Wrestling: Old Bridge, Hunterdon Central have strong showings at the HC Invitational

RARITAN TOWNSHIP – Clock ticking, drama rising, moving to the edge of your seat – a tense wrestling match going down the wire is great theater for fans. For competitors, well, the key is staying calm in the pressure.

Hunterdon Central’s Anthony Rossi and Old Bridge’s Jesse Koczon did just that in producing exciting moments to claim titles in Wednesday’s Hunterdon Central Invitational.

Rossi had a 5-3 overtime win over Old Bridge’s Logan Roman at 120 in a high-level meeting between two region runners-up primed for big seasons.

Koczon, meanwhile, used a headlock in the final seconds to win 6-4 in the 126-pound final against a returning state qualifier.

The MyCentralJersey.com area had six champions with host Hunterdon Central and Old Bridge each claiming three gold medalists.

Pinning and pure domination are also good stuff. Old Bridge’s Tyler Sagi (157) and Rob Orzol (215) and Hunterdon Central’s Evan Thompson (132) and Rhett Washleski (144) all scored falls to claim titles.

The 65th edition of the tournament, the oldest holiday high school wrestling tournament in the country, featured several exciting matches with 22 teams from across the state. A team championship wasn’t awarded. Unofficially, Southern took first with 219 points and Hunterdon Central and Old Bridge tied for second with 200 points apiece.

Voorhees had runners-up in Christian Bollette (106), Logan Wiecoreck (157) and Jack Mosier (215), while Bridgewater-Raritan’s Danny Smith (132) placed second.

Hunterdon Central Excels

While the Red Devils were missing a handful of starters to injuries and sickness, their lineup still impressed Wednesday with a mix of veterans and newcomers.

At 120, Rossi met Old Bridge’s Roman in a quality final between the two juniors. Last season, each advanced to the fourth consolation round of the state tournament, just missing finishing in the Top 8. (Rossi at 106, Roman at 113.)

Wednesday’s tussle lived up to the billing. Tied 1-1, Rossi nearly got a takedown on the edge with about 30 seconds left. After the restart, Rossi spun behind for the takedown with 18 seconds left, but Roman got the reversal with 5 seconds remaining to send it to overtime.

In sudden victory, Rossi went in on a deep shot to Roman’s left leg and was able to finish after a brief scramble for the 5-3 win. He also had an impressive 11-4 win over state qualifier Sean Markey of Bound Brook in the semifinals.

“It was a good early season tournament for him to get tested,” HC coach Jon Cantagallo-Rohm said. “These guys have trained long enough and hard enough that a lot of it is just remaining calm and having confidence in your ability.”

Rossi said he enjoys these close matches against top-level opponents because he gets to test his abilities and he can see what to work on.

And the key to wrestling in overtime?

“Staying calm,” Rossi said. “Just make sure I keep doing my stuff and I’ll eventually get the takedown. … As we keep going, I feel like I’m building momentum and I’m feeling good, training really hard. Making sure I’m doing everything off and on the mat.”

At 132, Hunterdon Central’s Thompson met Bridgewater-Raritan’s state qualifier Danny Smith in the final and countered off a quick ankle move. Thompson noted he grabbed Smith’s thigh, broke him down and then locked in a cradle for the pin in 43 seconds.

“He’s a terrific wrestler,” Thompson said. “I was expecting to go the distance, but I was able to end it quickly.”

The junior had a good sophomore season, but is much improved after being able to train in the summer. He was recovering from shoulder surgeries the previous two offseasons and couldn’t get in freestyle matches and complete workouts.

“I had the opportunity to put in the work this summer,” he said. “The previous two summers I spent in a sling recovering from surgery. So I was able to really work at my craft. This offseason was a great opportunity to improve.”

At 144, the freshman Washleski impressed in his first varsity tournament with a technical fall and pins in 1:21, :48 and 4:14. He said he came out relaxed and didn’t feel much pressure.

“I felt really prepared going into this tournament and I definitely think I showed that,” he said.

Wrestling fans know of his brother Colton, now wrestling at Rider. He was a two-time state placewinner for the Red Devils in 2020 and 2021. Now, Rhett is continuing the family name on the mat.

“I think he definitely helped me elevate my game in wrestling,” Rhett said. “I really appreciated it.”

Old Bridge Crowns Three

Koczon had not one, but two drama-filled wins at 126. He beat Shawnee’s Brett Balzan 3-1 in overtime in the semifinal via a takedown. In the final, Koczon saw an opening for a headlock in the final 10 seconds to win 6-4 over Matawan’s Lawrence Liss, a state qualifier at 113 last season.

