Phillipsburg wrestling rallies to beat Southern to advance to Group 5 final

Steven Falk, Asbury Park Press

February 12, 2022 at 7:31 AM·8 min read

STAFFORD - Southern's Cole Velardi had just pinned at 150 pounds to put his team up by 16 points halfway through the NJSIAA South Group 5 championship match Friday night.

It was the Rams' third consecutive win with bonus points. The Southern fans were at a fever pitch.

If Phillipsburg's wrestlers were rattled. they didn't show it.

"We saw we were down by 16 at 57 (heading into 157) and we were like, 'We have this. We're going to be in the state finals','' Phillipsburg senior 215-pounder Dave Pierson said. "We were that confident.''

Phillipsburg then ripped off six consecutive wins from 157 through heavyweight and held Southern to a decision in the final bout at 106 pounds to record a 27-25 win.

"We knew we had the ability to win (157)-106,'' Phillipsburg's first-year head coach Brad Gentzle said.

The Stateliners (15-1) will try to win their 23rd group championship Sunday at 11:30 a.m. at Franklin High School when they meet Howell (22-4) in the Group 5 championship match. Howell defeated Livingston 41-18 in the other semifinal Friday night.

Phillipsburg did what it always does. It was stubborn when it came to giving up bonus points. It was tough on the mat, especially on top, and it grinded and grinded.

The Stateliners won two swing bouts at 126 and 215 1-0 with two-time state qualifier James Day over previously unbeaten freshman Wyatt Stout at 126 and Pierson, a returning state qualifier, over Riley O'Boyle.

Phillipsburg's David Pierson celebrates after his 1-0 win over Southern's Riley O'Boyle gave the Stateliners the lead for good in their 27-25 win in a NJSIAA Group 5 semifinal Friday night.

"In these big-time matches, you need to win the toss-ups,'' Day said. "It's about winning very close matches. Sometimes, it is just about winning.''

Gentzle is not a fan of 1-0 bouts, but he certainly was not going to give those two back Friday night, given what they both meant in the match.

"It's my least favorite score because that means we didn't score a takedown,'' Gentzle said. "We've lost some of those matches throughout the year, especially against Warren Hills (which defeated Phillipsburg 35-15 for the Stateliners' lone defeat). It's been a focus of ours to make sure we get off bottom and making sure we don't lose 1-0. ''

Both Day and Pierson rode their opponents out. Day did it in the second period and then escaped three seconds into the third period. Pierson escaped after a tough ride by O'Boyle with 28.1 seconds left in the third period and then rode O'Boyle out in the third even though O'Boyle did come close twice to a reversal.

Phillipsburg's James Day (right) defeated Southern's Wyatt Stout 1-0 at 126 pounds for a key result in the Stateliners' 27-25 win over the Rams in a NJSIAA Group 5 semifinal.

"That's (top) my best position,'' Pierson said. "I've been top my entire life. I felt comfortable there. I knew I wasn't going to give up the one (escape).''

"It's a 1-0 bout and you're thinking, you've got to get out on bottom,'' Southern coach Dan Roy said. "You've got to get out on bottom in those tight bouts.''

Pierson's win gave the Stateliners their first lead of the bout. A 9-5 decision by heavyweight John Wargo over Dave Casas made it 27-22 going into the final bout. It was also the eighth bout Phillipsburg had won, which meant Southern needed a pin from Sam Pari in the final bout.

Pari put Dawson McWilliams on his back late in the first period, which brought a huge roar from the Southern fans. However, McWilliams survived. He did not get turned even though Pari rode him the entire second period and McWilliams got a takedown in the third and rode Pari out as the Phillipsburg wrestlers and fans celebrated.

Southern (17-1), which was denied its potential third straight Group 5 championship, had built its 22-6 lead on a win by Scottie Sari at 113, a major decision by Conor Collins at 120, an impressive technical fall by Matt Henrich at 138, a major decision by Nick Bennet at 144 and Velardi's pin.

Southern's Nick Bennet (right) has Phillipsburg's Liam Packer on his back during his 15-3 major decision that gave the Rams a 16-6 lead in the NJSIAA Group 5 semifinal Friday night. Phillipsburg rallied to win the match 27-25.

Phillipsburg rally began with a win by two-time region qualifier Hunter Cleaver at 157. Nate Zastowny, a 2020 state qualifier, made it 22-14 by technical fall at 165 as Roy and his coaching staff elected to bump Tyler Chase to 175 and pit him against Caleb Rivera.

"Last year, Chase's bout with that kid (Rivera) was a one-point match (6-5),'' Roy said.

"I went with what I felt was a better matchup for us.''

Rivera majored Chase 19-7 to pull the Stateliners within five.

Chase did not get to his feet after final buzzer. According to Roy, Chase and Rivera banged heads at the end of the bout. First responders tended to Chase on the mat and removed him from the gymnasium on a stretcher. He was later airlifted to AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center in Atlantic City.

There were no updates on Chase's condition after the match.

"I heard he's doing better,'' Roy said.

A 6-2 win by Connor Hille, who weighed in with Rivera at 175, over Collin French, who also weighed in at 175, set up Pierson.

