Kyle Connelly has a message for all those non-senior wrestlers all across New Jersey who won their first district championship Saturday.
Just wait until next year.
“Winning my second district championship definitely felt better than my first,” said the Hackettstown senior after he added the District 9 195-pound championship to last year’s District 1 182-pound crown. “It definitely did.”
Connelly, one of two Tiger champions on the day (junior Alex Carida won at 138 pounds) in the tournament at Phillipsburg High School, definitely had to feel good about wrestling all six minutes hard in his physical and intense 7-4 defeat of Mendham’s Giuseppe Canino in Saturday’s final.
With the match tied at 3 midway through the third period, Connelly got after Canino with strong shots and a punishingly physical pace. The effort paid off with 12 seconds left when Connelly finished off a double-leg effort on the edge.
So, match won, right? Time to circle and dance?
Not a chance.
Canino escaped — only there was Connelly right back in his face and gnawing on a leg, scoring the takedown with two seconds to go to clinch the win.
The relentlessness of Connelly’s late pursuit made for fun wrestling to watch, but Connelly wasn’t driven by a desire to be visually pleasing.
“I didn’t want to get into any stalling calls,” Connelly said. “I have been screwed by some stalling calls this season so I wanted to keep going forward on the mat and take stalling out of the equation.”
Mission accomplished. After the victory Connelly pointed into the stands with pleasure.
“I was not pointing at anyone in particular,” he said. “I just wanted to acknowledge our fans and the Hackettstown wrestling community that came out to support us.”
Indeed, orange and black were much in evidence in the stands at Phillipsburg and the Tiger faithful could take heart in five wrestlers – Connelly, Carida; runner-ups Anthony Gonzalez (160) and Joe Andes (285); and third-place finisher Justin Bennett (132) moving onto to next week’s Region 3 tournament at West Orange.
It’s easy to see why fans would like to follow the Tigers. Carida looks ultra-sharp in pursuit of nit just qualifying for states but medaling there. Andes is a rugged heavyweight with persistence and smarts.
And Gonzalez, healthy for once, might have had the most entertaining bout of all when he rode out Barringer’s Karon Bell for the entire third period in a 1-0 semifinal win at 160. Sometimes 2-minute rides are mind-numbing, but this one was exciting and gripping as Gonzalez threw the kitchen sink (and then some) at the active and aggressive Bell to keep him down – and succeeded.
Connelly can ride as well, perhaps even better that he has dropped to 195 from 220.
“At first it was a hard cut but it’s OK now, and I feel much faster and stronger than I was at 220,” Connelly said. “Joe (Andes) is my regular training partner and working with him every day makes me better able to handle strength and power.”
Whatever weight Connelly is at, Hackettstown coach Frank Rodgers is just happy to have him.
“We got Kyle out from the freshman football team; that’s why I coach football, so I can get my big guys for wrestling,” said Rodgers with a laugh. “Kyle took his lumps as a freshman but made a lot of progress as a sophomore. He’s a great leader for us in our room. At our region, he has a good shot to make states. The weight class breaks down well for him, especially with four qualifiers from each region now (up from 3).”
Connelly’s ready for the challenge.
“I just have to keep doing what I am doing in practice and keep getting after it,” he said.
Just like Connelly got after Canino in Saturday’s third period.
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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