REC WRESTLING
Manville traveled to Somerville on Saturday in a closely fought Recreation wrestling match. Although Manville came up on the short side of this one, it all only ended with the final match.
Bobby Demeter and younger brother Shane dedicated this one to their grandfather Robert Hopkins, who passed away late last year. Both boys wrestled with heavy hearts.
Shane came out at 57 pounds with takedown and three back points for an early 5-0 lead. In the second period, Shane reversed and put in his cradle to get the pin at 1:29 in the second to make the match score 12-12.
At 67 pounds, Bobby Demeter’s opponent made him earn his win. Bobby took his man down and then pinned at 52 seconds in the first period.
Earlier in the match, Paul Basta took a forfeit at 60 pounds and Conor Riggs won by decision at 63. Riggs got a quick takedown and two-point near fall for a 4-1 lead going into the second, when he got the escape and then another takedown to extend his lead to 7-1. In the third period, he scored another takedown for a well earned 9-2 win.
Scott Ulicny took a forfeit at 70 pounds and Brian Kuhlman (73) pinned his man in the third period to make the score 33-12 in favor of Manville but the Rec team had to give up 18 points in the upcoming matches. They could not come back from that deficit.
TJ Caswell, wrestling up from 73 pounds to take on a very good wrestler from Somerville 77 pounds, used a cross-face to spin around his man for the takedown and a 2-0 lead in the first period. In the second, he did a stand up to a single leg and reversal for a 4-0 lead and that’s where the match stayed as he rode his man out for a 4-0 win.
Matt Rogalski ended Manville’s scoring for the day by accepting a forfeit at 95 pounds.
In the other matches, Joe Lamonica had a great day with two wins. In his first match, he was down 2-1 but then came back with an escape, takedown and pin at 1:39 in the second period. Lamonica wrestled real well and took a 4-0 win in his second match.
Joe Kronmaier got a pin of his own in the third period of his match. He was losing this one 6-2 and then switched in the second period for a two-point near fall for a 6-6 match going into the third, when he put in his half and ran it to secure his win with a pin.
Basta made quick work of his opponent with a nine-second pin. Ulicny used a headlock to pin his man at 52 seconds in the first period. RJ Thompson did some real nice wrestling to take a 6-4 lead into the second. Using a half-Nelson, he was able to get five more back points to make it 11-4 and then in the third he got his man to his back for five more points to finish this up winning 16-4.
Manville will be home this Saturday at 9 a.m. to take on Bernardsville.