Lawrence wrestling
By: John E. Powers
With a triangular meet sweep of West Windsor-Plainsboro North and Somerville last Saturday, it appears the Lawrence High School wrestling team has gotten its winning karma back.
The Cardinals, who improved to 7-4, lost to Hillsborough earlier in the week 43-24. That score was interesting, since Hillsborough soundly beat Somerville 46-29 earlier in the month. But Lawrence beat Somerville 37-23 after it thumped North 58-20.
"We lose to Hillsborough by 19, and they beat Somerville by 17, so you figure we’re like a 36-point underdog (in the Somerville match)," Lynne said. "Then we beat Somerville by 14. Explain that one."
The Cardinals were beaten in three bouts they figured they’d win against Hillsborough. Adam Kull pinned Matt Friedeborn in 4:45 at 125, Bobby Wolf beat Alex DeHart at 135, and Joe Guido beat Mike Scott 5-1 at 140. Friedeborn is a 119-pounder and DeHart is a 125-pounder. Friedeborn lost for the first time. He’s 8-1 now.
"We bumped everybody up and it backfired," Lynne said. "Matt just got out-muscled. Kull was the better wrestler that day."
Lawrence wrestled much better Saturday. Friedeborn pinned Somerset County Tournament 112-pound champ Jimmy Kirchner at 119, and Danny Williams improved to 17-0 with a first-period fall over Brandon Holderbaum at 171. Mike Czigler got a big win with a 6-3 decision at 135, and Zach Calderone got a fall at 275. Mike Scott bounced back from his loss against Hillsborough with a fall at 145, Mike DiLorenzo won by major decision at 160, and Sean Pearson wrestled well in a 6-5 loss to Clayton Van Ness at 152.
"We wrestled the best we’d wrestled all season long," Lynne said. "All season long, we’ve been building and building and building. Now everybody is healthy and we just wrestled great."
Sophomore Martin Jennings, who became eligible last week after sitting out the mandatory 30-day transfer rule, lost to Hillsborough freshman Will Goddiess 8-2 at 130 in first bout of the year. He pinned North’s C.J. Richards in the first match Saturday, but was majored by Somerville’s Dan Soffer in the second match. The lineup is set now Friedeborn will be at 119, DeHart at 125 and Jennings at 130.
"(Jennings) gave up a 5-point play in the last few moments," Lynne said. "But he wasn’t as erratic and wild. He’ll be fine."
Calderone had a good week, as he pinned three of his opponents.
The dual meet season continues this week with a match at Hamilton on Wednesday and a home meet with Notre Dame on Saturday afternoon, where Jennings will meet his old teammates, perhaps getting a bout with 13-1 John McDermott. The match starts at 1:30 p.m.