Bowen and Bauma win District 25 championships

NBC places 2nd as team

By: Sean Moylan
   MOUNT HOLLY — Listening to music on his iPod before his 135-pound District 25 championship bout, Northern Burlington’s Phil Bowen looked as peaceful and serene as a human being could possibly be. But underneath that calm exterior Bowen hid the heart of a lion, which he quickly exposed the second he faced off against Hightstown’s Sean McEvenie, a former District 25 champ himself.
   Bowen came out of the shoot loaded with aggression and intensity and he didn’t stop moving forward until he had pinned McEvenie 33 seconds into the second period.
   "It hasn’t really hit me yet," said Bowen, who earned shoulder points on McEvenie with a tight cradle, which won him his first District title ever. "He was better than a lot of the kids in our District."
   Nonetheless, NBC has wrestled a lot of tough opponents outside of Burlington County, which prepared Bowen for his big moment at Rancocas Valley on Saturday.
   "I was wrestling well. I got third in the CBA tournament. Then something happened and I took a break for two weeks and I missed a lot of matches. But then I came back," said Bowen.
   Boy, did he come back. In fact, on Saturday Bowen was one of just two NBC grapplers to win District 25 titles.
   The other, senior Geoff "All Day" Bauma, was someone nearly everyone had pencilled in as the champ at 160 even before the title bout had even started. And while Bauma, NBC’s all-time wins leader, did eventually become the 160-pound champ, he fought tooth and nail for that title as he defeated Rancocas Valley’s Brian Reichert in a very entertaining 8-5 title match.
   "Getting the school record of 107 (wins, which was previously held by NBC assistant coach Rob McMullen) made me really happy. But a District title is good too. It’s about the same, but I’d have to say a District title is a little better," said Bauma, who has now won back-to back District 25 titles. "I looked up to him (McMullen) when I was younger and I watched him all the time. He really helped me out in the room."
   Leading 6-5 and fearing a stalling call, Bauma made an aggressive move to earn two insurance points in the closing seconds of his bout with Reichert. It was a gutsy move, but he’s a gutsy wrestler and that’s why he’s his school’s all-time wins leader.
   Bauma had reached the finals by pinning Allentown’s James Butera early in the second period of their semifinals match.
   While Rancocas Valley won its second straight District 25 team title, NBC placed second overall with 159 points.
   In one of the best battles of the day, Hightstown’s Kenny Amponsa defeated NBC’s R.J.Melton, 8-6, for the 215-pound title. The two powerful combatants stood on their feet with their hands locked on each other’s shoulders for the entire first period in an impressive, dead even show of brute strength. Melton won the middle round fairly convincingly, but Amponsa came through with two late third-period moves to wrestle the title away from Melton. Melton gave Amponsa, who has just one loss, his first tough bout in months. So don’t be surprised if NBC’s sensational 215-pounder continues to do well at Regions.
   In the heavyweight finals, Rancocas Valley’s gigantic Ben Ijalana beat NBC’s Johnny "Let’s Get Ready To Rumble" Humble 5-0. But Humble, ever the competitor, wanted much more.
   "Hopefully at Regions I can do better," said Humble, who wrestled many of his matches with a shoulder injury. Humble smoked Hamilton’s Brett Krosnodomskie 5-1 in the semis to advance.
   When NBC won back-to back District titles three years ago it did so because it was able to win several 3rd-place matches. Unfortunately on Saturday, NBC’s Richie Grove (103), Greg Bauma (145), Brian Matey (152), Jeff Townsend (171) and Ben "In Your Face" Case (189) all lost in the consolation round. Matey and Townsend loss excruciatingly close one point decisions. Only NBC’s 140-pounder Brian VanSciver advanced out of the consolation round as he took matters into his own hands by pinning James Meneus 57 seconds into the second period.
   Bauma would like to get back to Atlantic City and he looks like he has the talent to do so. But don’t count out Bowen or Melton because they are excellent grapplers in Jule Dolci’s fantastic program.