Wrestling: Bound Brook claims five Region V champions

RARITAN TWP. – The idea of a collective nickname for the Bound Brook High School wrestling team’s multiple-time region champions Robbie Cleary, Stephen Glasgow, Mekhi Lewis, George Walton and Joe Casey have been floating around all season.

After Saturday’s Region V Tournament, Charlotte Lewis, whose son Mekhi won his fourth region title and was Outstanding Wrestler, simply said “the fabulous five, plus two.”

They earned that label Saturday, going a collective 14-2 in bouts and winning region titles at the Hunterdon Central Fieldhouse. The Crusaders ended up sixth in the final region team poll, but Saturday there was no doubt who was the best.

The ‘fabulous five’ and ‘plus two’ teammates, senior 170-pounder Travis Hays and sophomore 285-pounder Jervey Sistrunk placed third and fourth respectively are now preparing for the state tournament in Atlantic City next week.

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Returning state champs Lewis (160) and Glasgow (152), three-time region winner and two-time state place winner Casey (145) and returning region champ and returning state place winner Walton (182) repeated. Cleary (138), a four-time region finalist, won a region title two years ago for Edison High. He was second last year for the Eagles at 132.

The top four place winners in each weight class advanced to the state tournament at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City next Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Dominant was also the way to describe Delaware Valley junior 195-pounder Kyle Lightner who pinned for his first region title after placing second last year to graduated Bridgewater-Raritan standout Kyle Murphy. Hunterdon Central senior Victor Lacombe repeated at 220 and Montgomery senior 285-pounder Dylan D’Amore became the Cougars’ second region champ after losing in overtime in last year’s final.

Lewis (38-0) and Glasgow (31-1) did what returning state champs are expected to do. The Virginia Tech-bound Lewis pinned Piscataway junior and three-time region finalist Michael Petite for the second straight week. Lewis pinned the talented Petite – an eighth place state tournament finisher last year and region champ and OW two years ago - in 31 seconds in the region final. Lewis spent just four minutes and 30 seconds on the mat in his three bouts.

Glasgow, who’ll wrestle at Rutgers, had a physical bout with Piscataway sophomore Joseph Hatcher. He had Hatcher (32-2) in trouble several times, getting the crowd to ooh and ah with his quickness and muscle. He wound up with a 20-6 major for his third region title.

“The crowd was getting gassed up and the ref said a couple of things to stay calm, but I just stayed focused,” Glasgow said.

Cleary, 34-3, who transferred to Bound Brook from Edison before this school year, was a runner-up last year at 132 and seventh in the state. He was a region champ at 120 as a sophomore and runner-up as a freshman. Kolonia (38-2) scored first on a take down. Cleary had a neutral. Cleary got another neutral and takedown in the second and led 4-2 after two. The only scoring in the third was a Kolonia neutral as Cleary won 4-3.

“It was a tougher than it should have been, I should have opened it up more and gotten to my offense more,” said Cleary, who will wrestle at Rutgers.

Casey, 28-6, a two-time seventh-place state tournament place winner at 106 and 120, earned a 6-5 victory over Monroe’s previously-unbeaten Nick Lombard for his third region title. Casey had a neutral, takedown and back points in the second to lead 5-0. Lombard rallied, but Casey held on 6-5.

Walton won his second region title with a third period fall over Hunterdon Central senior Mike Iodice. Walton (34-2) was fourth in the state last season at 170.

D’Amore, a region runner-up to Sayreville’s graduated Anthony Porcaro last year, beat Porcaro’s younger brother Michael 1-0 in the region final. D’Amore lost to Porcaro 3-2 in the finals of the early-season East Brunswick Tournament just after Christmas.

“I’ve been working all year to get some revenge; really it comes down to being in shape. I wrestled him early in the season, right after Christmas,” said D’Amore, fifth in the state last season.

D’Amore also became the fifth Cougar to win 100 bouts, reaching the milestone by beating Sistrunk in the semifinals.

Lacombe, who’ll wrestle at Lehigh, won his second region title with a 3-1 victory over Will Ortman of Hopewell Valley. Lacombe was fifth in the state last year.

“I had to get the first takedown,” said Lacombe said. “Last year I didn’t shoot enough, so this year the objective is to be more aggressive, take more shots.”

Lightner pinned Rumson-Fair Haven’s Theo Addison in 3:21 for his first region title.

“I’m having fun this season, wrestling my butt off,” Lightner said. “I wasn’t happy on my feet, but I was happy to get the pin and show my dominance here. Now I have to show it at the states.”

