By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
Warren Gerstacker is no stranger to Mercer County wrestling.
A 2007 Hopewell Valley High School graduate, Gerstacker wrestled for four years for the Bulldogs and after gradating from Rutgers University, he spent another four years as a volunteer assistant coach at his alma mater.
This year Gerstacker will take his first foray into head coaching as he takes over at West Windsor-Plainsboro High South, replacing Darren Schulman.
“There have really been no problems,” said Gerstacker, whose team opened the seasin by winning two of three matches at a quad meet in Bordentown last Saturday. “Everyone is adjusting well. I have adjusted well. It seems like all the wrestlers are enthusiastic about how we practice and the attitude has been solid. We have a tight knit team.”
Gerstacker comes from a Hopewell Valley program that underwent a transformation while he was on the team. His first two years in the program the Bulldogs won one match. But they turned the tide his final two years and have been one of Mercer County’s dominant programs ever since.
“My fresh and sophomore years we were pretty bad,” said Gerstacker, whose two younger brothers also wrested for Hopewell. “I think we won one meet between the two years. But then my junior and senior years, that was when Mario (Harpel) came in and the program got much better.
“My freshman year we scored negative two points in districts. It was pretty bad. It was totally different at end than it was in the beginning. We had like nine guys on the team and we didn’t know what it was like to win. Then once your start winning the wins tend to lead to more wins.”
In taking over the WW-P South program, Gerstacker does not face the same challenges as the Hopewell program he was a part of in those early years. The Pirates finished third at the Mercer County Tournament last year and return a solid nucleus this year.
“There are some solid wrestlers,” said Gerstacker, who is a fourth grade teacher at Village School. “(Duncan) Kreutter is a district champ. (Sean) Thompson, (Joe) Salerno and (Griffin) Valentine right in row is a good lineup. (Steven) O’Campo wrestles hard. There is some talent in the younger years as well.
“I have seen some of these wrestlers before. I know that to take third in the county tournament despite giving up four weight classes is pretty impressive. Now our lineup is solid and filled out.”
The Pirates opened the season by defeating Maple Shade and Burlington City, while falling to Bordentown in a quad meet last Saturday. They fell to 2-2 with a 41-33 loss to Robbinsville on Tuesday. Brandon Agran and Thompson picked up wins on the mat, while South also won four matches by forfeit against the Ravens.
“I was really happy with what I saw in the quad meet,” Gerstacker said. “Our wrestlers wrestled hard and it was encouraging to see us come out of the gate like that.”
Gerstacker helped build the program at Hopewell, first on the mat and then as an assistant coach. The Bulldogs have won eight of the last nine MCT titles, so he brings plenty of winning experience to the Pirates.
“Hopewell Valley has a great team,” Gerstacker said. “It has really good been awesome because Mario has coached me and I was an assistant under him so I got to see the way he does things and way he built the program from pretty much nothing. I see what he did and would like to be able to do that here.”
One thing he won’t have to do is compete against a Gerstacker at Hopewell. The brothers have finally all moved on.
“There had been one of wrestling at some point for about a decade,” Gerstacker said. “Mark was after me and and Travis is the youngest. We’re all gone now and no new ones are coming. We all wrestled and my dad did also. I was okay. Mark was better than me and then the last one, Travis, was really good.”
For Warren Gerstacker, he hopes he can find a way to build the program at South into the same kind of dominating program Hopewell Valley has become.
At Montgomery High, there is plenty of returning talent led by senior Dylan D’Amore, who was third in the state last year.
“We are hoping for another winning season with a lineup that features a mixture of youth and experience,” Montgomery coach Kurt Franey said. “Dylan D’Amore is hoping to become Montgomery’s second state champion in three years.”
The Montgomery lineup includes seniors D’Amore, Nico Ipeker (third at districts last year), Eric Lisanti, James Smith, Michael Small, Kyle Marrapodi, Liam Dwyer and Trey Quinlan, juniors Matt Lisanti (fourth at districts), Emmanuel Perera and Jacob McCarthy, and freshmen Jared Segota, Max Greenberg and Jason Sala.
The Cougars finished fifth at the Wendy Pandy-Leh Wrestling Invitational last Saturday at Delaware Valley High School. Marrapodi won the 160 pound title, while D’Amore captured the title at 285 pounds.
