WRESTLING

Sacco's win over defending state champ fuels South Plainfield wrestling to sectional title

Greg Tufaro
Courier News and Home News Tribune
South Plainfield celebrates Friday night's Central Group III championship

More than halfway through the NJSIAA Central Group III wrestling final, host South Plainfield, which is clearly peaking at the right time, inadvertently took the life out of its own building by running away with the dual meet.

One spectator, remarking on the unusual silence inside the Anthony J. Cotoia Gymnasium, through which the din of the high school’s heating system could be heard from the rafters, said he felt like he was attending a church service.

South Plainfield 145-pounder Joe Sacco reinvigorated the crowd in the ninth bout of the night against Ocean, posting a stunning 6-2 overtime decision over defending 138-pound state champion Jake Benner, who entered the match with a 71-2 record over the last two seasons.

Sacco’s comeback victory was the highlight of a 54-6 drubbing as the top-seeded Tigers captured their fourth consecutive sectional championship and 15th such overall title.

Benner, who weighed in to compete at 145 pounds, has only wrestled four of 27 bouts at 138 pounds this season, competing in the remaining bouts at either 145 or 152 pounds. The loss to Sacco snapped Benner’s winning streak at 23 and was his first setback since dropping a 9-5 decision to Pope John’s Robert Garcia, who is ranked third in the state at 145 pounds, in December.

“He didn’t fear him at all,” South Plainfield head coach Bill Pavlak said of Sacco. “It was impressive the way he went after Benner. Joe wrestled his match. It looked like he threw Benner off with his aggressiveness. When it counted in that match, Joe was definitely the aggressor.”

Joe Sacco (left) wrestles Jake Benner

Trailing 2-0 late in the third period, Sacco was riding Benner, when he took Benner to his back with 25 seconds left to force overtime. After an uneventful sudden-victory, Sacco scored a reversal with 15 seconds left in the second extra session and iced the victory with a takedown late in the third overtime.

His win brought the home crowd to its feet and sent the student section, which had been relatively quiet since chanting “it’s all over” before the third bout of the dual meet even commenced, into a frenzy.

South Plainfield, ranked No. 14 in the New Jersey Wrestling Writers Association statewide Top 20, advanced to the NJSIAA Group III semifinals against Voorhees, which will be contested 2 p.m. Sunday at the RWJBarnabus Health Arena on the campus of Toms River High School North.

The winner will face the victor of the other semifinal between Pascack Valley and Delsea for the NJSIAA Group III championship 7 p.m. Sunday at the same venue.

South Plainfield, which is favored to win its third straight state title and 11th overall group championship, wrestled one of its best – if not its best – matches of the season against a battle-tested Ocean squad on Friday night.

Second-seeded Ocean (15-8) previously wrestled four schools who were or are ranked in the NJWWA Top 20 – including No. 4 Pope John and No. 8 Phillipsburg – and the outcomes of those losses were not as disparate as the defeat to South Plainfield.

Owner of a deceptive 18-7 record that includes two losses to out-of-state teams at the Virginia Duals and five defeats to teams the NJWWA ranks among the Top 12 in the state, South Plainfield’s schedule  -- including a one-point loss to No. 6 Emerson and a three-point loss to No. 12 Southern – clearly prepared the Tigers for the postseason.

“I’ve been telling everybody, this team, once we get things going here, we’re going to come around,” Pavlak said. (Ocean) is not a Top 20 team, but it’s a decent team that’s had some close scores and is battle-tested. I think they were a little shell-shocked today. I don’t think they expected what went on in the gym. We had a good match against Emerson (33-32 loss), where we fell a little short, but this is right up there with the way the guys wrestled. They showed a lot of heart. Considering (Sacco) beat a (defending) state champ and everything else just went our way, it was just a great team effort.”

South Plainfield, which does not have a true heavyweight, jumped out to a 9-0 lead after Julian Medina decisioned at 220 pounds and Zach DelVecchio, who InterMat ranks 11th in the country at 220 pounds, won by default over Joe Teresi, who injured his left elbow.

Ocean endured another injury at 120 pounds where Adam Manzo, who was in a battle with incumbent state qualifier Dave Loniewski, injured his left ankle. Manzo stayed on the mat following a lengthy injury timeout early in the second period, only to get pinned moments later.

The Tigers, who won 13 bouts, scoring bonus points in six of those wins, reeled off nine consecutive victories to close the dual meet.

The only thing that did not go South Plainfield’s way was when Joe Heilmann, who is ranked nationally at 126 pounds but bumped to 132 pounds to wrestle Alex Poniros, lost a caution point with 1.2 seconds left in his bout, forcing him to settle for a 15-8 decision instead of a major. Poniros fell to 22-6.

Tommy Fierro’s ability to make 126 pounds enabled Heilmann to bump. Fierro fended off an aggressive takedown attempt in the closing seconds of his 3-2 decision over Ocean standout Jack Nies, who entered with a 25-6 record.

Tom Renna, a transfer from Cranford who will wrestle off with teammate Joe Nardacci for South Plainfield’s 170-pound spot before districts, made his debut for the Tigers Friday night, pinning Ryan Moran in 1:34.

“We got to see the new guy, who looked pretty good,” Pavlak said, “so it was really a good day for South Plainfield wrestling.”

Just as he did on Friday night, Sacco said the entire team has been working overtime, especially in recent weeks, as the Tigers prepared for a deep postseason run.

“We’ve put a lot of hard work in the room,” Sacco said. “We are all pushing each other, going extra live. Our coaches push us. They pack the schedule to get us ready for states.

“All we want is our goal, and that’s a group title.”

220: Julian Medina (SOPL) over Christian Wilson (OCTO) (Dec 6-2)

285: Zach DelVecchio (SOPL) over Joseph Teresi (OCTO) (Inj. [time])

106: Anthony White (SOPL) over Demetri Poniros (OCTO) (Fall 2:49)

113: William Tisony (OCTO) over Frank Mannino (SOPL) (Fall 3:15)

120: David Loniewski (SOPL) over Adam Manzo (OCTO) (Fall 2:37)

126: Thomas Fierro (SOPL) over Jack Nies (OCTO) (Dec 3-2)

132: Joe Heilmann (SOPL) over Alex Poniros (OCTO) (Dec 15-8)

138: Alex Amato (SOPL) over Saif Ali (OCTO) (Dec 6-1)

145: Joe Sacco (SOPL) over Jake Benner (OCTO) (TB-1 6-2)

152: Mike Marrero (SOPL) over Emerson Derose (OCTO) (Dec 4-3)

160: Marc Giordano (SOPL) over Anthony Esposito (OCTO) (Dec 2-0)

170: Thomas Renna (SOPL) over Ryan Moran (OCTO) (Fall 1:34)

182: Brenden Hedden (SOPL) over Brandon Tracey (OCTO) (Fall 1:28)

195: Luke Niemeyer (SOPL) over Dino Poniros (OCTO) (Dec 8-2)