“I ended up going for it because he was hanging over and I saw it, so I kind of just took it because we were tied up anyways,” Koczon said. “So I was like, you know what, let’s just see what happens. What’s the worst that can happen?”

Turns out, it was a good move. The senior took fourth last season in this tournament and third in the district. He seems in store for a great winter after a busy offseason.

“I’ve been wrestling nonstop since last year because I wanted improvement,” he said. “I want to place in states. It’s a hard shot, but I’m going to take it.”

At 157, Sagi continued his dominance by scoring a pin in the final over Voorhees’ Wiecoreck in 3:13 after building a big lead for his second tournament title of the season. Last week, he won at the Ron Mazzola Memorial Tournament.

In Wednesday’s semifinal, though, Sagi worked for a 6-3 win over Southern’s Nick Bennet. It was the senior’s first win in nine matches he wrestled that wasn’t either by pin or technical fall – and that was fine with him.

“It’s great to get those type of matches,” Sagi said. “I don’t really like look at the brackets. I didn’t really expect it, but I mean you need these kind of matches in December to win those kind of matches in March.”

At 215, Orzol had two pins and edged Gloucester City’s Cody Gardzielik 3-1 in the semifinals to improve to 7-2. He had an impressive 3-2 loss to returning state placewinner Brendan Raley of North Hunterdon in the season opener to signal he’s in line for a big season. The senior is continuing his success after a great year as a lineman for the Knights football team.

“He’s such a good athlete,” Old Bridge coach John Post said. “He was All-Conference, All-Division in football. I think he’s carrying that over to wrestling. He’s wrestling loose. He has more of an arsenal this year. I mean, he’s always been strong. Always been tough, but he’s got a skill-set now.”

Placement Matches

106

1st Place Match - Jordan Segal (Shawnee) 5-2 won by decision over Christian Bollette (Vorhees) 7-3 (Dec 10-5)

3rd Place Match - Rocco Giangeruso (Northern Burlngton) 6-2 won by forfeit over Eamon Fry (Rumson-Fair Haven) 6-2 (For.)

5th Place Match - Ryan Sherlock (Hunterdon Central) 5-1 won by major decision over Joaquin Duque (Rumson-Fair Haven) 4-3 (MD 10-2)

113

1st Place Match - Aiden Scheeringa (Hackettstown) 7-2 won by fall over Richard Gomez (Matawan) 6-1 (Fall 0:42)

3rd Place Match - peter Plesh (Hunterdon Central) 6-3 won by injury default over Ethan Staples (Shawnee) 4-4 (Inj. 0:00)

5th Place Match - Sam Pari (Southern) 7-4 won by decision over Mike McGarigle (Northern Burlngton) 3-3 (Dec 5-0)

7th Place Match - Ryan Beharry (Long Branch) 5-4 and Logan Bush (Vorhees) 3-6 (DFF)

120

1st Place Match - Anthony Rossi (Hunterdon Central) 8-2 won by decision over Logan Roman (Old Bridge) 10-1 (Dec 5-3)

3rd Place Match - Luke Sherlock (Shawnee) 5-3 won by forfeit over Sean Markey (Bound Brook HS) 5-3 (For.)

5th Place Match - Attila Vigilante (Southern) 8-2 won by decision over Max Alonzo (Jefferson) 4-5 (Dec 10-6)

7th Place Match - Logan Levine (Bridgewater) 5-2 and Mason Johnson (Gloucester City) 5-2 (DFF)

126

1st Place Match - Jesse Koczon (Old Bridge) 10-1 won by decision over Lawrence Liss (Matawan) 7-2 (Dec 6-4)

3rd Place Match - Brett Balzan (Shawnee) 3-3 won by forfeit over Julian Duque (Rumson-Fair Haven) 28-8 (For.)

5th Place Match - Jaton Wellington (Toms River East) 30-9 won by decision over Ahmed Hussain (Hunterdon Central) 5-5 (Dec 7-3)

7th Place Match - Michael Marsigliano (Bridgewater) 4-3 and James Renna (Long Branch) 6-5 (DFF)

132

1st Place Match - Evan Thompson (Hunterdon Central) 5-2 won by fall over Daniel Smith (Bridgewater) 7-1 (Fall 0:43)

3rd Place Match - Michael Vander Meulen (Jefferson) 7-2 won by fall over Lucas Lapinski (Cherokee) 3-4 (Fall 2:50)

5th Place Match - Brandon Koczon (Old Bridge) 7-3 and Sam Kleiber (Middlesex) 5-4 (DFF)

7th Place Match - Gino Gambone (Gloucester City) 3-4 and James Moriarty (Shawnee) 3-4 (DFF)

138

1st Place Match - Nicolas Balella (Hackettstown) 6-2 won by decision over Cole Pangborn (Rumson-Fair Haven) 28-13 (Dec 9-7)

3rd Place Match - William Cella (Hunterdon Central) 4-1 won by decision over Joseph Connolly (Jefferson) 6-4 (Dec 5-1)

5th Place Match - Casey Spina (Bridgewater) 4-1 won by forfeit over Nick Miller (Long Branch) 4-3 (For.)

