If Saturday’s results are a sign of what’s to come, the Point Pleasant Boro wrestling team is beginning to peak at the perfect time.
The Panthers put together their most complete effort of the season by sweeping a tri-meet with High Point and West Deptford in a showdown of Group 2 hopefuls on Saturday morning in Point Pleasant. Point Boro began the meet with an emphatic 50-15 victory over High Point and closed the day with a 43-22 win over West Deptford.
Michael DeAngelo (113), Jax Corino (120), Chase Eckert (132), Jack Barger (138), Maxwell Puglisi (144), Luke Renna (150), Jake Clayton (175) and Jack Scalabrini (215/285) each went 2-0. Point Boro (7-4) set a high-scoring tone early and never relented throughout the meet. The Panthers won 19 of 28 bouts against the Wildcats and Eagles. They secured bonus points in 15 of them.
“I think we’re getting better every time we put our team on the mat, from the beginning to now,” Point Boro head coach Pat Brady said. “I think the best is yet to come with this team. I think we have a lot of potential, and we still haven’t put our full lineup on the mat.”
Senior West Matta (126) and junior Aiden Wilson (190) did not wrestle on Saturday. Senior James Bradley (190) remains out with an ACL injury suffered in the first game of the football season.
High Point (10-11) entered the day ranked No. 8 in the NJ.com Group 2 rankings, but it was all Point Boro from the coin flip. Starting at 106 pounds, the Panthers won the first eight bouts to open an insurmountable 37-0 lead. Freshman Greg Parani won by fall at 106, senior Jack Barger won by fall at 138 and junior Max Puglisi delivered a technical fall at 144 to highlight an eight-bout winning streak. Freshman Landon Meyer won by decision at 126 pounds for his first varsity win.
The Panthers started strong against West Deptford (12-11), as well. Corino won by fall at 120 to open the match, and Point Boro added four straight wins from Eckert (pin), Barger (decision), Puglisi (technical fall) and Renna (technical fall) to forge a 25-5 advantage through the first six bouts.
Barger gutted out a 9-5 decision over West Deptford returning district fourth-place finisher David Shields at 138 pounds. Barger led 6-1 before Shields cut his deficit to one point. Barger sealed the victory with a takedown in the final 30 seconds. It was his best showing of the season after he returned from a torn ACL suffered during the football preseason.
“Jack does everything right,” Brady said. “He’s a quiet, confident leader in the room, and for him to come back in six months from an ACL tear just to compete with this team says a lot about his character.”
Point Boro began the day fourth in the Central Jersey Group 2 power point standings behind Wall, Ocean Township and No. 19 Rumson-Fair Haven. High Point is No. 1 in the North Jersey, Section 1, Group 2 power points. West Deptford is sixth in South Jersey Group 2.
In the middle match, High Point rolled to a 47-27 win over West Deptford. Ayden Tighe won by injury default over High Point’s Luke Tompkins at 157 to cut High Point’s lead to 26-16 after eight bouts, but the Wildcats received a technical fall from Jayden Ruplall at 165, a pin by John McCarthy at 175 and a major decision from Jack Kithcart at 190 to take control of the match with a 41-16 lead.
Kithcart and senior heavyweight Gavin Mericle each went 2-0 with bonus points for High Point. Mericle, ranked No. 6 at 285 pounds in the NJ.com individual weight class rankings, won by fall twice and wrestled a total of 72 seconds.
Tighe (157), Ryan McConaghy (126), Charles Schriver (215) and John Anthony Fenuto (106) each went 2-0 for West Deptford. McConaghy, a returning state qualifier, won by technical fall in both of his wins and outscored his opponents 36-3.
“We had this circled on our calendar and knew it was going to be a good test for where we are,” Brady said. “But ultimately it’s about the next one. We have some tough ones coming up next week.”
