Wrestling: Bound Brook advances five into state quarterfinals

ATLANTIC CITY -  Mekhi Lewis sat in the stands like a fan, marveling at all the takedowns and surprises at Boardwalk Hall.

“I like being here, it’s exciting, especially because it’s my last time being here,” Lewis said. “It’s fun especially because of the matchups and if there’s an upset. Like if you root for a kid who’s been working hard the whole year.”

But it was also a business trip for the Bound Brook High School senior, and Lewis and his Crusaders came through at the NJSIAA Individual Championships. Bound Brook advanced five wrestlers into Saturday’s quarterfinal round to lead Courier News-area teams. The top-seeded 160-pound Lewis (40-0) remained undefeated with two pins in 3:21, which is almost like getting three oranges in a slot machine.

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Stephan Glasgow, the top seed at 152 also got two pins in 4:12 and 55 seconds. Also advancing were Robert Cleary (138), Joe Casey (145) and George Walton (182).

Hunterdon Central advanced three wrestlers: Hunter Graf (120), Michael Iodice (182), Victor Lacombe (220). Two area schools advanced two wrestlers — South Plainfield qualified Joe Heilmann (120) and Zach DelVecchio (220), and Delaware Valley pushed through Matt Kolonia (138) and Kyle Lightner (195).

Additionally, Montgomery’s heavyweight Dylan D’Amore and Piscataway’s Michael Petit (160) advanced to the quarterfinal.

Friday’s matches included the preliminary and prequarterfinal rounds. Wrestling resumes Saturday with three wrestleback rounds and the quarterfinals at noon. The evening session includes the 6 p.m. quarterfinals and two wrestleback rounds.

Friday’s 138-pound pre-quarterfinal match between Cleary, who went to Edison last season, and Middlesex/Dunellen’s Bob Dinger was an unlikely rematch of the 2016 Greater Middlesex Conference 132-pound final. Cleary won that match 3-0 and was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Wrestler for the lower weights.

Cleary went on to place seventh in the state. He has since transferred to Bound Brook and is now 36-3 for the Crusaders.

“Coming in here today, I didn’t want to look too far ahead and worry too much about the finals,” Cleary said. “I just want to win the match ahead of me, that’s right in front of me and not look too far ahead. … Obviously, I like to dominate a little bit more, but it’s the state tournament. Not everything goes your way. As long as you get your hand raised in the end, you can’t really complain.”

Friday, he hit a quick high crotch for the early lead. In the third period, Dinger escaped to cut the lead to 5-4. He was in on a takedown as the two went out of bounds in the final seconds.

The Middlesex/Dunellen coaches were shouting “two,” thinking it was a takedown. Cleary said he was flat on his stomach and it wasn’t a takedown.

So, how would Lewis as a fan call it?

“No, no, that was no takedown,” he said with a laugh.In the first round, another Bound Brook wrestler met a familiar opponent. Casey met Manville’s T.J. Caswell for the third time this season and won 4-0 at 145. Casey won 7-0 in the two other meetings, including the Region V semifinal.

Lewis and Glasgow both looked polished. Every move has a purpose. Nothing is rushed and everything is smooth.

“You got to be smooth when it comes to certain things in the sport,” Lewis said. “And you also got to know the next move you’re going to hit before it actually comes up. … My freshman year I was shocked when I walked out for my first match. Like now, I have a smile. I joke around with my coaches before I wrestle.”

In the first round at 132, North Hunterdon’s 26th-seeded Andrew Gapas pulled the 8-4 upset over Garfield’s No. 7 seed Jordan Robinson. In the prequarterfinals, the junior almost beat No. 10 Russell Benson of Raritan, but dropped a 6-5 loss in overtime in tiebreaker one.

For Middlesex County, South Plainfield’s Jake Giordano had one of the more dramatic moments of the night at 126. He trailed St. Augustine Prep’s Connor Kraus 3-1 late in the third, but he escaped and took the sophomore to his back with seven seconds left via a pancake for a 6-3 win. In his next match, however, Howell’s seventh-seed Kyle Slendorn pulled out the 7-0 win.