Seven pins lead to rout of Warren Hills
By: Rudy Brandl
People no longer should be surprised by the achievements of this year’s Hillsborough High wrestling team.
The Raiders, who stormed into last night’s highly-anticipated dual meet at Hunterdon Central with a 9-0 record, put on another impressive show for their home fans in Saturday’s 63-12 romp of Warren Hills. It wasn’t that long ago when the Blue Streaks were dishing out the drubbing. Now, it’s Hillsborough’s turn.
"I love it," said senior 215-pounder Mark Amerman, who produced one of the team’s seven falls in the match. "We all feed off these fans and the energy of our coaches. It gives us energy and electricity. We have the fire. This is our year."
Hillsborough entered the match as the favorite but nobody expected the home team to post such a lopsided victory. The Raiders won all but one of the contested bouts. The only Warren Hills points went to wrestlers ranked in the state in their respective weight classes. This was a Hillsborough clinic.
"You’ve got to give Warren Hills respect, but the boys all came out and they were very aggressive," HHS head coach Steve Molinaro said. "They went for the first takedown and controlled them on their feet."
Once the Raiders got their opponents to the mat, they kept them there for the most part. Hillsborough produced pins in more than half of the contested bouts, winning five in a row at one stretch.
"We’re really sticking it to them today," said senior Tye Wagner, who bumped to 125 pounds and capped Hillsborough’s pin parade by decking Dane Olah in 3:45. "We’re getting them to their backs and not letting them up."
The match was well in hand by the time Wagner took the mat. His teammates had done some great work in the early bouts after the match began at 135 pounds.
Frank McLaughlin (135) and Kevin Lynch (140) each jumped a weight class and won easily to give the Raiders a 7-0 lead. McLaughlin stormed to a 9-1 lead by putting John Puleo to his back twice but settled for an 11-6 decision. Lynch used his superior quickness and athletic ability to notch an 11-3 major over Brandon Guillemin.
HHS senior Mike Detsis dominated Brandon Quinn at 145, nearly pinning his foe a few times en route to a 17-1 technical fall at 5:17. Detsis finally decided to let Quinn score a point so he could take him down again to complete the tech fall.
"I had him pinned a couple of times," said Detsis, who did most of his damage in the second period. "I’m always pretty slow in the first period. I try to get comfortable and get warmed up."
The Raiders certainly didn’t need any help, but Warren Hills did them a favor by winning the toss and choosing the odd bouts. Hillsborough was hoping to juggle around Warren Hills stars Dave Richmond and Danny Brice at 152 and 189, respectively.
Molinaro figured the Blue Streaks would try to go after two of his top guns with their state caliber guys. As it turned out, Richmond (pin) and Brice (forfeit) each scored six points for their team, but the Raiders were able to avoid them with their more dangerous wrestlers.
"They chose what we wanted," Molinaro said. "They had something else in mind."
After Richmond decked a feisty Joe Ambrose in 3:32 at 152 pounds, the Raiders went on a roll of five straight pins that was interrupted only by a forfeit to Brice at 215. Senior John Newman started the flurry by packing David Shoemaker at 4:59. At the time, Newman thought his pin might make a difference in the team score.
"Warren Hills is a good team so we need as many bonus points as we can get since we’re giving up six points at heavyweight," Newman said. "That’s really helped us think about pinning more."
Fellow seniors Pat Jastrzebski and Phil Lavoie followed with quick pins at 171 and 189, respectively. Jastrzebski barely broke a sweat in flattening Erik Gensheimer in 38 seconds, while Lavoie didn’t stick around much longer before decking Dave Sbriscia in 1:10.
The Raiders bumped Amerman to heavyweight and traded six points for six when the HHS senior dumped a much larger Mike Hoyt in 3:41. Amerman has been making a habit of pinning heavier guys in recent weeks.
"All those years wrestling with Tony D’Amelio in practice every day really helped," said Amerman, referring to the former District 18 champ who graduated last June. "Tony’s stronger than most of the guys I’ve been wrestling this year so I credit him a lot. My mindset against a bigger guy is to use my speed and quickness to capitalize and make up for everything."
The dominance continued when the match turned over to 103 pounds, where sophomore Adam Kull promptly took down Jason Hollenbeck and secured the fall at 1:31. Chris Ambrose (112) accepted a forfeit and freshman John Mangini (119) improved to 16-0 by decking Rich Rathgeb at 1:33. Wagner and Griff Campbell, who posted an 8-1 decision, completed the Raider romp.
It was another awesome display of balance and depth by the Raiders, who threw in a few extra pins to soar over the 60-point mark for the second time this season.
"We have a solid team," Detsis said. "We don’t have too many standouts, but there are no holes, except for heavyweight. We’re just a solid group of wrestlers."
TAKEDOWNS Last week’s much-anticipated showdown at Delaware Valley was postponed due to snow, but the Raiders won their other match at Franklin by a 57-12 score … Mangini (112), Wagner (119), Campbell (130) and Detsis (140) registered falls, while James McMahon (125), Ambrose (145) and Monticchio (171) won by decision … Newman (152), Jastrzebski (160) and Amerman (215) posted majors and Kull (103) and Lynch won by forfeit … the Raiders will host Notre Dame and Lawrence in a tri-meet this Saturday.