The Old Bridge Wrestling Festival wrapped up over the weekend, with a number of local grapplers taking part in a variety of individual competitions, while a familiar result emerged from last week’s Central Jersey Duals.
South Plainfield High School has dominated the team competition in recent years, and this year was no exception as the Tigers claimed their seventh straight Central Jersey Duals title. The Tigers topped Howell, 59-10, in the semifinal round, before knocking off Woodbridge, 48-18, in the finals at the Old Bridge Sports Arena on Thursday.
Woodbridge advanced to the final with a 36-30 win over Rahway in the semifinal round.
On Saturday, the individual portions of the festival resumed, starting with the Junior High Scholastic II. In the finals, (80 lbs.) Mikey Bandiero (Edison) beat Charlie Frankel (Marlboro), 11-1; (87 lbs.) Cody Fobes (Howell) pinned Mark Eggert (Berganfield), 3:00; (94 lbs.) Stephen Fallon (Old Bridge) pinned Charlie Croce (Middletown), 1:36; (111 lbs.) David Seidenberg (Middletown) won by a technical fall over Danny Seidenberg (Middletown); and (heavyweight) David Amrhein (South Brunswick) pinned Harry Turner (Howell), 0:27.
In the Open Collegiate finals, (172 lbs.) B. Deniz (South River) major decisioned Brandan Scott (Red Bank), 15-4.
In the High School Scholastic II finals, (132 lbs.) Jeff Zannetti (Edison) pinned Joe Silva (Monmouth Regional) 3:48; (139 lbs.) Mark Savino (Lawrenceville) decisioned. Michael VanderValk (Old Bridge), 10-3; (190 lbs.) Lamar Brown (Red Bank) decisioned Pete Lesser (Commack, N.Y.), 3-0; (209 lbs.) Luke Panizzi (Monmouth Regional) pinned Joe Teahl (Highland Park), 0:16; and (Heavyweight) Manny Kokas (North Plainfield) pinned Frank Lillis (Old Bridge), 4:00.
A total of 165 wrestled Saturday at the Old Bridge Wrestling Festival, bringing the 29-year total to 23,779. The festival concluded on Sunday with the final individual competitions, where a total of 124 wrestled, bringing the total for 2003 to 872, and the 29 year total to 23,803
In the Elementary School Scholastic II finals, (55 lbs.) James Stewart (Morganville) decisioned. Joey Mckenna (Pine Brook), 2-0; and (84 lbs.) Connor Hayes (Old Bridge) decisioned Derek DeLaCruz (Dunellen), 2-0;
In the Masters (30 and over) Collegiate finals, (162 lbs.) Jason Colavita (Freehold) decisioned. Harry Colangelo (Bayville), 2-1; (199 lbs.) Adam Aquilina (Howell) decisioned. Ben Aquilina (Manalapan), 2-1; and (Heavyweight) Rob Canpenito (Tinton Falls) decisioned Dan Colangelo (Hazlet), 4-0.
In the High School Scholastic III finals, (108 lbs.) Jon Gregory (Phillipsburg) pinned Matt Frankel (Marlboro), 4:29; (127 lbs.) Joe Silva (Monmouth Regional) decisioned J.C. Bandiero (Edison), 3-2; (133 lbs.) Joseph Leva (Englishtown) decisioned Billy Woodward (Howell), 5-2; (157 lbs.) Nick Marrone (East Brunswick) major decisioned Pat Bell (Freehold), 9-0; (205 lbs.) Bryan Kopesky (Phillipsburg) pinned Elliot Simon (Marlboro), 3:50; and (Heavyweight) Niko Kasapidis (Highland Park) decisioned Frank Lillis (Old Bridge), 6-2