That's more like it -- for Del Val -- which was beaten soundly by South Plainfield last Thursday night. A 39-17 win over Hunterdon Central will help get the Terriers back.
Couple of notes from tonight's meet.
Gold rush night. The Terriers encouraged their fans to wear yellow t-shirts, and the crowd complied. Big house at Del Val and the home team didn't dissapoint.
Longtime former head coach Vin Fitz was honored before the match and his son, Andy, the current coach, saw his team win nine of 14 bouts, including the last five. The last four were three major decisions and a fall. The decision was an overtime winner -- sophomore Bobby Stevely knocked off Central's Brian Bistis in triple overtime. Great match at 112.
Solid dual meet by both teams, who now prepare for difficult matches. Delaware Valley goes to Hackettstown tonight, then High Point Saturday for a tri with High Point and Seton Hall Prep. Hunterdon Central plays host to Phillipsburg Saturday afternoon at 12:30. The match was originally scheduled for 7.
Central's Cody Lewis rallied from deficits of 7-1 and 8-4 at 171 to beat Jeff Godwin 12-10 in overtime, scoring a take seven seconds into the sudden victory period.
Wrestling spirit is still in vogue at Del Val. It's a cliche, but the crowd was great tonight.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Getting warmed up with Montgomery
It takes a few weeks to move completely off football and into wrestling, but I think I'm about there.
Montgomery's 50-24 win over Bound Brook Saturday wasn't a stunning result, but the Cougars are showing that at some point in a year or two they might be in position to challenge the top teams in the county on a steady basis. Montgomery pretty much has every sport covered now with the arrival of its wrestling team.
A few coaches -- of teams Montgomery will wrestle later in the winter -- were a bit surprised of how easily the Cougars beat Bound Brook. Call it concern.
Cougar coach Kevin Jacoutot called the win his program's biggest to date.
Montgomery won nine of 14 matches. Bound Brook is not a strong dual meet team. But that shouldn't take away from what Montgomery has done so far. It is 7-3 now in just its second year as a varsity program.
Now, for the Crusaders. First-year head coach Steve Lukacs was concerned before the match that his team didn't realize how inspired Montgomery would be for the match. That was the feeling in the Crusaders' coaching staff had all week.
"We have some holes, that's pretty obvious,'' said Lukacs, who praised Montgomery's attitude and preparation for the meet.
Bound Brook star freshman Andrew Campolattano didn't wrestle. Since the match started at 275 and the outcome was decided with three bouts to go, Bound Brook chose to rest the 189/215 pounder. He is competing in the All Star Meet at Brick Memorial in two weeks.
Montgomery's 50-24 win over Bound Brook Saturday wasn't a stunning result, but the Cougars are showing that at some point in a year or two they might be in position to challenge the top teams in the county on a steady basis. Montgomery pretty much has every sport covered now with the arrival of its wrestling team.
A few coaches -- of teams Montgomery will wrestle later in the winter -- were a bit surprised of how easily the Cougars beat Bound Brook. Call it concern.
Cougar coach Kevin Jacoutot called the win his program's biggest to date.
Montgomery won nine of 14 matches. Bound Brook is not a strong dual meet team. But that shouldn't take away from what Montgomery has done so far. It is 7-3 now in just its second year as a varsity program.
Now, for the Crusaders. First-year head coach Steve Lukacs was concerned before the match that his team didn't realize how inspired Montgomery would be for the match. That was the feeling in the Crusaders' coaching staff had all week.
"We have some holes, that's pretty obvious,'' said Lukacs, who praised Montgomery's attitude and preparation for the meet.
Bound Brook star freshman Andrew Campolattano didn't wrestle. Since the match started at 275 and the outcome was decided with three bouts to go, Bound Brook chose to rest the 189/215 pounder. He is competing in the All Star Meet at Brick Memorial in two weeks.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Big night for South Plainfield
I didn't look at South Plainfield's consecutive losses to Perth Amboy (31-29) and Camden Catholic (33-29) last week as Armageddon. The Tigers didn't wrestle well against Perth Amboy and didn't have the greatest effort against Camden Catholic, according to coach Kevin McCann.
For the Tigers fans who made the excuse that their team didn't have 160/171 pound senior Mark Wagner against Perth Amboy. South Plainfield should have found a way to win that one without him. Ask McCann.
But the Tigers learned a valuable lesson that they have taught so many of their opponents over the years -- if you're not willing to take a six minute journey through pain, sweat, etc., somebody is going to knock you off. Somebody did it twice last week.
But.
South Plainfield (4-2) got back to its staple for winning big matches Thursday night in a 34-20 win over previously-unbeaten Delaware Valley (6-1). The teams split seven bouts, but the Tigers avoided losing bonus decisions at 135, 140 and 152 against three of Del Val's better kids -- P.J. Steinbeiser, Rich Gebert and Nick LeFevre. Kyle Pompilio stayed off his back at 112 against Del Val's Bobby Stevely. Delaware Valley trailed 24-16 at that point and still had a shot, but sophomore Nick Heilmann put it away for South Plainfield with a fall at 119.
Bonus points was all South Plainfield: Mark Wagner, Dan Pompilio and Heilman had falls. Del Val had no falls. Stevely and Jake Rosocha (125) had major decisions for Del Val and Ryan Sacco (130) finished the night for South with one.
That was it.
Now the Tigers gear up for what should be a competitive match with Edison Saturday followed by another showdown with a strong Skyland Conference team -- our friends from 5-0 Hackettstown.
For the Tigers fans who made the excuse that their team didn't have 160/171 pound senior Mark Wagner against Perth Amboy. South Plainfield should have found a way to win that one without him. Ask McCann.
But the Tigers learned a valuable lesson that they have taught so many of their opponents over the years -- if you're not willing to take a six minute journey through pain, sweat, etc., somebody is going to knock you off. Somebody did it twice last week.
But.
South Plainfield (4-2) got back to its staple for winning big matches Thursday night in a 34-20 win over previously-unbeaten Delaware Valley (6-1). The teams split seven bouts, but the Tigers avoided losing bonus decisions at 135, 140 and 152 against three of Del Val's better kids -- P.J. Steinbeiser, Rich Gebert and Nick LeFevre. Kyle Pompilio stayed off his back at 112 against Del Val's Bobby Stevely. Delaware Valley trailed 24-16 at that point and still had a shot, but sophomore Nick Heilmann put it away for South Plainfield with a fall at 119.
Bonus points was all South Plainfield: Mark Wagner, Dan Pompilio and Heilman had falls. Del Val had no falls. Stevely and Jake Rosocha (125) had major decisions for Del Val and Ryan Sacco (130) finished the night for South with one.
That was it.
Now the Tigers gear up for what should be a competitive match with Edison Saturday followed by another showdown with a strong Skyland Conference team -- our friends from 5-0 Hackettstown.
Friday, January 04, 2008
Fitz to be honored
Former longtime Delaware Valley wrestling coach Vin Fitz will be honored before the Terriers' Jan. 16 dual meet with Hunterdon Central. The ceremony will be held at about 6:45.
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