Misery eased for Phillipsburg High School's Bob Moyer in first round of NJSIAA Region 1 wrestling tournament

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

By NICK FIERRO

The Express-Times

HARDYSTON TWP., N.J. | Bob Moyer made no attempt to mask his disappointment, even after apparently getting back on track by convincingly winning his first-round match at the NJSIAA Region 1 Wrestling Tournament.

The Phillipsburg High School senior has been hurting since the moment he walked off the mat Saturday night as the District 1 runner-up at 135 pounds at Mount Olive. His 13-3 major decision over Anthony Moran of Morris Hills at Wallkill Valley on Tuesday provided only partial relief.

"I was just trying to put last week behind me," Moyer said. "I mean, give (Anthony Gaito of Warren Hills) credit. He beat me (in the district final). But it was one move, and I beat him twice before that. I'm trying to completely forget about that because I've been miserable for the past four days. I feel this match kind of brings me back a little bit."

More satisfying was the way Moyer handled adversity early in Tuesday's match.

"It was 0-0 going into the second period," he said. "I could have easily got frustrated and lost my head and gave him an escape. Instead, I turned him four times."

At least Moyer will have a chance to make things right this weekend, when all of Tuesday's winners return to Wallkill Valley as the tournament resumes Friday with the quarterfinals and full consolation brackets. The losers, including teammates Casey Duckworth at 103 and Dan Brockerhoff at 119, saw their seasons come to an end.

Moving on to the quarters along with Moyer were teammate Mike Simon (160); Warren Hills' Matt Schuebel (125 pounds), Rick Graff (145), Kyle O'Donnell (171), Richard Maguire (189) and Jon Slack (285); Hackettstown's Erik Mitchell (130) and Khalid Zubaydi (215); North Warren's Ryder Clemmo (171) and Belvidere's Greg Ritter (285).

Simon was especially proud to point out he didn't even hit his favorite and most frequent move, a cement job, to pin Newton's Stephen Mihail in what looked on paper like the upset of the tournament so far.

Instead, he used a Peterson Roll to stick Mihail, who had just one loss heading into districts last weekend (and was winning this match by two points before being reversed), with 6 seconds remaining in the second period.

"His record made it look like he was a good wrestler," Simon said. "But they don't wrestle the schedule we do. I just put his record out of my mind."

Mitchell's match against Evin Feliciano of Kinnelon wasn't going too well heading into the second period. He had just given up a second takedown with 2 seconds remaining in the first to go down, 4-1.

But one thing he had working for him was longer arms and leverage and he used them to his advantage in pinning Feliciano from the top in 3:40.

"I caught him with a bundle of arms," Mitchell said. "I used to do it a lot when I was in midget leagues. It would work against stronger kids like him. I'm not going to lie. It was pretty nice to catch him with that.

"I guess I'll just have to play it by ear from now. I'm just happy I made it in."

Brockerhoff lost in overtime to Randolph's Brian Wrede in a match that was dominated by defensive scoring after Brockerhoff scored the lone takedown in the first period. In fact, he almost pinned himself while riding in the second period, before Wrede reversed him.

Another Wrede reversal in the closing seconds of regulation had Brockerhoff on his back and the referee counting as the buzzer sounded. No back points were awarded, though, after a brief conference, and they went to overtime locked in a 4-all tie.

Brockerhoff did a remarkable job blocking what looked like a certain takedown in the first overtime before finally succumbing in the alternate rideout sessions as Wrede used a Peterson Roll for two points off the bottom in the first, then wisely cut Brockerhoff loose to start the second and tied him up for 30 seconds to win it, 6-5.

Nick Fierro can be reached by e-mail at nfierro@express-times.com.