PHILLIPSBURG
48, WARREN HILLS 6. Win sets stage for section championship clash.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
By NICK FIERRO
The Express-Times
PHILLIPSBURG
| Their focus and confidence restored four days earlier, the Phillipsburg High
School Stateliners reduced their magic number to three on Wednesday night with
a thorough 48-6 romp over Skyland Conference rival Warren Hills in the NJSIAA
North 2 Group 3 sectional semifinals.
All but two bouts went to
the host Stateliners, who improved to 19-2 and will host South Plainfield in
the sectional final Friday night.
"Phillipsburg has an
'A' team and a 'B' team," said Jason Magditch, who coaches both of them.
"When the 'A' team shows up, we'll beat anybody. I know that in my heart.
But when the 'B' team shows up, we'll lose to average, OK teams. So it's really
kind of mixed right now."
Unfortunately for the 14-11
Blue Streaks, the 'A' team showed at The Pit, which served to make an already
difficult situation just about impossible.
Although Phillipsburg closed
the strongest way possible -- with pins by Rylan Watson at 112 pounds and Dan
Brockerhoff at 119 to set the final score -- Magditch had been hoping for more
falls earlier, especially because most of his wrestlers seemed to be so dominant
on top.
"We're still not
pinning guys like we would want," the coach said. "I mean, our tilts
are OK, we're getting points, we're trying to get the margins wider, but we're
not pinning as much as we would want.
Senior Bob Moyer felt his
coach's pain long after earning a solid 3-0 decision over Anthony Gaito at 135
in which he rode Gaito for the entire second period and then masterfully
countered a headlock from the neutral position in the third for a takedown.
"I was getting
frustrated," Moyer said. "I couldn't do anything with him. The last
match (a seven-point victory), I had a real good high crotch on him. He knew it
was coming in this match and he protected (against) that."
Moyer's win, added to
teammate John Horak's 13-3 major decision over Ryan Brouhard at 130 and Matt
Lane's 7-2 win over Matt Schuebel in the match-opening bout at 125, gave
Phillipsburg a 10-0 lead.
That advantage grew to 13-0
when Oliver Brukardt closed a tight bout against Storm Deemer with a takedown
and two back points in the third period at 140. It was a good recovery for
Brukardt, who had given up the bout's first takedown with 12 seconds remaining
in the first period.
Teammate Eric Bohem was much
more shaky at the start of his 171-pound bout with Kyle O'Donnell, getting
cradled and nearly pinned in the opening seconds before coming all the way back
from that 5-0 deficit to earn a 10-8 overtime victory. Bohem's buzzer-beating
takedown at the end of regulation set the stage for him to win it with another
takedown 13 seconds into the extra session.
"I thought I was
flat," he admitted. "But I mean, just a couple days ago, we had a
(loss) against David Brearley and a lot of us were getting pinned. So we really
worked on getting off our backs and just not giving up. I kept fighting and
fighting and finally I found my way out."
Jared Crouse and Matt
Santini won for the Stateliners at 189 and 215 pounds, respectively.
Phillipsburg heavyweight Jim
Tersigni, pinned by Jon Slack the last time they met, turned the tables on him
in this rematch with a 14-9 decision that would have been a major if not for a
four-point move by Slack as time expired.
"He wrestled a great
five minutes and 50 seconds," Magditch said. "... Jimmy definitely
wrestled much, much better. He controlled the match."
PHILLIPSBURG 48, WARREN
HILLS 6
125 -- So. Matt Lane (26-4),
P, d. So. Matt Schuebel 7-2.
130 -- Jr. John Horak
(23-6), P, md. Sr. Ryan Brouhard 13-3.
135 -- Sr. Bob Moyer (20-9),
P, d. Jr. Anthony Gaito 3-0.
140 -- Jr. Oliver Brukardt
(23-7), P, d. Jr. Storm Deemer 8-2.
145 -- Sr. Ricky Graff, WH,
d. Sr. Nick Pare (22-8) 10-8.
152 -- Sr. Cliff Tinsman
(11-7), P, md. Jr. Nick Brands 16-6.
160 -- Jr. Matt Artigliere,
WH, d. Sr. Mike Simon (17-10) 12-6.
171 -- Sr. Eric Bohem
(17-13), P, d. So. Kyle O'Donnell 10-8 OT.
189 -- Sr. Jared Crouse
(23-6), P, d. Sr. Richie Maguire 6-1.
215 -- Sr. Matt Santini
(23-6), P, md. Sr. D.J. Barilla 12-4.
285 -- Sr. Jim Tersigni
(19-10), P, d. Jr. Jon Slack 14-9.
103 -- Jr. Casey Duckworth
(2-6), P, forfeit.
112 -- So. Rylan Watson
(17-9), P, p. Fr. Keith Wanamaker 1:03.
119 -- So. Dan Brockerhoff
(9-13), P, p. Fr. Bryan Begane 1:52.
Records: Phillipsburg 19-2;
Warren Hills 14-11.
Nick Fierro can be reached
by e-mail at nfierro@express-times.com.