 3-Nick Addison (Rumson) d. 6-Steven O’Campo (WWPS) 5-2; 2-Joseph Hatcher (Piscataway) p. 7-Peter Tomasino (Edison) 2:00.

160: 1-Mekhi Lewis (Bound Brook) p. 8-Chris Ammirati (Holmdel) 0:20; 4-Nicholas Cofone (Middletown North) d. 5-Kevin Faulkner (Hillsborough) 4-3; 3-James Verbeyst (Princeton) md. 11-Nicholas Weikel (Monroe) 16-5; 2-Michael Petite (Piscataway) md. 7-Chase Bauberger (Delaware Valley) 12-2.

170: 1-Nicholas Caracappa (St. John Vianney) p. 9-George Burdick (Raritan) 5:14; 4-Jason Minkel (East Brunswick) d. 5-Brian Winz (Middletown North) 3-1; 3-Nick Recine (Piscataway) d. 1-Robert Firestone (Edison) 9-5; 2-Derrick Wiley (Matawan) p. 7-Travis Hays (Bound Brook) 4:38.

182: 1-George Walton (Bound Brook) p. 8-Gustavo Palacio (South Brunswick) 3:37; 4-Josiah Walker (St. John Vianney) p. 5-Chancellor Cooper (Old Bridge) 3:58; 3-Tom Anderson (Middletown North) p. 6-Matthew Johnson (Edison) 0:42; 2-Michael Iodice (Hunterdon Central) p. 7-Michael Dooley (Hillsborough) 5:27.

195: 1-Kyle Lightner (Delaware Valley) p. 8-Kyle Baszak (South River) 1:54; 5-Andrew Brazicki (Bishop Ahr) p. 4-Kaylon Bradley (Monroe) 2:51; 3-Andrew Conzo (Matawan) d. 6-Paris Foster (Piscataway) 7-2; 2-Theo Addison (Rumson) d. 7-Ben Markulec (Hopewell Valley) 4-1.

220: 1-Victor Lacombe (Hunterdon Central) p. 8-Eli Kalfaian (Delaware Valley) 1:50; 5-Steven Giannios (St. John Vianney) d. 4-Samuel Rogers (Piscataway) 12-5; 6-Ethan Wolf (Raritan) d. 3-Nicolas Ipeker (Montgomery) 5-2; 2-Will Ortman (Hopewell Valley) d. 7-Javon Mercado (New Brunswick) 6-2.

285: 1-Michael Porcaro (Sayreville) d. 8-Jack Karvaski (Edison) 5-2; 4-Michael Tyle (Manville) d. 5-Lou Ceras (Monroe) 3-1;3-Jervey Sistrunk (Bound Brook) d. 6-Paul Liseno (Keansburg) 5-2; 2-Dylan D`Amore (Montgomery) d. 7-Adam Markman (Middletown South) 9-2.