Wrestling: South River's Zargo advances at Region V
RARITAN TWP. - Upsets were at a minimum Friday night in the quarterfinal round of the Region V Wrestling Tournament, but South River freshman 132-pounder Joey Zargo was definitely a wrestler who had one.
The seventh-seeded Ram (17-5) knocked off second-seeded Hunterdon Central sophomore Vincent Ronaniello (30-7) 7-5 to advance to Saturday morning’s semifinal round at the Hunterdon Central Fieldhouse. Semifinals begin at 10 a.m., consolation rounds will also continue with finals to start at about 4 p.m.
Zargo was beaten by Romaniello 6-3 a week ago in the District 17 final. Zargo scored a takedown in the first period, but fell behind 5-3 in the second period as Romaniello had two takes and an escape. But an escape point for fleeing the mat and another takedown got Zargo the victory and a semifinal date with Perth Amboy freshman James Rodriguez. Rodriguez got his own upset as he beat Delaware Valley senior and District 19 champ Connor Mills, a third seed who was a region runner up last season.
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“I knew he was stronger and I had wrestled him before,” Zargo said. “My head position was out of place. I watched some film of it. I wrestled somebody I had wrestled before in the semifinals and I was able to beat him, so I knew to plan for (Romaniello)."
East Brunswick had a pretty good night as returning champ Mitchell Polito (31-0) beat Piscataway freshman Max Parra by technical fall. Polito, a junior, and three-time district champ, won the region title at 106 last season. He was one win short of earning a place at the states.
Teammate Mark Schleifer, another three-time district champ, won a region title at 113 two years ago and lost in overtime to Bound Brook’s Joe Casey in last year’s region final at 120. The top-seeded Schleifer won by fall Friday night. Alec Gleason (34-3) was another of the East Brunswick winners. The second seeded 126-pound senior beat Monroe’s seventh-seeded Andrew Lombard, who he beat by major at the Greater Middlesex Tournament last month. Gleason will meet Bishop Ahr’s Dylan O’Connor in the semis as O’Connor repeated his District 20 final victory over Perth Amboy’s Alexis Soriano in a region quarterfinal.
Senior 170-pounder Jason Minikel, a two-time district runner up, beat Middletown North’s fifth-seeded and District 17 champ Brian Winz 3-1. Winz had won three bouts by fall in taking the district title.
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.
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 thats 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.