FINALS

113: 1-Mitchell Polito (East Brunswick) md. 2-Jack Bauer (Hunterdon Central) 11-1; 120: 1-Mark Schleifer (East Brunswick) d. 2-Hunter Graf (Hunterdon Central) 7-4; 126: 2-Alec Gleason (East Brunswick) md. 1-Peter Nace (Hunterdon Central) 12-4; 132: 1-Russell Benson (Raritan) p. 7-Joey Zargo (South River) 5:59; 138: 1-Robert Cleary (Bound Brook) d. 2-Matthew Kolonia (Delaware Valley) 4-3; 145: 1-Joe Casey (Bound Brook) d. 2-Nicholas Lombard (Monroe) 6-5; 152: 1-Stephan Glasgow (Bound Brook) md. 2-Joseph Hatcher (Piscataway) 20-6; 160: 1-Mekhi Lewis (Bound Brook) p. 2-Michael Petite (Piscataway) 0:31; 170: 1-Nicholas Caracappa (St. John Vianney) d. 2-Derrick Wiley (Matawan) 5-4; 182: 1-George Walton (Bound Brook) p. 2-Michael Iodice (Hunterdon Central) 5:26; 195: 1-Kyle Lightner (Delaware Valley) p. 2-Theo Addison (Rumson) 3:21; 220: 1-Victor Lacombe (Hunterdon Central) d. 2-Will Ortman (Hopewell Valley) 3-1; 285: 2-Dylan D`Amore (Montgomery) d. 1-Michael Porcaro (Sayreville) 1-0; 106: 8-Tyler Klinsky (Middletown North) d. 3-Joseph Pacheco (Perth Amboy) 5-0.

THIRD/FIFTH PLACE 

106: 3rd: 1-Tyler Pepe (St. John Vianney) d. 4-Chris Lanciano (Hopewell Valley) 4-1; 5th: 6-Mike O'Brien (Edison) p. 2-Robert Taddeo (Raritan) 5:32.

113: 3rd: 10-Freddy Luchs (Middletown North) by forfeit over 3-Jake Wiatroski (Old Bridge); 5th: 9-Maximus Parra (Piscataway) d. 4-Charles Barrale (Raritan) 8-3.

120: 3rd: 3-Norberto Torres (Perth Amboy) d. 6-David Loniewski (Bishop Ahr) 5-4; 5th: 4-Mike Botte (Old Bridge) d. 5-Jaleel Gopaul (Matawan) 8-7.

126: 3rd: 3-Dylan O'Connor (Bishop Ahr) d. 4-Alec Bobchin (Princeton) 5-3; 5th: 5-Thomas Tarantino (Pingry) d. 7-Andrew Lombard (Monroe) 2-1.

132: 3rd: 6-James Rodriguez (Perth Amboy) d. 3-Connor Mills (Delaware Valley) 3-2; 5th: 5-Troy Gallo (Holmdel) d. 4-Aidan Dillon (Pingry) 9-2.

138: 3rd: 4-Bryce Hall (Hunterdon Central) d. 6-Jack McLafferty (St. John Vianney) 4-1; 5th: 5-Sean Thompson (WWPS) d. 3-Donald Albach (Monroe) 1-0.

145: 3rd: 3-Stanley Wojdylak (Middletown North) d. 5-TJ Caswell (Manville) 1-0; 5th: 4-Kevin Ciresa (Hunterdon Central) d. 6-Rhys Zigich (Delaware Valley) 2-1.

152: 3rd: 5-Scott Dupont (Holmdel) d. 4-Francis Dillon (Pingry) 7-2; 5th: 3-Nick Addison (Rumson) d. 6-Steven O'Campo (WWPS) 5-4

160: 3rd: 4-Nicholas Cofone (Middletown North) p. 5-Kevin Faulkner (Hillsborough) :56; 5th: 3-James Verbeyst (Princeton) p. 11-Nicholas Weikel (Monroe) 1:55.

170: 3rd: 3-Nick Recine (Piscataway) p. 7-Travis Hays (Bound Brook) 2:29; 5th: 9-George Burdick (Raritan) p. 4-Jason Minkel (East Brunswick) :45.

182: 3rd: 3-Tom Anderson (Middletown North) p. 4-Josiah Walker (St. John Vianney) 4:11; 5th: 7-Michael Dooley (Hillsborough) p. 8-Gustavo Palacio (South Brunswick) 3:39.

195: 3rd: 5-Andrew Brazicki (Bishop Ahr) d. 4-Kaylon Bradley (Monroe) 12-5; 5th: 3-Andrew Conzo (Matawan) md. 6-Paris Foster (Piscataway) 11-3.

220: 3rd: 5-Steven Giannios (St. John Vianney) p. 4-Samuel Rogers (Piscataway) 4:41; 5th: 6-Ethan Wolf (Raritan) d. 7-Javon Mercado (New Brunswick) 3-2.

285: 3rd: 3-Jervey Sistrunk (Bound Brook) d. 4-Michael Tyle (Manville) 3-2 UTB; 5th: 5-Lou Ceras (Monroe) by forfeit.