Wrestling: Longtime Rival Beats Hopatcong by a Point

Short on bodies, Hopatcong knows it's coming into dual meets at a disadvantage this season and will need extraordinary efforts to pull out wins. But Wednesday night’s 40-39 loss to Lenape Valley had to sting, anyway.

The Chiefs held an 11-point lead with two bouts to go against their neighbors, but couldn’t hold on as the Patriots rallied against the Chiefs.

Pins by Joey and Giancarlo Cruz, Miguel Burgos and Joe Spaziani kept the Chiefs neck and neck with Lenape Valley through the match; and Hopatcong took the lead, 30-28, with four matches to go as Lenape forfeited the 135-pound match to Dan Haines.

A.J. Bongiovanni stretched the Chiefs’ lead to five with a 6-1 decision over Phil Sylvester, and Wyatt Gehring opened up an 11-point lead when he pinned Richie Delsandro in 3:26.

But the Chiefs could not seal the deal against the Patriots. After forfeiting the 152-pound bout, Troy Bongiovanni squared off against Andrew LaBell in the final match of the evening. Bongiovanni battled back and forth with LaBell through the first period, but got caught and pinned at 3:19 to give Lenape the victory.

“It’s a tough loss,” Chiefs coach Eric Fajerman said afterwards. “We were in a position to win, and we weren’t able to. It wasn’t just the last match. There were other spots where we had the chance to pick up bonus points and we didn’t capitalize on them.”

“We knew we had a chance to get this one,” said Giancarlo Cruz, who moved up to 125 to make room for a returning Ryan Van Pelt. “It stinks to lose that close a match. We just have to work harder at staying off our backs.”

Van Pelt, a transfer from Morris Catholic, made his debut for the Chiefs against last weekend’s Hunterdon Warren Sussex Tournament 119-pound champion Matt Benvenuto.

Van Pelt battled Benvenuto to a 0-0 tie through the first period before mat rust and fatigue took their toll. Van Pelt ended up losing a major decision, 12-2, but still gave the Chiefs a glimpse of what he can do.

“I knew coming in that my conditioning isn’t where it needs to be after sitting out a month,” Van Pelt said. “I was really getting tired in the second and third periods. The only thing I can do is to keep working my way back in shape, and plan to be ready to make a run at districts along with some of my new teammates.”

“Obviously we knew Ryan would be out of shape after sitting out 30 days,” Fajerman said. “We were debating whether to have him wrestle tonight, but we were thinking ahead to the district matchups and decided to give it a shot. He did well early, and his conditioning is just something that will come with time.”

Despite coming up short, Fajerman still saw plenty of bright spots in his squad’s performance.

“Joe Spaziani looked really tough tonight," Fajerman said. "Wyatt looked really good. Most of our guys wrestled very solid, so I can’t be too upset about our overall performance.”

While Gehring was clearly disappointed about not getting the team victory, he still couldn’t help but be pleased about coming through in the clutch.

“It felt great to get win in a key spot, especially when it’s the first one I’ve had in a while,” Gehring said. “I’ve just been trying to listen to what the coaches are telling me and do the things that will put me in a better position to get wins.”

While they didn’t quite pull it off last night, plugging a wrestler as solid as Van Pelt into one of the gaps in Hopatcong’s lineup has the potential to make the Chiefs much tougher as the season wears on.

But it will bring into question where exactly Van Pelt will fit in the lineup with both he and Giancarlo Cruz being natural 119-pounders.

Cruz, for his part, didn’t see any problems with the question.

“I don’t have a problem with bumping up to 125," Cruz said. "It’s not that big of a jump. Wherever coach Fajerman thinks we have the best chance to win is fine with me. You can’t approach and get nervous just because you’re giving up a couple of pounds.”

Lenape Valley 40, Hopatcong 39

103: Joe Spaziani (H) fall Vincent Sylvester 1:31

112: Joe Cruz (H) fall Magnum Villard 2:39

119: Matt Benvenuto (L) m Ryan Van Pelt 12-2

125: Giancarlo Cruz (H) fall Michael Naranjo 2:51

130: Nick D’Anofrio (L) fall Eric Hughes 1:53

135: Dan Haines (H) ff

140: A.J. Bongiovanni (H) d Phil Sylvester 6-1

145: Wyatt Gehring (H) fall Richie Delsandro 3:26

152: Bill Underwood (L) ff

160: Andrew LaBell (L) fall Troy Bongiovanni 3:19

171: Miguel Burgos (H) fall Christian Barrett 3:09

189: Mike LaBell (L) ff

215: Matt Kronyak (L) ff

285: Bob Sperling (L) fall Victor Burgos 3:35