The Liners wrestling team traveled to Warren Hills to take on the Blue Streaks in a highly anticipated matchup. There is lots of bad blood between the two teams due to the highly skilled wrestlers on both teams.
The starting weight was 157 pounds where we saw Pburg’s Patrick Day go up against Warren Hills’ Tyler O’Neill. It was a tough and hard-fought match by both wrestlers, but Day came up on top to get the win, even with a knee injury early in the match. A great start to get the momentum to the Liners.
Jon Roth was up next at 165 pounds and he went against Dominic Dorsch of the Blue Streaks. Roth showed off his strong takedown skills and managed to get a major decision 20-8 to make the team score 7-0.
Next up was Pburg’s 175-pound wrestler Liam Packer against Cole Friedman. Packer, being one of Phillipsburg’s top wrestlers, was dominant in this matchup. He got a pin just 36 seconds into the first round. Shortly after, Derek Stone got a pin in 67 seconds against David Koscor at 190.
Nathan Smith at 215 pounds got a pin just 1:48 into the match. Warren Hills decided to forfeit the 285 match against John Wargo. A huge stretch of pins and wins for the Liners got the team score to 31-0. An impressive performance by all of Pburg’s heavier-weight classes.
The 106-pound match was up next and we saw Pburg’s Anthony Pettinelli go up against the Streaks’ Augie Szamreta. Szamreta got the major decision win to get the first points of the night for Warren Hills.
Next, Massimo Gonzalez was in the 113-pound match against Aiden Webb. Gonzalez battled for all three rounds, but Webb got it done in the last seconds to get the decision win 6-5. The team score is 31-7.
Pburg’s Owen Garriqeus went against Charlie Piccione in a close matchup, but Piccione got the edge on him and came up with a 4-2 decision win. Warren Hills’ Davey Rhinehart got a pin in the second round over Sean Negron to keep the winning streak going for Hills.
Gavin Geleta was next at 132 against Tyler Redfield. Redfield got the 8-0 major decision. Anthony Ashford showed some skillful moves against Hills’ Will Guidera to get a very impressive 12-5 win to stop the Streaks’ momentum.
This win seemed to get the Liners back in focus going into the 144 match seeing Luke Geleta go against Josh Lee in an anticipated match. Geleta showed his experience and got a tough 10-3 win. Warren Hills ended up forfeiting the 150 match against Gavin Hawk.
Phillipsburg got the win over Warren Hills 43-20. The advantage for the Liners was the earlier match wins that gave them a 31-0 lead. The lighter-weight matches was where Warren Hills really prevailed and got their points.
Pburg opened up the season undefeated with some very impressive wins over North Hunterdon, Delsea, and Mount Olive. The skills of the wrestlers on this team have drastically improved from last season. Ranked wrestlers like Liam Packer, John Wargo, Luke Geleta, and Gavin Hawk have never looked better with the amount of experience they have. Some injuries have impacted the pre-season including Caleb Rivera and Dawson McWilliams, which were two amazing assets to the Liners. We are also seeing some wrestlers on the rise for the team including Anthony Ashford, Nate Smith, and Derek Stone. It will be very interesting to see them improve throughout the season.
This team is one of the best Pburg teams I have seen in a while. They are capitalizing on every big match-up so far. The future schedule sees some very tough opponents including Hunterdon Central, Southern, and our rivals Easton. It is gonna be a fun season for this team.
Final Score: Phillipsburg 43 – Warren Hills 20
