Delaware Valley Wrestlers Seek Rare Victory at Phillipsburg

Clearly, there were victors and defeated participants when Delaware Valley Regional High School competed against Phillipsburg on Friday night in a matchup featuring Top 20 teams.state-ranked teams.

But some of the defeated individuals felt they had emerged as victors following No. 18Delaware Valleywon 31-30 for only its third win ranked No. 13Phillipsburg since 1984.

I felt confident, but I knew it was going to be a challenging match since it always is against P’burg,” said Delaware Valley junior wrestler Marcus Gary, who helped out with a second-period pin. “This victory is very significant. It’s incredible. I’m really excited. This is a major milestone for us.

The Terriers, who broke thenj.comTop 20 for the first time this week, advanced to 12-0 with their initial victory at Phillipsburg since 2006. This marks the first instance since 2006 that Delaware Valley has beaten the Stateliners, North Hunterdon, and Hunterdon Central within the same season.

I explained to the children that it was purely a team effort tonight,” said Delaware Valley coach Andy Fitz. “I understand there’s a distinction between having a team capable of defeating P’burg and actually accomplishing it and completing the task. Tonight, we managed to do that.

The contest started at 106 pounds, with both teams securing seven victories. The Stateliners were without three key players and had to give up the match at 157, awarding the Terriers six points. Nevertheless, freshman Jack Flynn (3-6), filling in for Zackary Swingle (11-7) at 113, surprised junior Owen Shuey (2-4) by turning a takedown into a pin within 1 minute and 6 seconds, canceling out the forfeit.

Flynn’s victory was an example why Phillipsburg coach Tim Longacre took more positives from Friday’s loss than the 36-28 victory over Watchung Hills on Wednesday.

“We had three starters that were out tonight sick. They’re all sitting home with fevers. We had to manipulate the lineup,” Longacre said. “I am so proud of these kids. We didn’t wrestle very well on Wednesday and we won. I’m happier with the loss than the win because of the way we performed today. With Flynn, it’s not just the throw. It’s that he battled every position, and that’s one of the things we talked about yesterday is battling everything, not giving it up and why we do that. It’s why we wear the ‘P.’”

The Stateliners (4-3) built a 21-11 lead through 150. Sophomore Matt Velez improved to 3-9 with a wild 14-12 win at 132 over senior Julian Bednar (11-5).

Senior Massimo Gonzalez (17-2) held off senior Tye Falkenstein (15-7) at 138. Falkenstein was oh-so-close to securing bout-winning back points in the closing seconds but was denied by the referees. Gonzalez had blanked Falkenstein 6-0 at the Hunterdon/Warren/Sussex Tournament.

Delaware Valley senior Mike Hasson (22-1) and sophomore Mason Hawk (13-5) clashed at 144 in another H/W/S rematch with Hasson prevailing again, 8-3, but unable to collect bonus points.

Then, came the night’s featured bout at 150 — which was a win-win for the wrestlers and the fans. Phillipsburg junior Owen Garriques (18-2) combined a pair of first-period takedowns with a third-period escape and a takedown with 9 seconds remaining to forge a 10-2 major to deal senior Sebastian Dobak (19-2) just his second loss of the season. They did not meet at the H/W/S tourney.

“Good kids want good matches,” Longacre said.

Fitz thought the Stateliners might bump Garriques up to 157 where Hunter Taffera (16-4) accepted the forfeit to close the gap to 21-17.

Gary secured the lead for the Terriers, making it 23-21, by using his pin after Vincent Rainey’s choice at 106.

From that point, Fitz started adjusting his team composition.

They won the coin toss and chose the odd rounds,” Fitz said. “I lost, but I preferred even rounds because I wanted the flexibility at 175. So, we got what we wanted. We lost the coin toss, but we ended up winning it by accident.

Notice a theme here?

