By: Kyle Moylan Sports Editor
If he hadn’t just done it, Robbinsville High’s Jordon Hankins may not have believed the way he won the 147-pound wrestling class at the Mercer County Tournament on Saturday night at Trenton High. Heck, even after doing it, Hankins was having a hard time believing the way he defeated Ewing’s James Matlack, 5-4, in the title match.
“It seems unreal,” Hankins said. “You’re down by a point with time running out and you get that takedown to pull out the win.”
That’s what happened. In fact, Hankins was down 3-1 late in the match and got a takedown to tie the score. Just as the Robbinsville crowd was celebrating, Matlack took the lead back with an escape, setting up the last-second move.
“The past couple of years the coaches have been working with me on a lateral drop,” Hankins noted. “I took him down and then he escaped. When I came up, I saw I was in position to do it.”
Hankins’ win was certainly the most dramatic of the three Robbinsville titles in the MCT. After all, for Dave Bossie, the real drama was just getting to the MCT.
Bossie and Brian O’Toole had to wrestle each other during the week to decide which one would represent Robbinsville in the MCT. Bossie won, 3-2, in triple overtime.
“We both knew that whichever one of us that won would probably be the top seed and have a good chance of winning the Mercer County Tournament,” Bossie said. “Even so, you still have to go out there on the mat and do it.”
Bossie won all three of his MCT matches. The closest was a 7-2 victory against Hopewell Valley’s Steve Palder in the final at 105 pounds.
“(Palder) is a good wrestler and I needed to be focused to beat him, but Brian O’Toole was definitely my toughest match of the week,” Bossie said.
Usually in these circumstances, one of the wrestlers would bump up in weight. That was not an option because Jared Icenhower was representing Robbinsville at 112 pounds. Icenhower didn’t disappoint, winning the title with an 11-4 victory over Hightstown’s Cody Parker.
Icenhower trailed this match 4-1 in the middle of the second period. The match swung dramatically in Icenhower’s favor when he got a takedown. Icenhower was then able to pile up back points.
“I was a little worried,” Icenhower said. “I just needed to get on top. That’s where I like to wrestle from.”
Actually, being a light Robbinsville wrestler, Icenhower was just thrilled to be able to wrestle at all.
“It’s hard just to make our lineup,” Icenhower said. “There are a lot of guys you work out with at practice that are as good as any competition you’re going to face. We also had a really good 119-pounder (Matt Joseph) that got hurt. Jeff Bruno dropped down from 125 to 119 for the tournament. That’s five good guys for three weight classes.”
Bruno ended up placing second at 121 pounds. Bruno came into the event with a record of 8-10, but finished the MCT at 11-11. Bruno was defeated in the title match by Allentown’s Taylor Maul, 10-4.
Brandon DiDonato (285) also placed second for Robbinsville. DiDonato lost in the final to Hopewell’s Matt Pagano, 3-2, in four overtimes.
This match came to just the luck of the draw. Neither wrestler could get a takedown or prevent an escape. Pagano was on the bottom in the fourth overtime and got the escape point to win the match.
Robbinsville added a third, a fourth and a sixth as it finished in third place in the 15-team field with 168.50 points. Hopewell won with 182 points and Steinert was second with 174 points.
“I’m not worried about the team loss,” Robbinsville Coach Rich Gildner noted. “We’re still a young program. We’ll get there eventually. It’s a slow buildup.”
And one that was hurt by the absence of O’Toole and the injuries to Joseph and Mark Normandin.
“We brought 12 kids (Robbinsville was missing wrestlers at 132 and 137) and placed five in the finals,” Gildner noted. “That’s pretty good.
“During the season, I’ll tell them where I want them to go for the team. At tournament time, I leave it up to the kids.”
Drew Reca was 5-1 and placed third at 142 pounds. Reca pinned West Windsor South’s Alfonso Gonzales in just 55 seconds in the match to decide third place.
Andrew Harvilla (162) was 3-2 in the MCT and placed fourth.
Jeff Condit (127) was 3-3 in the MCT and placed sixth.
Jeremy Sander (173) and Vice Nocera (191) both were 2-2. Kenny Lesczynski had a win at 154 pounds. AJ Facenda (215) also competed in the event for Robbinsville.
“We had four varsity starters missing and the other wrestlers stepped up and did well,” Hankins said. “It’s going to be an enjoyable ride home.”
NOTES: Robbinsville was scheduled to host Highland Park and Princeton in a tri-meet last night (Wednesday). Robbinsville will also host a tri-meet on Saturday.
Robbinsville is seeded second in Central Jersey Group I and will host a state match on Wednesday.
