Wolverines send 2 to state

Woodstown’s Vinciguerra wins Region 8 title at 215, Hyland also advances to state wrestling championship at 175

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

EGG HARBOR TWP. – His name literally means “win the war,’ and that’s exactly what Mateo Vinciguerra did Saturday in his most dominating tournament to date. There was nothing lost in translation.

The Woodstown sophomore pinned top-seeded Delsea junior Alex Grippo in 1:52 to win the 215-pound title in the NJSIAA Region 8 wrestling championships and punch his ticket to the state meet next week at Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall.

It avenged a close loss to Grippo in last week’s District 31 finals and allowed him to follow in older brother John’s footsteps as last year’s 215 region champion.
 
“It means a lot,” Vinciguerra said. “I put a lot of work and effort into this. Getting the rematch I always wanted, it was great, because I really thought I could win.

“I was ready. I was coming for him. He’s a great wrestler, but my preparation, I knew I was ready for this. I had the same mindset I always do. Wrestle who’s in front of me, it doesn’t matter who it is.”

Vinciguerra, the No. 2 seed in the bracket, actually punched his ticket to state with a 10-0 major decision over Ed Vincent of St. Augustine in the semifinals. He also scored a pair of pins in his first two matches. He now has 22 pins this season.

“Mateo’s always been a good wrestler,” Wolverines coach Adam Hyland said. “He’s a lifer in wrestling, he loves it, he does it all the time. It’s his main and only sport, so he puts a ton of time into it, goes to all the big tournaments. He’s always been talented and always been a winner at wrestling.”

Both finalists went into their match off major decisions. Vinciguerra took Grippo down with a single leg to get the lead. He got hit with a stall point on top but didn’t let it bother him and went in for the pin.

Sophomore teammate Greyson Hyland, the coach’s son, also advanced to states as the fourth qualifier in 175 as an 8 seed. He secured his spot with an overtime decision in the wrestle-backs after losing a 3-2 decision in the semifinals, then lost to Ocean City senior Nick Layton 8-7 in the third-place match.

He is the lowest seeded 175 wrestler from all eight regions to advance to Atlantic City.

It really was a good weekend for him. He handed Layton his first loss of the season in the second round. He got up on the top seed early in the bout and literally held on to an ankle with all his might through the final seconds after Layton made his final move. In the rematch he fell behind 5-0 and fought back to make it close.

”I’ve been working hard in the season, grinding, we had a real tough practice this week, so pushing through that and seeing the results pay off was really exciting, a lot of fun,” Hyland said. “Today was a lot of fun. The semifinal match was tough, but I just stayed focused. I thought even though I lost that I could still make it to states, so I had a good mindset going into the consolation semis.

“The expectation from everyone else was this dude (him) is probably going to go 0-2, maybe 1-2, just get killed by the 1 seed, but my expectations were really high. I trained hard every day in the practice room, so to get an opportunity like that we don’t waste them.”

Now that they’re in the states, Vinciguerra has his eye on a spot on the podium. For Hyland, “we’re just going to let it fly in Atlantic City and have some fun.”

Speaking of fun, Vinciguerra’s birthday is Championship Saturday.

NJSIAA REGION 8 WRESTLING
TEAM SCORES: Delsea 193.5, Camden Catholic 184.5, Washington Twp. 116, Kingsway 112, St. Augustine 100, Lower Cape May 78, Ocean City 74, Highland/Triton 60.5, Williamstown 52, Woodstown 49, Absegami 48, Timber Creek 45, Hammonton 44, Gateway/Woodbury 42, Middle Twp. 24,
Clayton/Glassboro 23, Eastern 22, Egg Harbor 16, Vineland 15, Buena 10, Clearview 10, Pennsville 7, Holy Spirit 6, Pennsauken 6, Pitman 6, Deptford 4, Cedar Creek 3, Schalick/Cumberland 2, Winslow 2.

CHAMPIONSHIP MATCHES
106: Tyler Hildebrandt (Williamstown) dec. Dylan Hetzel (Washington Twp.), 4-2
113: Amari Vann (Delsea) dec. Colton Hagerty (Washington Twp.), 3-1
120: Gage Summers (Delsea) dec. Christian Hoopes (Washington Twp.), 3-0
126: Sammy Spaulding (Camden Catholic) pinned Adrian Arbelo (St. Augustine), 2:47
132: Chase Hansen (Lower Cape May) dec. Jackson Slotnick (Williamstown), 7-0
138: Anthony DePaul (St. Augustine) dec. Jachere Harris (Lower Cape May), 4-0
144: Tommy DiPietro (Kingsway) dec. Michael Craft (Camden Catholic), SV-1 3-1
150: Austin Craft (Camden Catholic) dec. Jamar Dixon (Delsea), SV-1 2-0
157: Kage Jones (Camden Catholic) pinned Andres Cortes (Gateway), 3:16
165: Riley Boos (Delsea) pinned Julian Rivera (Absegami), 5:40
175: Jaden Simpson (Camden Catholic) tech fall over Brayden Wright (Absegami), 15-0 (5:01)
190: Salvatore Marchese (Delsea) pinned Luke Van Schenk Brill (Kingsway), 1:42
215: Mateo Vinciguerra (Woodstown) pinned Alex Grippo (Delsea), 1:52
285: Clifford Dirkes (Ocean City) dec. Jayson Ross (Timber Creek), 4-0

THE ROAD TO STATE
(2) MATEO VINCIGUERRA, 215, Woodstown
R1: Pinned (15) Ryland Angel (Kingsway), 2:36
QF: Pinned (7) Xavier Velez (Highland), 1:08
SF: Major dec. over (3) Ed Vincent (St. Augustine), 10-0
Finals: Pinned (1) Alex Grippi (Delsea), 1:52

(8) GREYSON HYLAND, 175, Woodstown
R1: Bye
QF: Dec. (1) Nick Layton (Ocean City), 7-5
SF: Lost to (5) Brayden Wright (Absegami), 3-2
Consy SF: Dec. (11) Joseph Leone (Kingsway), SV 3-1
3P: Lost to (1) Nick Layton (Ocean City), 8-7

Brian Tortella contributed to this report. His reports on South Jersey sports can be found on X at @tortreports