Hunterdon Central 38, Phillipsburg 21 – Skyland Conference Raritan Division wrestling – Rapid Recap
Two of the top teams in the state pulled a role reversal off Wednesday,
Hunterdon Central, ranked No. 8 in New Jersey by the New Jersey Wrestling Writers Association (NJWWA), piled up bonus points, won matches late with key moves, wrestled smart, and stayed in good positions all night long – in other words, things the Stateliners usually do – to post a performance for the ages and hand the Stateliners (4-1, 2-1 Raritan) ranked No. 5 by NJWWA and No. 4 in the lehighvalleylive region) a stinging loss.
A packed house at Central's memory-packed old field house saw the Red Devils (10-0, 4-0 Raritan) roar out to a 17-3 lead after four bouts (match started at 195) and 29-9 halfway through behind a blizzard of pins that Phillipsburg had no answer for. Quite literally no answer – the Stateliners failed to score a single bonus point for the first time in many, many moons.
"Not our finest hour," said one veteran Phillipsburg fan.
Anything but – but take nothing away from the Red Devils, who wrestled an impressive match from start to finish, perhaps their best match since they beat the Stateliners here last, and staked their claim as a top-5 team in the state.
Phillipsburg, which did not wrestle with its typical passion and gusto, got key decisions in the early going from senior 285-pounder Patrick Sharpe and junio 120-pounder Travis Jones but could not find a way to halt Hunterdon Central's momentum.
"We knew coming in we were going to have trouble scoring bonus points even in matchups where we thought we could win," said Phillipsburg head coach Dave Post, whose team won the opening coin flip. "So we thought we had to put ourselves in a position to win eight or nine matches. We could have won 10 matches but we couldn't make the scrambles happen and instead of sticking to solid stuff we tried to roll around with people. We had seen a little of this coming when we put ourselves in bad positions against lesser opponents and got away with but you can't do that against Hunterdon Central."
That trend emerged in the opening bout where Stateliner senior Shamyr Brodders scored a takedown with one minute left in the third period against Central sophomore Lukas Bakerian to take a 4-2 lead and seemingly be in control of the bout – only to see Bakerian reverse and pin Brodders in 5:08. The Red Devil crowd went wild, the massive Stateliner road following was silenced and Central was off to the races.
That's how Phillipsburg usually wins – a true reversal of roles.
Turning point: Jones' 7-0 win at 120 over Hunterdon Central junior Jack Bauer had brought Phillipsburg with 17-9 and perhaps on a comeback mode but Red Devil sophomores Anthony Romaniello (126) and Grant Block (132) slammed the door on the Stateliner rally potential with pins.
Top Phillipsburg performer: Jones. Against a tough foe in junior Jack Bauer, Jones showed off his improvement on his feet to post a 7-0 win. "Jones beat Bauer 7-2 last year and he did it all on turns, not a single takedown," Post said. "This just shows how much he has developed on his feet."
Top Hunterdon Central performer: Bakerian, whose opening fall started it all for the Red Devils. Never underestimate momentum in high school sports.
What it means: Central will win the division title and claim bragging rights in Hunterdon/Warren with a satisfying triumph. For the Stateliners, it's a killer loss that scotches their hopes of being regarded as a top-5 team. But, as Post noted, most of the time the Stateliners put themselves in bad spot that the Red Devils could exploit. Phillipsburg can easily correct those issues by eliminating the self-inflicted wounds, which, with H/W/S Saturday and a trip to Easton next Saturday both ahead, will need to happen for the Stateliners to enjoy the success they seek.
Brad Wilson may be reached atbwilson@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter@bradwsports.FindLehigh Valley high school sports on Facebook.
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