Senior Anthony Brito (4-2) competed at 175 pounds so that senior Olivier Paul (19-2) could advance to 190 pounds. Senior Gavin Geleta (16-2) pinned Brito in 1:49, and Phillipsburg took the lead, 27-23.

But not for long. Paul recorded six takedowns and an escape in the early stages of the third period, resulting in a 19-4 technical fall against senior Kevin Buonocore (4-9), which shifted the lead back to the Terriers, 28-27.

Junior Matt Sencher (13-6) came in at 185 pounds but moved up to face Phillipsburg freshman Ian Jankowski (7-9). Sencher had the 200-pound Jankowski in a tight position for the match-ending pin in the first period, but the Stateliner managed to survive the round. He even gave the Del Val crowd a scare by making a comeback from an 11-3 deficit before ultimately losing 11-7.

He (Jankowski) continued to work and work,” Longacre said. “Like 48 hours ago, the situation was different when we were in those circumstances. I’m satisfied with that tonight.

The choice provided the Terriers with a four-point lead heading into the 285-pound division, where Phillipsburg senior Ben Ellis (14-4) was a strong favorite for multiple reasons against the Terriers’ usual 215-pound competitor, Luke Cyphert. As per the weight records, Ellis came in at 243 pounds and Cyphert at 208.

Cyphert might have been the most astonished individual in the gym when he was asked to face Ellis in the championship match. He expected it to be his classmates Luken Alberdi, Del Val’s usual heavyweight competitor.

I’ve never wrestled at 285 pounds, it’s the first time in my life,” said Cyphert, who started the wrestling team as a sophomore after his pre-engineering teacher (Fitz) and several friends encouraged him. “I was pretty surprised when the coach came over to shake my hand. He walked down the tunnel (of wrestlers) and touched me, and I thought, ‘Oh, I’m going in.’ I thought Luken was going in.

Cyphert was aware of his task even without Fitz’s last words of support.

When the coach shook my hand before the bout, he asked, ‘What do you have to do?’ I replied, ‘Don’t get pinned.’ We were leading by four points. I was certain that at 285 pounds, he wouldn’t be able to pin me. The only way they could win this match was if they pinned me. So, in my mind, the opponent was 60-70 pounds heavier than me, and I was thinking, ‘Don’t attempt anything that will cause him to drop all his weight on me.’ So, yeah, I pretty much just stalled the whole match and avoided being pinned.

It was revealed that Ellis wasn’t only attempting to implicate Cyphert, but also sought to implicate Alberdi with his half-power.

I frequently train against my heavyweight in practice,” said the 6-foot-3 Cyphert, who previously played basketball before switching to wrestling. “He (Alberdi) really enjoys taking legs and using the power half. So, I work on that almost every day during practice. I was completely ready for that scenario. Honestly, if I wasn’t wrestling Luken in practice, I wouldn’t have been prepared for that moment, and I might have ended up caught off guard.

Regardless of how hard Ellis attempted to defeat the half, he couldn’t convince the determined Cyphert, who came out with a “victorious” 2-1 defeat.

If the weather allows, Delaware Valley will welcome Caldwell at 11 a.m. on Saturday.

Defeating P’burg doesn’t occur often, and we’re going to savor every moment,” Fitz said. “We have a very challenging Caldwell team, and I’ve been discussing them since the start of the week. We’ll be excited tonight and prepared to go strong tomorrow.

Phillipsburg will compete against Rumson-Fair Haven on Monday, welcome Hunterdon Central for a home match on Wednesday, and finish the week with a showdown against their long-time rival Easton on Saturday evening.

Longacre examined the broader perspective of Friday’s Skyland Conference cross-divisional loss.

I’d go 2-12 if we have a shot at a state title,” he said. “It’s all fine, it’s all part of the learning experience. It doesn’t matter if we win 18 individual matches. These kids are determined to win a state title. If we have the strongest schedule possible, which we do, facing a lot of strong opponents, we’re improving ourselves. All these challenges will benefit us in the future.

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