Luck on their side

Woodstown wins the toss, then tosses Pennsville aside in the renewal of their wrestling rivalry that has Cowboys-Eagles vibes

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

WOODSTOWN – Woodstown wrestling coach Adam Hyland hasn’t had a lot of luck with the coin toss this season and, frankly, it probably kept the Wolverines from having a winning record at this point in the season.

They finally won a flip Friday night and while it wasn’t the underlying reason the Wolverines beat Pennsville 49-19, it did factor in the way the lineup unfolded in a spirited match where matchups were the key.

“Sometimes that happens in wrestling,” Hyland said. “It’s actually unfortunate, in my opinion, that that can happen. That definitely played a part.

“We won the coin toss, which we rarely have done this year. I’m telling you out of 15 matches or so, we’ve probably won three or four coin tosses all year. It’s been the other way for us quite a bit and it cost us a bunch of matches throughout this year. Sometimes it works in your favor. It did in this case and we definitely took advantage of it.”

It certainly increases the drama. The team that wins the toss decides which set of matches – odds or evens – it wants the send their man out first. It’s all about strategy and can create some anxiety if a team has limited options.

“There were certain weight classes I wanted them to throw out first and send somebody specific,” Pennsville coach John Starcevich said. “At certain weight classes I wanted to see who they were going to put out because that would dictate whether or not I would initiated a bump.

“So we lost the coin toss and those key weight classes I had to either guess or just send my guy anyway because they would react to whatever I do.”

Elias Lussi is typically the Eagles’ 190, but Starcevich was confident Connor Ayars could win at 190, so he bumped up Lussi to 215. But Hyland countered with undersized 285 Mateo Vinciguerra there and sending equally undersized Andre Sinou to face Pennsville’s Trevor Waddington at 285.

Ayars won a major decision to open the match. Vinciguerra answered with a major over Lussi and Sinou got an early takedown on his way to a decision over Waddington.

But then the real chess match began. Because the Eagles lost the toss, it was their turn to throw out first at 106. They sent out Lucas Thomas and Woodstown took a forfeit to send first-year wrestler Chase Blandino out at 113. Blandino scored a first-period pin over Vincent Ciccantelli that started a run of four straight Woodstown wins for control of the match. 

“That was really big for us and to get that pin was big for him,” Hyland said.

Brett Rowand clinched the victory with an 11-7 decision over Sky Eppes at 150. Rowand was down 5-0 at one point in the match.

“He did a nice job sort of battling back, one point at a time and winning convincingly at the end,” Hyland said.

The teams went into the day seeded 4-5 in the South Jersey Group I power points standings and as Saturday dawned the Wolverines rose to a virtual No. 2 seed, tied with Audubon in points but winning the head-to-head matchup. Saturday is the cutoff to determine the eight teams that will advance to the state duals tournament.

Pennsville is not wrestling Saturday, but Woodstown hosts a quad with Clayton, Millville and Penns Grove. Both teams are expected to make the field, but Penns Grove, at No. 11, needs some help.

“I don’t care where we end up,” Starcevich said. “I’m just glad my guys are getting another match. The more you compete the better you’re gonna become.”

“We’re just going to go out there and battle,” Hyland said. “This year we’re just trying to get in those playoffs, wrestle as tough as we can, try to the win that division and go into the postseason in terms of individual matchups a little bit on fire.”

WOODSTOWN 49, PENNSVILLE 19
190: Connor Ayars (P) maj. dec. over Karsten Hantho, 12-4
215: Mateo Vinciguerra (Wo) maj. dec. over Elias Lussi, 14-0
285: Andre Sinou (Wo) dec. Trevor Waddington, 6-4
106: Lucas Thomas (P) won by forfeit
113: Chase Blandino (Wo) pinned Vincent Ciccantelli, 0:47
120: Travis Balback (Wo) pinned Mehki Dix, 0:49
126: Carson Bradway (Wo) dec. Christopher Daniels, 5-2
132: Alex Torres (Wo) pinned Ayden Perez, 3:31
138: Travis Hagan (P) pinned Willem Groom, 4:53
144: Angel Hernandez (Wo) pinned Maddox Efelis, 3:08
150: Brett Rowand (Wo) dec. Sky Eppes, 11-7
157: Robbie McDade (P) dec. Zayden Donahue, 3-0
165: Zach Bevis (Wo) pinned Cole Campbell, 2:56
175: Greyson Hyland (Wo) won by forfeit

SCHALICK/CUMBERLAND 44, PENNSAUKEN 36: The teams were trading the lead throughout the match, but Schalick/Cumberland scored pins in each of the last three bouts to rally from a 10-point deficit and pull out the victory.

285: Noval Jenkins got the raly started with a pin at 285. Caleb Jenkins gave Schalick the lead with a first-period pin at 106 – the sixth lead change of the match – and DeAnthony Harden closed it out with a first-period pin at 113.

Luke Silva (120), Daniel Lloyd (138), Jake Magonagle (165) also had pins for Schalick, Ayden Jenkins (144) had a tech fall, and Eric Sulik (175) scored a decision.

SCHALICK/CUMBERLAND 44, PENNSAUKEN 36
120: Luke Silva (SC) pinned Zachary Slimm, 5:47
126: Lucas Silvestre (P) pinned Chase Williams, 0:40
132: Andrew Jamieson (P) pinned Ryan Miller, 2:56
138: Daniel Lloyd (SC) pinned Amari Martinez, 2:53
144: Ayden Jenkins (SC) tech fall over Derek Berry, 23-8 (4:32)
150: Romeo Aviles (P) pinned Riley Papiano, 3:06
157: Mikhi Johnson (P) pinned Michael Carastro, 4:48
165: Jake Magonagle (SC) pinned Jahky Hicks, 4:48
175: Eric Sulik (SC) dec. Kaleb Rodriguez, 12-6
190: Christopher Lamothe (P) pinned Gabriel Rodriguez, 2:33
215: Kameron Hoskins (P) pinned Evan Elliott, 2:28
285: Noval Jenkins (SC) pinned Derek Bayard, 3:29
106: Caleb Jenkins (SC) pinned Julio Alvarez, 0:51
113: DeAnthony Harden (SC) pinned Jovanni Hernandez, 1:02