By: Kyle Moylan
If Hightstown High Wrestling Coach Mike Russo plays the lottery at all this week, chances are his daily number will be 152.
"That seems to be the lucky number," Russo said after John Bardachino won at the weight class in the Mercer County Wrestling Tournament.
Bardachino became the second Hightstown wrestler in as many years (Oscar Moreno was victorious in 2003) to win at that weight.
Bardachino, 19-0 after Saturday’s MCT action at Trenton High (20-0 after this past Wednesday), opened with pins against Hamilton’s Rob Balestrieri and Princeton’s Humberton Gunn. In the finals, he defeated West Windsor North’s Alex Ragucci, 16-7.
"I didn’t like being the one expected to win," noted Bardachino, the top seed in his weight class. "I just made sure not look past anyone. I just kept trying to do my best."
Which, obviously, is very good.
"He (Bardachino) took second last year and he definitely deserved to be the best in the county," noted Coach Russo. "He just goes out there and gets the job done."
Hightstown placed fifth (156 points) in the 13-team field. Lawrence won (224.5 points), Notre Dame and Hamilton tied for second with 172 points and Ewing was fourth 168. In regular season action, Hightstown has already defeated Hamilton and Notre Dame. Hightstown was edged by Ewing by a point this past Wednesday night, 34-33. Hightstown has yet to wrestle Lawrence.
"We’re a better dual meet team than a tournament one," Russo noted. "In a tournament if a team has a few dominant wrestlers, they can score tons of points. In a dual match, they can only get six points each.
"We wanted to finish higher, but as I reminded the kids, we’re 13-2 and 8-0 in the CVC (13-3 and 8-1 after the Ewing match). There is a lot to prove over the next two or three weeks."
Hightstown did manage to put five wrestlers in the finals. As was the case last year, however, Hightstown had to settle for one champion.
"It’s tough sitting in that chair and losing four finals in a row (Ricky Vetick (215), Brandan Tyers (125), Chris Crawford (135) and Dan Indellicati (140) each placed second), but John went out there and got the job done."
According to Russo, if he had to predict before the MCT which Hightstown wrestler was most likely to win a title, it would have been Bardachino. He was hoping Tyers would also pull out a title.
Tyers and Notre Dame’s Tom Roberto were on a collision course from the start. Both wrestlers pinned in the quarterfinals and posted one-sided decisions in the semifinals. In the finals, Roberto edged Tyers, 4-3.
These two wrestlers did not meet during the regular season because Russo moved Tyers to another weight class to help the team win.
"I wanted to wrestle him, but the switch led to a team victory," Tyers said. "I knew I’d see him here. Everyone had a feeling we’d meet in the finals.
"If we wrestled again, I’m not sure what I’d do differently. It was a hard-fought match and could have gone either way. Hopefully we’ll meet up in the states and can go head-to-head again."
Chris Crawford won decisions over Ewing’s Dan Barlow (14-3) and Princeton’s Lou Rossi (11-8) to reach the finals. He was defeated in the finals by Hamilton’s Chris Prihoda, 19-2.
"He got overmatched in the finals, but he did avenge a loss (to Rossi) from the regular season in the semifinals," Russo said. "He definitely had a good tournament."
Crawford finished a little better than his third seed. Indellicati placed right at his second seed when he was defeated in the finals by top seeded Joe Yenchik, 11-2.
Indellicati reached the title match by defeating Notre Dame’s Sheamus O’Connor 11-2 in the quarterfinals and Steinert’s Eric Renelt 6-4 in the semis.
"You just can’t complain about Danny," Russo noted. "The kid never quits."
Besides, Indellicati is just a sophomore. The same is true of Ricky Vetick, the third seed at 215. Vetick pinned Hopewell valley’s Will Yeo in the quarterfinals and decisioned Ewing’s Jon Davis, 5-4, in the semifinals. Lawrence’s Adam Oliszewski pinned Vetick in the finals.
"He’s a sophomore that surprised everyone," noted Russo. "After he lost, I made sure to remind him he had two more years."
Hightstown also managed a fourth from Brian Leibowitz (119) and a fifth from Tim Trivisonno (112) and Greg Scheman (189).
"I thought Leibowitz was going to win the county before it started," Russo said. "He has beaten all of these guys before."
Leibowitz, the second seed, started with a 4-3 win over Allentown’s Matt Schottlander in the quarterfinals. Leibowitz was then pinned in the semifinal by Ewing Ryan Ziegler. In the match for third place, Leibowitz was decisioned by Lawrence’s Alex DeHart. Trivisonno lost in the quarterfinals before battling back to finish 2-2 and take fifth place with a 9-7 win over West Windsor North’s Tim McGuigan.
Scheman finished with a 3-2 record and won his fifth-place match by forfeit. Before that, Scheman won a one-sided 18-4 decision over Hopewell Valley’s Mike Yaros in the quarterfinals and was edged in the semifinals, by Princeton’s Will Borchert, 7-6.
Ethan Lippman (103) and Erik Crawford (130) and Kenny Amponsa (171) each were 2-2, but didn’t place in their weight class.
Adam Gonzalez (145), Dan Ratner (160) and Matt Bryant (275) also competed in the event for Hightstown.
