Brick Memorial falls to Delsea in NJSIAA Group 3 wrestling state final

PISCATAWAY — As Brick Memorial exited the floor at Rutgers University’s Jersey Mike’s Arena after falling to Delsea in the NJSIAA Group 3 state final, Mustangs head coach Mike Kiley had plenty of thoughts running through his head. Regret was not among them.

“There was no margin for error and we needed to take some from them,” Kiley said. “We knew what we were up against. I just wanted to compete and represent ourselves well. I’m proud of the way the boys handled their business all season long.”

Brick Memorial’s quest for another state title fell short on Sunday with a 45-30 loss to Delsea, which captured its fourth straight Group 3 championship. With the match starting at a less-than-ideal spot for the Mustangs at 126 pounds, Delsea stormed out to a 33-0 through the first six bouts. Senior Malachi Saint-Vil got Brick Memorial on the board with a win by decision at 165 pounds, but Delsea answered with another pin at 175 for a 39-3 lead with six bouts left.

Brick Memorial had to pin out to win, putting enormous and unrealistic pressure on the heart of its lineup. The Mustangs have pulled out numerous improbable victories during their illustrious history, but this was a mountain too steep. Junior Trey Tallmadge won by fall at 190 and Delsea forfeited to Harvey Ludington at 215 pounds, opting to instead bump Sal Marchese up to heavyweight. Senior Ben Szuba won 10-6, but the Crusaders avoiding a pin clinched the match and the title.

Sonny DiMatteo won by fall at 106 and Paulie DiMatteo received a forfeit at 113 pounds before Delsea’s Amari Vann won by fall at 120 to close it out.

“They forfeited to Harvey and I was thinking we could win with Paulie on (Reid) Lightfoot and Sonny on (Greyson) Pettit, but they weighed up,” Kiley said. “We knew we had a forfeit coming down low but a couple of things didn’t go our way. We were in the match at 132 and then we got caught and stuck. It was not an ideal spot to start. But I’m so proud of these kids and how they handled themselves.”

If there was one aspect of the match that bothered Kiley it was Delsea forfeiting to Ludington at 215. Ludington is a two-time state champion, signed to Iowa,  and the No. 1-ranked wrestler in the nation at 190 pounds. He and Tallmadge both weighed in at 190 with the plan being to bump Ludington to 215 to face Marchese if the Mustangs won the flip, which they did. Delsea had Marchese at 215 and senior Alex Grippo at heavyweight but opted to bump Grippo out and put Marchese on Szuba at 285. Marchese reached the third round of wrestlebacks at last season’s state tournament while Grippo, like Szuba, reached wrestleback round four.

“Harvey was upset himself, he wanted to wrestle here,” Kiley said. “This is something a high school kid gets excited about so he was definitely hurt they didn’t send someone out.”

In totality, it was another successful season for Brick Memorial. The Mustangs won their Shore Conference-leading 19th sectional title with a comeback win over Hopewell Valley, before putting together an even more dramatic rally to beat Cranford in the Group 3 semifinals. They finished the season 14-5 with all five losses coming to teams ranked in the state top 20, including Group 2 champion Rumson-Fair Haven, Group 5 champion Southern Regional, and non-public powers Christian Brothers Academy and St. John Vianney. They entered the state final ranked No. 16 in New Jersey by NJ.com.

“These kids are all very good kids,” Kiley said. “Usually you have a couple kids that are rough around the edges but these kids all bought in, they hang out together, and we have great senior leadership with Harvey, Gavin, Ben. I think really seniors are what get you to these types of matches, so that’s a credit to those guys.”

Brick Memorial will lose Ludington, Szuba, and Martin to graduation but will return state qualifiers Sonny DiMatteo, Tallmadge, and junior Mikey Napolitano plus district medalists Kson Young and Hank Mulligan.

“I’m excited,” Kiley said. “I know we lose a lot up top but these guys all train hard in the offseason. I think we’ll be right back in the thick of things with the guys we have coming back.”

 

Box Score

Delsea 45, Brick Memorial 30

126: Greyson Pettit (D) tf. Kson Young, 24-6

132: Gage Summers (D) p. Gavin Martin, 4:28

138: Zavier Stokes (D) p. Logan Cromen, 0:38

144: Cameron Pote (D) md. Frank Bongiovanni, 11-3

150: Jamar Dixon Jr. (D) p. Jack Marotta, 1:46

157: Riley Boos (D) p. Elvin Corona, 1:40

165: Malachi Saint-Vil (BM) d. Charles Six, 12-9

175: Joel Anderson (D) p. Garrett Scott, 1:41

190: Trey Tallmadge (BM) p. Greg Sawyer, 1:16

215: Harvey Ludington (BM) by forfeit

Hwt: Ben Szuba (BM) d. Sal Marchese, 10-6

106: Sonny DiMatteo (BM) p. Reid Lightfoot, 2:53

113: Paulie DiMatteo (BM) by forfeit

120: Amari Vann (D) p. Mikey Napolitano, 2:33

Records: Delsea (21-2); Brick Memorial (14-5)