Hammonton wrestlers roll past Mainland

Dan Russoman/THG. Vincent Palermo manuevers against Mainland’s Tyler Walters early in their match at 157 pounds last week. Palermo went on to pin Walters.

HAMMONTON—A dozen Hammonton wrestlers won matches as the host Blue Devils cruised past Cape Atlantic League rival Mainland on January 17, winning 64-12.

Hammonton earned bonus points in all but one of its victories, including eight pins.

“We had a very good night. It was good to see because we struggled a little our last time out against some really strong teams. We’re being tested every time we go on the mat this year, and I’m happy with how some of our guys are progressing,” Hammonton coach Dave Mauriello said.

Last week’s meet against Mainland opened at 150 pounds, where Frank Italiano was able to take down Mainland’s Christian Rivera in 3:54.

Vincent Palermo followed with another pin at 157 pounds, defeating Tyler Waters in 1:31.

After dropping a match at 165, Hammonton was back on the scoreboard at 175 pounds, where Michael Ryan held on for a 3-2 win against Vincent Hoag.

Mainland won at 195 to cut Hammonton’s lead to 15-12, but that was as close as the Mustangs would come as the Blue Devils closed the meet with nine-straight wins.

“It was close at the start, mostly because of where we started [at 150 pounds]. Opening in the middle weights isn’t really the best thing for us this year. We’re strongest down low (lighter wrestlers), and I like to start there to kind of let us build some breathing room. But our guys up top came through tonight with some wins. We’ve kind of had some uncertainty there, with our bigger kids, but they’re starting to come along. We had a stretch where we were very strong up to for a lot of years, and now it’s kind of cycled to where we’re stronger with the smaller kids,” Mauriello said.

Hammonton closing run began at 215 pounds, where Mark Hartley pinned Hector Gomez in 2:49. At 285 pounds, Cam Broadnax took down Oswaldo Mendoza in 3:01. Tyler Police grabbed a forfeit win at 106 before Nic Cirillo pinned Justin Mazur in 1:04.

Shane Way needed 3:03 to pin Garrett Chew at 120, and at 126 Gavin Morris collected a forfeit before Luca Giagunto scored a 24-9 technical fall against Cole Cayanan to win at 132 pounds.

Logan Walters earned a 17-8 major decision at 138, topping Carson Endicott and Eddie Niedoba closed the win with a 12-2 major decision against Yeshua Martinez at 144.

Hammonton saw its tri-meet against Middle and Clayton postponed by snow on January 20. The Blue Devils wrestled at Absegami on January 23, but those results were too late for this edition. On January 24, Hammonton hosts Cedar Creek at 6 p.m.