144

1st Place Match - Rhett Washleski (Hunterdon Central) 5-1 won by fall over Jason Brown (Cherokee) 5-3 (Fall 4:14)

3rd Place Match - Evan Ridgway (Rumson-Fair Haven) 20-17 won by decision over Austin Miller (Old Bridge) 5-4 (Dec 4-3)

5th Place Match - Sean Dupnak (Southern) 4-2 won by decision over Daniel Ramirez (Long Branch) 7-4 (Dec 5-2)

150

1st Place Match - Drew Roskos (Delran) 4-0 won in overtime over Jacob Zearfoss (Gloucester City) 7-1 (OT 3-1)

3rd Place Match - Dane Sorensen (Bridgewater) 5-3 won by fall over Alexander Todisco (Holmdel) 2-2 (Fall 2:44)

5th Place Match - Logan Smith (Long Branch) 7-4 won by forfeit over RJ Stradling (Middlesex) 6-3 (For.)

157

1st Place Match - Tyler Sagi (Old Bridge) 10-0 won by fall over Logan Wiecoreck (Vorhees) 9-1 (Fall 3:13)

3rd Place Match - Nick Bennet (Southern) 10-1 won by fall over Jack Rosta (Northern Burlngton) 5-3 (Fall 1:23)

5th Place Match - Nicholas Franzen (Notre Dame) 7-2 won by fall over Jason Chiodi (Gloucester City) 4-3 (Fall 0:54)

165

1st Place Match - Luke Theis (Delran) 4-0 won by major decision over Christian Capone (Southern) 4-1 (MD 9-0)

3rd Place Match - Joey DiBiase (Jefferson) 7-2 won by fall over Spencer Gangel (Northern Burlngton) 4-3 (Fall 2:29)

5th Place Match - Leo Curran (Gloucester City) 4-4 won by fall over Trevor Zabroski (Vorhees) 7-4 (Fall 1:29)

175

1st Place Match - Alexander Reyes (Holmdel) 4-0 won by major decision over Kaleb Wright (Gloucester City) 8-1 (MD 9-0)

3rd Place Match - Dan Hennessey (Old Bridge) 9-1 won by forfeit over Thomas Brunetti (Hunterdon Central) 7-4 (For.)

5th Place Match - Forfeit Forfeit () 5-0 and Forfeit Forfeit () 5-0 (DFF)

7th Place Match - Forfeit Forfeit () 5-0 and Forfeit Forfeit () 5-0 (DFF)

190

1st Place Match - Collin French (Southern) 9-1 won by forfeit over Kai Wagner (Southern) 5-2 (For.)

3rd Place Match - John Steele (Holmdel) 3-1 won by decision over Bryan Gonzalez (Gloucester City) 5-3 (Dec 7-3)

5th Place Match - Zach Florio (Old Bridge) 7-5 won by decision over Tyler Taylor (Long Branch) 9-4 (Dec 3-0)

7th Place Match - Patrick Kaczmarek (Hunterdon Central) 3-4 and Alexander Kokolis (Shawnee) 4-4 (DFF)

215

1st Place Match - Rob Orzol (Old Bridge) 7-2 won by fall over Jack Mosier (Vorhees) 5-2 (Fall 2:34)

3rd Place Match - Cody Gardzielik (Gloucester City) 6-3 won by fall over Sean Falcey (Northern Burlngton) 3-3 (Fall 1:14)

5th Place Match - Alex Skipper (Southern) 5-2 won by fall over Marc Dietz (Holmdel) 2-2 (Fall 5:15)

285

1st Place Match - Anthony Evangelista (Southern) 9-1 won by fall over Jackson Harris (Shawnee) 8-3 (Fall 5:13)

3rd Place Match - Cameron Baumann (Vorhees) 8-2 won by fall over Timmy Connolly (Jefferson) 7-2 (Fall 1:58)

5th Place Match - Mark Godsil (Long Branch) 7-2 won by decision over Nick Caruso (Old Bridge) 7-3 (Dec 3-2)

This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: NJ Wrestling: Old Bridge, Hunterdon Central excel at HC Invitational