BY MIKE WHITE
Staff Writer
PLUMSTED — The New Egypt High School wrestling team ripped off the last six bouts of its match against Maple Shade last Saturday to pull off a 48-21 come-from-behind victory.
The Warriors trailed 24-18 with only six bouts remaining when they swung the momentum in their favor. New Egypt ran the table from 103 to 135 pounds to notch its seventh win of the season.
“At that point of the match, we needed to get things going,” said New Egypt coach Kevin English, whose team is now 7-4 overall “Even though we were behind at that time, I was still confident that we could pull the match off. We had some very strong performances down the stretch to collect that victory.”
Anthony Wahler got things rolling for the Warriors by winning at 103 pounds. Sophomore Tommy Morton followed with a pin of Chris Taylor at 112 pounds. Morton needed just 75 seconds to put Taylor on his back. Morton is now 16-0 on the season with 14 pins.
“He’s having an outstanding year,” English said. “He is very strong and his technique is great. He just dominated the match from the outset. You could see his opponent was in over his head.”
Morton usually wrestles at 103 pounds, but English bumped him to 112 to compete against Taylor.
“Winning both of those matches was critical in getting us going,” English said. “We wanted to get the ball rolling, and those two victories did it for us.”
Tom Carr shouldered Eric Galson at 5:32 at 119 pounds. Carr had built an insurmountable 10-0 cushion before getting the pin.
“He handled him easily,” English said. “He got off to a fast start and just kept rolling along.”
At 125 pounds, Eddie Roman was down 5-0 when he flipped his opponent and pinned him a little more than three minutes into the match. Roman grabbed Mike Caruso by the head, flipped him and pinned him to win his sixth match of the year.
“I knew the kid was going to make a mistake,” English said. “You could just see it. Eddie hung in there and caught the guy with his head hanging. He grabbed him and pinned him quickly.”
English is impressed with Roman’s savvy.
“He is only a first-year wrestler,” English said of Roman, who is 6-3 overall. “He is coming along fast. He is a hard worker who has picked the sport up quickly.”
Pat Riordan had an easy go of it against Steve Wambach at 130 pounds. Riordan posted a lopsided 10-4 victory.
“That kid was probably their toughest wrestler,” English said. “We figured it to be a very competitive match. Pat did a nice job against him.”
Billy Campbell sealed the win with a 6-4 triumph at 135 pounds. Campbell downed Danny Sullivan in a match that wasn’t as close as the score indicates, English said.
“He controlled the tempo of the match,” English said. “He gave up a couple of penalty points. He took the kid down twice, so he was never in danger.”
Other winners for New Egypt included, Dan Murray, who pinned Jerry Espizi at 1:36. At 171, Albert Cook pinned Tony Hubbard at 58 seconds and Rosario DiGangi won by forfeit at 215 pounds.
In a 43-18 loss to Hightstown, Nick Markee defeated Ben Rosenberg, 9-5, while teammate Mike Schwarze edged John Aponte, 5-4, at 112 pounds. Riordan, Cook and Morton recorded victories in the loss.