When 126 pounds was pulled as the starting weight class for the North Hunterdon wrestling team’s dual meet at Warren Hills, both teams had the opportunity to seize momentum early.
North Hunterdon senior Reid Buzby held on to a tight win in the opening bout at 126 before junior Aidan Yarussi followed up with an impressive 12-5 victory over senior Davey Rhinehart.
After winning those two toss-ups, the Lions never looked back.
North Hunterdon won 10 of 14 bouts in a 51-22 win over the Blue Streaks Friday night.
“We knew that those were gonna be big matches and set the tone for the night,” North Hunterdon coach Dave Bell said of the first two matches. “Reid’s been wrestling really, really well… He’s been wrestling really sharp. When Reid is on, he can wrestle with anyone, I’ve said that before.”
Buzby took down senior Augie Szamreta about 30 seconds into the bout and then crucially scored a second takedown late in the first period.
“He’s a good wrestler, he applied pressure towards the end of the match while I was getting a little tired obviously,” Buzby said. “I kept my position. I made sure to get enough points to be comfortable in the first period.”
A pair of stall calls on Buzby in quick succession in the second followed by Szamreta’s escape cut Buzby’s lead to 6-3.
Szamreta cut Buzby to start the third and scored a takedown on a reattack with about a minute left. Szamreta abandoned an attempt to turn Buzby, got in on a shot with about 20 seconds remaining but Buzby fought it off to secure an 8-6 win.
“It was hard for me. He’s obviously a tough wrestler, strong, so I was kinda nervous,” Buzby said. “I just had trust in my training, trust in my coaches, trust in myself.”
“When guys are that close, usually the takedown battle wins,” Warren Hills coach KC Wanamaker said of the opening bout. “Didn’t go his way this time, couple early takedowns, but he did a great job of battling back, kept his head and showed that he can grind through a match.”
At 132, Yarussi was clinical with his low attacks as he took down Rhinehart four times. Yarussi, who sprained his ankle on Tuesday according to Bell, had a chance to get the major after his second takedown of the third period but Rhinehart escaped with about 10 seconds left to cut the deficit to 12-5.
The Lions’ next three wins came by technical fall thanks to juniors Kieran Raley (17-2 at 138), Matthew Esposito (15-0 at 144) and Luke Charbonneau (18-1 at 157).
“Luke Charbonneau, he’s one of those guys that is new to the lineup. He’s a junior, it’s his first year starting,” Bell said. “He’s starting to come on, he’s starting to get confident out there and really wrestle well.”
At 165, North Hunterdon senior Sebastian Santos took down fellow senior Johan Venegas Mosos off a restart in the first. Then, after a miscommunication with the Lions’ coaches, Santos chose to start the second in neutral up 3-0.
“I wrestled this kid before at the Hunterdon/Warren/Sussex tournament and I knew that I was gonna do alright on top,” Santos said of his 19-4 tech fall win over Venegas Mosos two weeks earlier. “I looked over at my coaches at the start of the second period and, honestly, I mistook it. I thought they were telling me top or bottom.”
After scoring his second takedown of the bout, Santos secured the pin in 3:17 to put North Hunterdon up 27-6 halfway through the match.
“I got to my high crotch. He went chin whizzer when I tried to cut the corner and it kind of stopped me from going around,” Santos said. “I heard back from my corner, everyone was yelling to punch the half.”
Senior upperweights Owen Dandeo (in 37 seconds at 215) and Anthony DeSimone (in 58 seconds at 285) and junior Cayden Wadle (in 2:14 at 106) also won by fall for the Lions.
“As a team, we did really good overall,” Santos said. “I think, all of our guys, win or lose, we all fought really hard today. I couldn’t be more proud.”
“I love it, I love the team performance today,” Buzby said. “I think we did very well… We just need a little more fight in us I think.”
North Hunterdon (8-7) travels to Immaculata 7 p.m. Wednesday.
“We’re heading in the right direction,” Bell said. “We still have ways to go, but I really believe, where we are now and by the time we get to (the postseason) we’re going to be a much better team.”
Sophomore Landon Webb earned Warren Hills’ first win with a fall in 3:07 at 150. Trailing Ian English 3-2 in the second period, Webb quickly pushed for the pin after getting his first takedown.
“Gave up the takedown, didn’t lose his head, did a great job coming out on bottom,” Wanamaker said of Webb. “He was motivated, his blinders were on. He was winning that match no matter what and made it happen.”
Freshman Dominick Colaluce and junior Evan Marques won by fall at 120 and 190, respectively, for the Blue Streaks (6-7). Warren Hills freshman Jake Plesh scored a pair of takedowns in an 11-1 major decision in the penultimate bout at 113.
Wanamaker, who is in his third year in charge, is confident his team can continue to improve over the course of the season.
“You look at our lineup any given night and we have five, six guys that have been wrestling for a year and a half or less. A lot of them a couple of weeks,” Wanamaker said. “These guys are invested, they’re all good athletes, they play multiple sports, they train in the offseason. We’re gonna grow, we’re gonna get better. It’s going to take time, but they’re committed.”
Warren Hills hosts Phillipsburg 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 30.
