Delbarton flashes firepower, dominates down the stretch against gutsy Mount Olive

MOUNT OLIVE — There were times the Mount Olive wrestling team led on the scoreboard on Tuesday night, but Delbarton has a way of quickly erasing hope.

The top-ranked Green Wave trailed by two points after eight bouts, but the lower to middle part of their lineup from 113 to 157 pounds, which features six returning state medalists, has the power to flip the complexion of a match completely.

Delbarton rattled off six straight wins to close the match and blast past Mount Olive, 45-22, at Mount Olive High School.

"They are certainly a formidable program," Green Wave coach Bryan Stoll said. "They’re really tough, they’re super well-coached. They’ve got good guys up and down the lineup. Delsea, Warren Hills and now these guys were our last three matches, so we’re starting to get a little hardened, a little tougher and it’s going to prepare us for our postseason."

Technical fall wins from John Hager, Tyler Vazquez and Joseph Davi at 126, 132 and 144 pounds, combined with major decisions from Alessio Perentin, Cross Wasilewski and Andrew Troczynski at 138, 150 and 157 pounds helped Delbarton swing the match 25 points in its favor.

The dominance quieted the Marauder faithful, who had risen to their feet following a second-period pin from their own state medalist, Jack Bastarrika, at 120 pounds, that gave them a 22-20 lead.

"You’ve got to give them credit where credit’s due, they’re a talented school, they definitely came to wrestle," Troczynski said. "The message in the room was they can compete with us. There’s level to this game. We’re looking to beat Blair, we’re looking to beat those type of teams and to me, that’s disrespectful when they tell me they can compete with us."

What it means

Delbarton, the established power in Morris County and the state of New Jersey, wavered at the upper weights but its lineup proved to have too much firepower to be completely extinguished and affirmed its spot at the top.

It was another quality win for the Green Wave, which also knocked off Warren Hills, the NJWWA's No. 11 team, over the weekend at the Jack Welch Duals.

"They fought us at every weight, they did everything that they needed to do," Stoll said. "I think some of our guys early on did the things that they needed to do, so they put us in the right place, put us in a position to win."

The two teams entered the night tied atop the NJAC-American at 3-0. Now, Delbarton just needs a victory over Mendham to seal the outright crown.

Mount Olive (11-2) proved it's not going to be an easy out on Group 4. In addition to Bastarrika's pin, the Marauders swept the three upper weights, with big decisions from Hunter Perez and Anthony Moscatello at 190 and 215, and a major decision from Riley Camoia at 285.

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The 23-point margin of victory was the closest of the season for the Green Wave.

Only two Marauders wrestlers were pinned on the night, proving their fortitude as a unit.

"We want to be in every district title, we want to be mentioned and thought about in every sectional title and this year we've got our eyes on the group," Mount Olive coach Sean Smyth said. "That's the ultimate team goal. We've got the team this year, we just have to stay healthy, keep it all together and we've got to keep maintaining what we're doing and hopefully at the end of the season we come out of here with something big."

In a groove

Perentin has learned what it means to be a part of the Delbarton wrestling legacy.

It helps when you're surrounded in the lineup by two-time state medalist Vazquez, fourth-place finisher Davi and drill with Wasilewski, who took fifth at 126 pounds last season.

The Green Wave lineup did not skip a beat when it got to Perentin at 144 pounds. He piled on four takedowns against D.J. Ryerson in the first period and added three more over the final two periods to emerge with a 14-5 win.

"We definitely have a little murderer’s row in the middle," Perentin said. "Even if we see that we’re down a little bit, we know that we’re going to rack up the points in the middle."

Perentin's win helped Delbarton move ahead 32-22 with the more established wrestlers clinching the match.

Simon Ruiz, who has third- and second-place finishes on his ledger, opened the match with a one-minute, 26-second pin, followed by a 53-second pin from Louis Cerchio.

Stoll credited his upper weights for keeping things close. Austin Quandt dropped a 9-5 result at 190 pounds and Connor Martin fought off his back multiple times to escape with a 9-0 loss to Riley Camoia at 285 pounds.

"I felt comfortable, but then I’m like, ‘Oh, well, they still have Bastarrika, and they still have the Bienus brothers and they still have Ryerson,’" Stoll said. "I was looking at the scoreboard and I started to get a little bit comfortable, but none of those are easy matches for us. It was a lot of work up and down the lineup."

Marauders' might

Mount Olive was not going to give in with the top team in New Jersey in its gym.

Perez fought for bonus points at 190 points, giving up a late takedown, but emerging with a 9-5 win. Moscatello stayed on his feet and used a third-period escape to secure a 1-0 win at 215 pounds.

Perez is a returning state qualifier, while Moscatello qualified as a freshman. They continued to set the tone for the Marauders lineup on Tuesday. Camoia also picked up bonus points and Bastarrika proved how he earned a state medal last season.

“Our schedule’s been very competitive and we knew this is a very good team," Smyth said. "We put our best guys out there, tried to get our best matchups possible and I thought our guys did the best that they could with the weight classes they were wrestling at tonight. I was very proud of my guys, even my guys that didn’t win."

Smyth was proud of the resolve show by the rest of his lineup.

Zack Kovach fought for four minutes to avoid a pin against Hager, and Tyler and Brian Bienus who both went all six minutes against two of the top wrestlers in the state.

Up next

Both teams will heal up and prepare for the Morris County Tournament which begins on Friday at Mount Olive High School.

This article originally appeared on Morristown Daily Record: NJ wrestling: Delbarton trails Mount Olive early, cruises to win late