Once Ocean City got the momentum going, they didn’t stop, winning 54-18
LINWOOD – The Red Raider wrestlers wrought a decisive victory at Mainland Regional Feb. 2, beating the Mustangs 54-18.
“It’s always a big match,” Raiders head coach Dan Calhoun said. “They’re our closest neighbor and the kids always get up for it, whether it’s Mainland or Ocean City. It’s a rivalry, so there’s no real need for motivation – they all know it. It’s instilled in them, so leading up we had a good practice. We were ready to wrestle.”
“It meant a lot,” said Raider senior Aidan Fisher. “They’re our closest rivals, and coming off a tough loss against EHT we really stepped our game up today. I could see it in everyone’s faces; everyone was excited.”
Ocean City jumped out to a big lead over the short-handed Mustangs and racked up the bonus points to win going away.
“That was huge,” Calhoun said, “because a lot of times we’re digging ourselves out of a hole. But to get that early lead, it gives everybody who’s getting ready to hit the mat a little confidence. They want to keep that roll going.”
“We’re without three starters,” said Mustangs coach Clayton Smith, “our starting 190, our 165, and 150. Those three don’t flip that lopsided score, because we gave up way too many pins tonight. I’m not sure why, but we gave up way too many pins.”
Clifford Dirkes (165 pounds) got the Raiders off on the right foot with a first-period pin of Mustang James Barrett.
Red Raider David Schultz and Mustang Gary Williams then had an entertaining back-and-forth battle at 175. Mainland’s Williams led 4-2 after two periods, having scored a reversal to beat the buzzer in the second. Schultz quickly tied it to start the third, but Williams pulled back ahead with an escape to lead it 5-4 in the final minute.
Schultz reclaimed the lead with a take-down but Williams escaped to tie it at 6-6 with time running out. Schultz had enough left in him to grab the winning take-down with three seconds left to win 8-6.
“I saw how much time was left and that we were tied,” Schultz said, “so I was just trying to end it right there. I didn’t want to go into overtime.”
Sam Williams (190) stretched the lead to 15-0 with a first-period pin of Robert Sheeler.
“That big lead and big momentum carried us through the match,” Williams said. “We always circle this one at the beginning of the year, especially knowing these kids got the better seed than us in the playoffs. That was a little personal for us. We came out and showed that with our harder schedule, we were better prepared. We worked harder.”
At 215, Paul Lombardo put the Mustangs on the board with a decision, winning 5-2 over Justin Gooden.
Ocean City senior Aidan Fisher (285) wasted no time with his 30-second pin of Nick Timek.
Fisher didn’t mince words when asked about his goals for the rest of the season: “I want to win districts,” Fisher said, “and I want to do well in regions too.”
At 106 Mainland freshman Andrew Siteman had the quickest pin on the night, with a 20-second victory over Jacob Melini.
A forfeit drew the Mustangs to within six at 21-15, but it was the closest they’d get as the Raiders took six of the remaining seven bouts.
Aidan Leypoldt and Tommy Grimley grabbed back-to-back pins at 120 and 126, respectively, over Chris Mazur and Michael Gerace, to stretch the lead back out to 18 points, 33-15.
“Going into 132 I did the math,” Smith said. “If we pinned out, we’d tie. At 132 Carfagno was wrestling well. I thought we had it under control and it might work out. It just didn’t. After that one I thought we might not win but we could still have a good showing. Then we just kept going out and just getting beat up.”
Liam Culpit (132) took a 7-1 decision over Nikko Carfagno and Jon Wootton (138) pinned Jackson Waters in the first period to increase Ocean City’s lead.
“That was great,” Calhoun said. “We gave up some points down low but our guys rattled off some wins.”
At 144, Mainland’s Tyler Sheeler held on for an 8-7 decision over James Picinich.
After a Mustang forfeit at 150, Nick Layton (157) closed out the night with the eighth Ocean City pin of the match.
“It’s a little tough to swallow,” Smith said. “We beat EHT this year and EHT beat them. But the lineup we had against EHT isn’t the lineup that’s here. But if you pin in one of those early matches, or just don’t get pinned, maybe that momentum carries through. It also depends on how you match up. It’s an odd sport that way.”
“They’re our rival, so it’s a pretty awesome win,” Schultz said. “Everybody in our room is great, so it was a good atmosphere.”
“It’s great,” Calhoun said. “You just sit back and watch the kids compete. It was nice to see them attack and be aggressive the whole time. We were happy as a coaching staff.”
Coach Smith, meanwhile, didn’t put much stock in the rivalry aspect.
“It’s always that across-the-bridge rivalry,” Smith said, “so this might sound a little crazy – I’m a (Pennsylvania) guy, so I got to watch the rivalry when I came here. It’s good to have a rivalry like that, but at some point you have to realize it’s still just kids with singlets on their backs and wrestling shoes on their feet, and you have to go wrestle. So I told them after this, ‘You could have gone and wrestled Delsea, they’re red and white. Lacey is red and white. We could have wrestled them.’ It just seems it’s always tough when it’s that rivalry.”
Over the weekend Ocean City fell in a close one 39-30 to St. John Vianney.
The Raiders, after a tough early-season stretch, look to be rounding into form at the right time.
“Hopefully down the line all those tough matches make us better,” Fisher said. “Tougher schedules force you to improve and I think it showed tonight.”
“We’ve gone up against some hard teams,” Schultz said, “but we’re doing pretty well.”
“The beginning of the year was rough,” Williams said. “We started out with some really tough teams. But those matches made us better now, so these matches are easier.”
“This group has had our ups and downs, but it’s a good team,” Fisher said. “We all hype each other up and help each other out. So I think we can go far and hopefully a lot of us do well in districts.”
The Raiders (6-11) traveled to Lacey for a first-round playoff match-up Monday after the Sentinel went to press.
“It’s been intense,” Williams said. “Every day, every practice we go super hard because we know our goals at the end of the season – get out of districts, get out of regions – so everybody is working hard because we all have the same goal.”
Mainland (9-8) went 1-1 over the weekend against Deptford and Cherry Hill East and traveled to Absegami in their playoff opener.
The Mustangs look to find a way to finish strong while hit hard by the injury bug.
“I didn’t tell them you have to do this or that to beat Ocean City,” Smith said. “I told them you need to go out and wrestle the best you can for yourself to get the best win you can for district seeding and for your own personal record. If you do that the scoreboard tells the tale. It wasn’t about wrestling them, I told them, ‘Wrestle for yourself.’ All due respect, if they wrestled for themselves some of them came up short.”
By KYLE McCRANE/Sentinel Sports