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Region IV Wrestling: Woodbridge wins twice, South Plainfield advances seven

Andy Mendlowitz
@andy_mendlowitz
Woodbrige's Marquan Payne wrestles Cranford's Brian McGovern at 160 pounds during the District 14 finals on Feb. 21, 2017 at Woodbridge.

UNION — Marquan Payne forgot to do something after capturing the Region IV 160-pound title — get his hand raised. The Woodbridge High School wrestler was so fired up, he pumped his arms to the crowd and hugged his coaches.

“There was a lot of adrenaline running through me at the time,” he said.

The referee had to stroll over and raise Payne’s muscular arm in the corner. The senior then pushed his teammate Bryan McLaughlin as if to say, ‘Now, it’s your turn.’ McLaughlin went out and earned a dominant 9-1 win in the 170-pound final.

“They feed off one another,” Woodbridge coach Michael Carbone said. “It’s good. They pump each other up. They’re both very, very good teammates.”

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Saturday, the Barrons’ two titles were the most from a Greater Middlesex Conference school. South Plainfield sophomore Zach DelVecchio captured his second 220-pound championship, while Middlesex/Dunellen’s Bob Dinger (138) and Rahway’s Rhise Royster (126) both earned redemption in earning gold.

The top four finishers advanced to the NJSIAA Individual Tournament at Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall from March 3-5. South Plainfield, which went 1-2 in the championships, had seven qualify — runners-ups Joe Heilmann (120) and Jake Giordano (126) and fourth-place finishers Alex Amato (113), Joe Sacco (138), Kyle Bythell (145) and Luke Niemeyer (195).

In all, the GMC had 16 advance and Rahway qualified two wrestlers.

Before the finals, the national anthem recording wouldn’t start. So the crowd sung the Star-Spangled Banner in unison, which led to a round of applause. For South Plainfield fans, the cheering continued for DelVecchio in the second finals match.

He pulled out the 2-1 second tiebreaker win over Carteret’s Farhan Khan. It was a matchup of defending region champions. It was also a rematch in the GMC Tournament final on Jan. 28, in which DelVecchio got a quick fall off a restart in in 3:02.

Saturday, each wrestler escaped in regulation. In the first 30-second overtime session, DelVecchio added another escape, and then rode out Kahn in the final 30-second session. Kahn got up, but the South Plainfield wrestler grabbed onto his leg, taking him back down.

“I was just hugging onto the leg and around the hip, so he couldn’t really move and split his leg,” said DelVecchio, who also starred at running back for the Tigers sectional finalists. “I’m trying to go for four. Four districts. Four regions. Trying to place in the states four times.”

Two other South Plainfield wrestlers had tough final matches. At 120, St. Peter’s Prep’s Michael Kelly nipped Heilmann 3-0. Heilmann (39-1) pinned Kelly in 3:02 to take fifth in the state last season at 106. Saturday, Kelly hit a single leg takedown late in the first period and rode him out in the third.

At 126, Rahway’s Royster got a single leg early in the third period for a 3-1 lead. Giordano escaped and was in on a slick single in the final seconds, but Royster defended it, saying “it was off of instinct, just turn and kick out. And not let him get the two.”

“I find myself to be really good on my feet,” he said. “My footwork is what catches most people off guard. They can’t time my footwork. When they do, I make sure I fend off on the shots that they take on me.”

Royster, a sophomore, broke his shoulder's growth plate in his second match during last year’s regions and couldn’t finish out the tournament.

“I couldn’t do anything about it,” Royster said. “I knew I had to get ready for next year. So ever since then, I’ve been dedicating myself to try to get better for next season. Make it down to AC.”

Royster’s teammate Sabri Murray took third at 126 with a 4-3 overtime win over Seton Hall Prep’s Maguire Pecci.

At 138, Middlesex/Dunellen’s Dinger beat two wrestlers who he had previously lost against. In an exciting semifinal, he beat South Plainfield’s Joe Sacco 6-5 in overtime. Sacco had escaped in the final seconds to tie it in regulation. In the GMC final, Sacco edged Dinger 3-2 in overtime.

In the District 14 semifinal on Feb. 18, Cranford’s Tom DiGiovanni pinned Dinger. In that match, however, Dinger didn’t have the opportunity to take top. In the region final, Dinger trailed 2-1 after the first period. He then dominated the rest of the match en route to an 11-3 win. Dinger picked up back points off an arm bar and a cradle, nearly getting the fall.