"They (Phillipsburg) just came out and wrestled aggressively,'' Roy said. "They wrestled tough. They're always tough kids. Coming into the match, I thought this was a tougher matchup than Kingsway (Southern beat Kingsway 28-23 Wednesday night in the South Group 5 championship match), in my opinion. We had to win those swing bouts in order to win. Against Kingsway, we won those. Here, we didn't win all the swing bouts.''

PHILLIPSBURG 27, SOUTHERN 25

113: Scottie Sari (S) d. Miguel Lopez 5-0.

120: Conor Collins (S) md. Gavin Hawk 11-3.

126: James Day (P) d. Wyatt Stout 1-0.

132: Luke Gelata (P) Hayden Hochstrasser 10-4.

138: Matt Henrich (S) tf. Joe Innamorato 5:33 (19-4).

144: Nick Bennet (S) md. Liam Packer 15-3.

150: Cole Velardi (S) p. Matt Donofrio :57.

157: Hunter Cleaver (P) d. Nate Bischoff 7-2.

165: Nate Zastowny (P) tf. Kai Wagner 5:43 (16-1).

175: Caleb Rivera (P) md. Tyler Chase 19-7.

190: Connor Hille (P) d. Collin French 6-2.

215: David Pierson (P) d. Riley O'Boyle 1-0.

HWT: John Wago (P) d. Dave Casas 9-5.

106: Sam Pari (S) d. Dawson McWilliams 5-2.

FRIDAY NIGHT'S NJSIAA TOURNAMENT SCORES

GROUP 5 SEMIFINAL

Howell 41, Livingston 18: Wins in the first four bouts sent Howell out to a 15-0 lead as it went on to defeat the Lancers and advanced to a Group championship match for the first time since it won its second straight Group 5 championship in 2018.

Sawyer Ostroff (126) and Kieran Bruen recorded decisions. Returning state qualifier Giovanni Scafidi (138) and Rob Wiessel (144) followed with a technical fall and major decision respectively to close the run.

A technical fall by Nick Acque (157) and a pin by returning made it 26-3 Howell halfway through.

Freshman Xavier Ortega put an exclamation point on the night for Howell with a 9-2 win over Aidan Carmody, the state fifth-place finisher at 106 last year. Carmody bumped up for the bout.

GROUP 4 SEMIFINAL

Brick Memorial 38, North Hunterdon 29

GROUP 2 SEMIFINAL

Raritan 56, Hanover Park 21: Braden Kmak (126), Logan Acevedo (132) began the match with pins, returning region qualifier Zach Reilly (138), Alex Auletta (144) and Quinn Peters (150) followed with a win by technical fall, pin and decision respectively as the Rockets (21-6) jumped out to a 26-point lead and went on to defeat the Hornets to advance to a Group final for the first time since 2018 and third time overall.

Raritan will try to win its first group championship and second overall Sunday when it meets High Point at 2 p.m. at Franklin in the Group 2 final.

High Point rallied to defeat Raritan 30-25 in the 2018 Group 2 final.

Robert Mulligan (175), Kieran Falzon (190), Nicholas Burns (heavyweight) and Aidan Davis (106) also pinned for the Rockets.

NON-PUBLIC SOUTH A

CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH

Christian Brothers Academy 42, St. Augustine 26

More: H.S. wrestling: CBA knocks out two-two defending champ St. Augustine for title

NON-PUBLIC SOUTH B

CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH

Red Bank Catholic 39, Holy Spirit 30: Davin Brewton's pin in the final bout capped a rally from an 18-point deficit over the final five weights, clinched the Caseys' win over the Spartans and gave them their first sectional championship.

Red Bank Catholic will meet Pope John Sunday at 9 a.m. at Franklin in the Non-Public B championship match.

Sophomore Vincent Muscillo began the run with a pin at 157 pounds. Junior Robert Muscio followed with a 3-1 win at 165 to cut the Holy Spirit lead to 30-21.

Holy Spirit then forfeited to Frankie Romeo and returning state runner-up Sabino Portella at 175 and 190 respectively before Brewton, a sophomore, pinned Robert McDevitt in 2:51.

Sophomores Lorenzo Portela (heavyweight) and Noah Michaels began the match with 11-6 and 3-1 wins respectively. Michaels' win came in tiebreaker period No. 1.

Holy Spirit then went on a 30-6 run over the next seven bouts to build its 30-12 lead. A pin by sophomore Marco Conroy (138) was Red Bank Catholic's lone win during that run.

SUNDAY'S GROUP CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE

AT FRANKLIN HIGH SCHOOL

GROUP 1

MAT 1

Kittatinny vs. Delaware Valley, 9 a.m.

NON-PUBLIC B

MAT 3

Red Bank Catholic vs. Pope John, 9 a.m.

GROUP 5

MAT 1

Phillipsburg vs. Howell, 11:30 a.m.

GROUP 3

MAT 2

Warren Hills vs. Delsea, 11:30 a.m.

NON-PUBLIC A

MAT 3

Bergen Catholic vs. Christian Brothers Academy, 11:30 a.m.

GROUP 4

MAT 1

Brick Memorial vs. Mount Olive, 2 p.m.

GROUP 2

MAT 3

Raritan vs. High Point, 2 p.m.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Shore NJ Wrestling: Phillipsburg rallies to beat Southern in Group 5 semi

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