Once again, the South Brunswick High wrestling team will be sending an individual to the state finals.
Lucus Del Piano placed third at 189 pounds in the Region 5 Tournament this past weekend, earning a spot in the state finals in Atlantic City. This comes a year after Brendan Vercammen placed fifth in the state.
After losing his first match, Del Piano won three times in a row, clinching third place -- and the trip to Atlantic City -- with a 7-5 win over Voorhees Zach Bohn.
Find out what's happening in South Brunswickwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
"(Del Piano) is a dangerous wrestler," South Brunswick Coach Joe Dougherty said. "He can get the points he needs to get to win matches."
Del Piano trailed Bohn 5-2 going into the final minute before coming through with a five-point move.
Find out what's happening in South Brunswickwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
South Brunswick got off to a great start in the Region 5 Tournament, with Jordan Pagano (112), Tommy Dorsay (125), James Pagano (145) and Jake Pietrefesa (160) all winning preliminary matches on Feb. 24 to reach the quarterfinals.
As champions from District 20, Dave Dominguez (135), Tyler Jaramillo (152), Ali Yildiz (171) and Lucus DelPiano (189) all automatically earned a spot in the quarterfinals.
South Brunswick ended up going 4-4 in the quarterfinals.
"To have eight kids reach the quarterfinals is a real credit to our program," Dougherty noted.
Dominguez lost in the quarterfinals and his first wrestleback match. The same was true of Pietrefesa. That eliminated the pair from the competition.
Tommy Dorsay lost in the quarterfinals, but managed a win in his first wrestleback match. In the match to earn a spot in the consolation finals, however, Dorsay was defeated by Voorhees Chris Davis, 16-7. Dorsay finished the tournament with a record of 2-2.
Lucas Del Piano also lost in the quarterfinals, but he fought back with a win in the consolation round. Del Piano then earned the right to wrestle for third place when he defeated Ridge's Ryan Scherzer, 8-3, in the consolation semifinals.
Del Piano finished with a record of 3-1, with his only loss coming to Highland Park's Tyler Rios, the eventual champion. East Brunswick's Julian Quintin was second. There is very little difference between the three Middlesex wrestlers. Quintin has a county, Del Piano a district and Rios a region title this year.
"Sometimes, the difference between the three of them is literally a coin flip," Dougherty said.
Jordan Pagano won his quarterfinal match (2-0 over Iselin Kennedy's Collin Farley). After a semifinal setback, Pagano was eliminated in the consolation semifinals by a 1-0 loss to Bound Brook's Robert Murray. Pagano finished the tournament with a record of 2-2.
James Pagano also won his quarterfinal match (5-4 over Iselin Kennedy's Nick Hart). Unfortunately, Pagano was eliminated when he lost his semifinal and consolation semifinal matches. Pagano finished the tournament with a record of 2-2.
Tyler Jaramillo also won his quarterfinal match (5-2 over Somerville's Chris Carey). Unfortunately, Jaramillo was eliminated when he lost in the semifinals and consolation semifinals on Saturday.
Ali Yildiz defeated West Windsor South's Austin Scharfstein, 14-1, in the quarterfinals. After a semifinal loss, Yildiz got caught up in an epic match against Delaware Valley's Will Van Doren for a chance to wrestle for third place and a spot in the state championships. Van Doren emerged with a 2-1 win.
"We had a lot of four/five seeds," Dougherty said. "That meant if we won the first match, we were getting the top seeds in the semifinals. It's a tough region. It's very difficult to get past this level.
"It's tough. The previous year at the tournament is the biggest seeding criteria. Our kids are young. Hopefully, this experience for them will pay dividends. With all of them getting experience and a few wins, it'll help with seedings next year as well."
