Hunterdon Central 37, Delaware Valley 15 – Skyland Conference Raritan Division wrestling – Rapid Recap
Hunterdon Central hit its apogee of the season, Delaware Valley its perigee, and the result seemed I the cards from the beginning of the match.
The Red Devils (17-2, 5-1 division, ranked No. 7 in the state in the New Jersey Wrestling Writers Association poll) rolled to an unexpectedly easy conquest of a rather tame bunch of Terriers (16-3, 4-2, #10 NJWWA) in front of a raucous crowd at a packed Hunterdon Central Field House.
With the NJSIAA sectionals looming next week, the result couldn’t have been more encouraging for the Red Devils or depressing for the Terriers as both teams entertain hopes of state championships.
The hosts won 10 of 14 bouts in a match that started at 182 pounds and surrendered bonus points in just one bout, a pin by Del Val senior Matt Kolonia at 138 pounds.
Hunterdon Central won the key individual bout of the night as well, at 220, where 25-1 senior Victor Lacombe, ranked No. 4 in the state at 220 pounds by Wrestling Full Circle, held off a determined third-period charge by Terrier junior Kyle Lightner, ranked No. 1 at 195 by lehighvalleylive and No. 5 at 195 by WFC, for an 8-7 win in a classic, compelling bout. Lightner, now 24-2 on the season, was in on four separate shots in the action-packed third period but Lacombe’s strength, and 20-pound weight advantage, was just enough to deny Lightner the go-ahead takedown.
Lacombe’s win wasn’t just an individual achievement, it seemed to light the Red Devil fire that consumed the visitors.
“We needed that match for the dual to go our way,” Del Val coach Andy Fitz said.
Hunterdon Central head coach Jon Cantagallo-Rohm said he thought the momentum of Lacombe’s win carried over into big toss-up wins at 285 by junior Angelo Crespo and 106 from freshman Anthony Romaniello.
“I thought that was the best dual meet we wrestled all season in terms of our focus,” said Cantagallo-Rohm, whose team won its second straight against the Terriers and went 3-0 in county matches this winter. “We took down all our names off our board (in the gym) and there’s just one word there now: team. We needed to re-dedicate ourselves as a team with the sectionals coming up and I think we did that tonight.”
Delaware Valley, ranked No. 7 in the region by lehighvalleylive, picked a bad night to wrestle its worst match of the season. The Red Devils would have been a tough out even had the Terriers been in peak form. Instead, Del Val was decidedly not in any kind of form at all.
“We wrestled with no heart tonight,” said a furious Fitz, usually one of the calmer post-loss coaches in the region. “I apologize to our fans (who filled half the field house) for our performance. The kids thought they had a 14-match winning streak and they thought they’d have things handed to them. Hopefully this will be good for us, but now we really have to get back to work.”
Turning point: Lacombe’s win. The old field house rocked during that bout with an intensity that reminded many of days past when legend Russ Riegel coached Central against the Terriers’ own legend Vince Fitz (Andy’s father and present Wednesday). That kind of emotion and intensity breeds its own weight and impact, and when the bout was over all that weight fell on the Red Devil side of the scale.
Top performer: Lacombe. Absolutely no question. The Hunterdon Central senior standout won the biggest match of the night and provided his team with a tsunami of momentum that swamped the Terriers almost from the start. For Del Val, junior Eli Kalfaian won a key tossup at 195, 5-2; more such efforts were needed from the Terriers.
What it means: If Hunterdon Central, who was overall extraordinarily impressive, wrestles like they did Wednesday for five matches next week, the Red Devils will be state champions. If Delaware Valley wrestles like they did Wednesday, the Terriers won’t have five postseason matches, much less a state championship. That simple.
Brad Wilson may be reached at bwilson@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @bradwsports. Find Lehigh Valley high school sports on Facebook.
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