Warren Hills 43, Newton 18 – Independent Wrestling – Rapid Recap
The Blue Streaks roared out to a 37-0 lead and cruised from there in their annual renewal of their rivalry with the Braves in front of a solid crowd at Henry Boresch Memorial Gym at Newton.
Warren Hills (13-7) scored bonus points in five of its eight wins to open the night against the Braves (10-9), but that wasn’t enough to please head coach Jarrett Hosbach.
“We need to do a better job of turning majors and technical falls into pins,” he said. “I thought tonight we did a good job of not giving up bonus points (only one loss, at 160, surrendered bonus to Newton), but we need to do a better job of picking bonus points up.”
The Blue Streaks did get a pair of falls, from senior Matt Valli (132) and junior Jarod Ostir (170).
“We need to score more bonus points and give up less bonus points to achieve our goal of winning the (North 2 Group 3) sectional championship,” said Ostir, who pinned Nick Brigante in 1 minute and 29 seconds. “This was a good tune-up for sectionals (which open Monday when No. 2 seed Warren Hills hosts No. 7 Governor Livingston) and a good chance for us to check where we stand. I thought we wrestled a good match.”
Hosbach said that the Friday night/Saturday morning scheduling – the Blue Streaks host a tri-meet Saturday with Ocean Township and Cliffside Park.
“We like to this once or twice a year because it’s like regionals, where you wrestle once Friday and then a couple of times Saturday,” he said.
Turning point: Whatever chances the Braves had of winning the match disappeared after Warren Hills sophomore Chris Ostir edged Michael Freda 3-2 at 126 to boost the Blue Streaks lead to 27-0 with eight matches left. Ostir made one second-period takedown hold up.
Top performers: Had to love Warren Hills freshman Logan Nauta taking care of business most efficiently at 113 pounds against Julian Sibblies. Nauta took top for the third period and needed all of 11 seconds to flip Sibblies to his back and deck him in 4:11. That’s the way to wrestle – take top and pin. For Newton, Joseph DeLuca scored takedowns late in both the second and third periods to top Blue Streak sophomore Nick Galka 5-1 at 182 pounds. Also, remarkable to see Gary Kessel, one of the nation’s best referees who has done multiple NCAA finals, working the junior varsity (and varsity as well) match. That’s something you will not see in any other sport.
What it means: Warren Hills earns the bragging rights for the season between the two programs with the most individual state champions in NJSIAA history (Newton has 82, Washington/Warren Hills 46). The match was a good example of why Friday night matches work – some solid competition and a good crowd. The Blue Streaks look dialed-in and ready for sectional week.
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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