“It kind of fuels me a little bit,” said Dinger of the two earlier losses. “I’ve just been working really hard in the room and I knew I was ready today. … I knew I had to go to states this year.”

In the 145 final, fellow Blue Jay Jeff Johnson lost 4-2 to St. Peter’s Prep Nicholas Santos after giving up a single leg takedown, seconds after fighting off a double-leg attack.

Also at 145, Colonia freshman John Poznanski had a memorable region debut by beating South Plainfield’s Bythell 11-5 in the third-place match.

J.F. Kennedy had two third-place finishers in Aaron Coleman (132) and Sean Aston (182).

At heavyweight, Woodbridge’s Alex LaGrippo lost 3-0 to undefeated Cranford wrestler Alex Esposito (29-0). The two other Barrons, though, got to take home their bracket. McLaughlin is no surprise. He improved to 40-1 after his methodical major decision over Seton Hall Prep’s Aidan Monteverdi (36-1). It's his second straight region championship.

“I had a game plan and I stuck to it,” McLaughlin said. “I was just trying to get in here, get my title and get out of here.”

Carbone said: “He’s work-like. He knows what he wants to do. He gets it done. He has confidence in himself.”

At 160, Payne (39-5) won 4-3 over Voorhees’ Michael Fernandes (39-1). In a tense third period, Payne let up the lankier wrestler and avoided two takedowns on the edge.

Payne started wrestling in the ninth grade and has improved immensely.

“Now, he’s starting to really understand the sport a lot better and knows how to drill better,” McLaughlin said. “He’s been a big help to me this year. He’s one of the hardest working kids I ever met.”

Woodbridge’s coach Carbone remembers that during Payne’s “sophomore year he came up to me and said, ‘Coach, I’m going to go to states by the time high school’s over.’ I laughed at him because I thought he was joking with me. ... He’s just elevating himself every week and having him and Brian in the room push each other is only making both of them better.”

As far as Payne’s declaration as a sophomore coming true?

“He proved me wrong,” said Carbone, and this time he laughed again. “Good. I’m glad he did. I’m really happy for him.”

FINALS

106: CJ Composto (Westfield) 33-3 won over Larry Melchionda (Seton Hall) 31-7 (Fall 1:16); 113: Mark Montgomery (Roselle Park) 35-1 wonover Anthony Capece (Cranford) 26-3 (Dec 1-0); 120: Michael Kelly (St. Peter's Prep) 20-2 won over Joe Heilmann (So. Plainfield) 39-1 (Dec 3-0); 126: RHISE ROYSTER (Rahway) 32-0 won over Jake Giordano (So. Plainfield) 38-3 (Dec 3-2); 132: Chris Scorese (Cranford) 33-1 won over Christopher Fuschetto (A.L. Johnson) 38-3 (Dec 3-1); 138: Bob Dinger (Middlesex/Dunellen) 40-3 won over Tom Digiovanni (Cranford) 33-3 (MD 11-3); 145: Nicholas Santos (St. Peter's Prep) 30-5 won in sudden victory - 1 over Jeff Johnson (Middlesex/Dunellen) 40-2 (SV-1 4-2); 152: TJ Calas (Seton Hall) 33-1 won over Nick Zuena (Union) 34-3 (Dec 5-0); 160: Marquan Payne (Woodbridge) 36-5 won over Michael Fernandes (Voorhees) 39-1 (Dec 4-3); 170: Bryan Mclaughlin (Woodbridge) 40-1 won over Aidan Monteverdi (Seton Hall) 36-1 (MD 9-1); 182: Sam Wustefeld (Scotch Plains-Fanwood) 38-3 won over Turner Haddad (Governor Livingston) 32-4 (Dec 7-4);195: Van Miller (Bridgewater-Raritan) 21-1 won in sudden victory - 1 over Lewis Fernandes (Voorhees) 32-9 (SV-1 4-2); 220: Zach Delvecchio (So. Plainfield) 40-1 won in sudden victory - 2 over Farhan Khan (Carteret) 33-2 (SV-2 2-1); 285: Alex Esposito (Cranford) 29-0 won over Alexander Lagrippo (Woodbridge) 36-6 (Dec 3-0).