Bridgewater-Raritan HS Wrestling Team Wins Over Rival Watchung Hills

BRIDGEWATER, NJ — A rally that featured a disqualification and bonus-point victories resulted in a 35-32 victory by the Bridgewater-Raritan High School wrestling team over rival Watchung Hills Regional High School.

The two schools faced off at Vaughn Stapleton Gymnasium at Bridgewater-Raritan High on Wednesday.

Kyle Murphy, the Bridgewater-Raritan coach, is a teacher at Watchung Hills, while his assistant coach, Dan Smith, was a coach for 20 years and had a career at Watchung Hill. Smith is also on the Watchung Hills teaching faculty with Murphy.

Smith’s son, Danny Smith, was among those who delivered crucial bonus points to help Bridgewater-Raritan win.

"For the entire staff, the yearly matchup versus Watchung Hills is a highly anticipated one," Coach Murphy said. "For Coach Smith and I, we both teach at Watchung Hills, and in addition, Coach Smith was their head coach for 20 years. We developed a great relationship with their staff and team and that makes for a heck of a rivalry."

After Bridgewater-Raritan had staged its rally and had earned a 29-27 lead with three bouts remaining, Matt Di Eduardo of the host Panthers fell in a tense 144-pound bout against Cody Pritzlaff, 3-2. That result sent Watchung Hills to a 30-29 edge.

With 1:07 left in the first period of the 150-pound match, the bout came to an end when Bridgewater-Raritan’s Dane Sorensen was awarded a victory by disqualification due to flagrant misconduct against Watchung Hills.

That ruling resulted in six points for the Panthers and a deduction of three points from the visiting Warriors’ point total due to the biting call.

Also, Watchung Hills was then called for a bench misconduct, which led to a one-point penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct, and left Watchung Hills on the short end of a 35-26 score.

That sequence sealed the victory for Bridgewater-Raritan.

Watchung Hills won by a fall in the final match at 157 pounds and the evening ended with the scoreboard flashing a 35-32 Panther victory.

The Panthers were behind, 27-6, after seven bouts. Earning victories during that early stretch for the Panthers were 190-pounder Steven Shimko and 215-pounder Christian Gallegos, who posted 5-2 and 9-6 decisions, respectively.

Bridgewater-Raritan launched its comeback when Logan Levine won by a pin in 1:10 and Mike Marsigliano followed with a fall in 1:40 . Those pins cut the Watchung Hills lead to 27-18.

Danny Smith, who won his second straight Somerset County Tournament championship this season, then exploded out to a 10-2 lead after just one period at 132 pounds en route to a 19-4 technical fall victory in 5:30.

Casey Spina then won by three-minute fall at 138 to cap 23 unanswered points by the Panthers, who led for the first time, 29-27.

The victory lifted the Panthers to 6-2 while Watchung Hills slipped to 7-2.

"This was an outstanding night for Somerset County wrestling. Both schools put on an
exceptional effort that led to an unfortunate circumstance," Murphy said. "But ultimately it gave Bridgewater-Raritan the win in back-to-back years (over Watchung Hills) for the first time I can remember."

Additionally, at the match, Blake Winchuck was honored for his 50 years of service as a recreation wrestling coach by former Bridgewater police officer and wrestling coach Scott Hobbs.

Next up for the Panthers will be a quad match with Caldwell, West Morris Central and host Montville High School at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 21.

— Submitted by BRRSD