Hightstown’s Amponsa, Calamari win district titles
By: Sean Moylan
MOUNT HOLLY Using all of his remaining strength, Kenny Amponsa made the seemingly long journey back over to his Hightstown High coaches and teammates. With one last gasp of energy he threw his muscular 215-pound figure into a padded wall at the Rancocas Valley High gym and collapsed to the ground in pure exhaustion.
Amponsa was completely spent. He also was now the 2007 District 25 215-pound wrestling champion. Rams’ teammate Ricardo Calamari had already won a District title at 130 pounds as Hightstown scored 115 points to place third overall.
Entering the match, Amponsa was so strong and powerful that he was affectionately called "The Beast" by his Rams’ teammates. Trailing in the third period of his championship match versus Northern Burlington’s R.J. Melton, who is blessed with remarkable upper body strength, Amponsa scored a point on a stalling call and then he unleashed a vicious 2-point takedown which was impressive in both its raw power and quickness.
"I saw an opening to go for the shot," said Amponsa, who went ahead 8-5 with his aggressive move and won 8-6 seconds later.
Nine times out of 10, Amponsa, who is strong on his feet, will either completely wear down or pin his opponent in the first round. On Saturday he did neither against Melton, who presented the Hightstown wrestler his first serious challenge in weeks.
"There was a lot of frustration because he was the first guy that went toe-to-toe with me in the first period," added Amponsa, who was a little surprised to see the opening 2 minutes end in a 0-0 deadlock. "I saw what he had and he saw what I had."
Because he is so good on his feet, Amponsa will often surrender a point by letting up his opponent. However, Melton was so strong that Amponsa hesitated before letting him up (twice) for points. But in the end his patience paid off as Amponsa made clutch moves down the stretch to bring home a title.
Amponsa has had two tough matches on his way to posting a 36-1 record. This was one of them.
But Amponsa, who will wrestle in Region VII action tonight at Moorestown, appreciated the district title all the more because he earned it on the mat with a gritty performance and his Rams’ teammates were all there to greet him with hugs.
Calamari’s 7-4 championship win over Pemberton’s Kyle Butler couldn’t have been any more different. Some 7-4 matches are close. This wasn’t. Two times the buzzer saved Butler from having more points scored against him.
"I wore my big Superman (warm-up) shirt today," smiled Calamari, who switched places in Hightstown’s lineup with Tim "The Italian Tank" Trivisonno.
Trivisonno, a natural 125-pounder, wanted another crack at Dustin Renelt, who ended up defeating Trivisonno in the 125-pound finals (but the Italian Tank still made it to tonight’s Region VII quarterfinals, which will be held at Moorestown).
Calamari was happy to stay away from Renelt, who had defeated him in the Mercer County Tournament finals. He also knew Butler’s game plan very well.
"I knew what he was going to do. His only move is the headlock so I just stopped it," said Calamari, whose biggest challenge during the match seemed to be shaking out an injured finger. In fact, after he won the title, he looked fresh enough to wrestle a few more matches. But you’d expect that out of a Superman.
Mike Russo, who planned out a great strategy for all of his Hightstown wrestlers, was chosen as Coach of the Year at the District 25 Tournament.
"It’s a great honor," he said. "All of these coaches are great guys and very good coaches. It’s a testament to our team.
"We worked hard all year and we’ve produced on the mat. Everything I’ve asked them to do all year long they’ve done and then some. You can’t complain. You have to appreciate all that they do in practices.
"It was a great tournament and we got a team-record six Region qualifiers (Amponsa, Calamari, Trivisonno, Sean McEvenie, Dan Ratner and Tommy Boyle). I’m very proud of them and they’ve done a great job."
But leave it to the "The Beast" and "Superman" to be Hightstown’s super heroes.

