BORDENTOWN — The fact the Steinert High wrestling team defeated Bordentown/Florence on Thursday night was not in itself a particularly significant accomplishment.
What was noteworthy was Steinert beat the Flash Dogs with ease by the score of 48-24 despite missing its two returning region qualifiers.
One was ailing middleweight Alex Castano, who posted 21 wins a year ago and was second at districts. The other was 215-pounder Mikey Odige, who was attending a family wedding.
In Odige’s case it didn’t matter because Jose Samayoa-Rodas stepped in at that weight and decked his opponent in a fast 1:31.
Steinert might very well have won another bout at the end with Castano in the lineup, but in the big picture it wasn’t a big deal at all because the Spartans put this one away early by bolting out to a quick 30-0 lead in a match that started at 157.
Interestingly, the match starting at 157 came as a surprise to Steinert coach Joe Panfili because he was convinced it was going to get underway at 150. This didn’t make much of a difference either, although Panfili wanted the 150-pound start.
“We hit the thing and it came up 150,” said Panfili. “We knew their 150-pounder (Joe Hartz) was their big gun and we didn’t want to see him at the end.”
Panfili did, indeed, indicate he expected a close match before it got started. Instead, the Spartans opened with first-period pins by Solomon Hussein, Yazid Ahmed and Marcello Pandolfini.
When Rudy Ortiz filled in at 190 and won a 7-5 decision, Samayao-Ross pinned and Aiden Constance won a 5-2 decision at heavyweight, the rout was on. Bordentown-Florence did win four bouts at the end, but one of those victories was a forfeit at 106.
Steinert, meanwhile, also got falls from two capable wrestlers in Julian Bijaczyk (126) and Anthony Ricigliano (132) en route to a 10-4 split.
“Jose did a great job at 215. This is his first year of wrestling. He’s a tough kid and a hard worker. I was super proud of all my kids. I was especially proud of my 175 pounder (Ortiz). He bumped up and came through with a big win. Aiden Constance had a big win as did Yazid Ahmed. Marcello Pandolfini too. He went out there and handled business.”
When asked how he thinks a season that is off to a fast 3-0 start might go after drubbing Nottingham and Hamilton earlier in the week, Panfili seemed optimistic.
“We’re very excited about this season,” he said. “Our kids have been working hard, It should be fun when we wrestle (defending Colonial Valley Conference Colonial Division champion Hightstown). It was fun last year when it went to criteria. We are looking forward to see what we can do.”
Steinert (3-0) 48, Bordentown/Florence (0-2) 24
157-Hussein (S) p. Gerheiser, :40; 165-Yazid Ahmed (S) p. Drangula, :15; 175-Pandolfini (S) p. Enslin, 1:13; 190-Ortiz (S) d. Roberson, 7-5; 215-Samaoa-Ross p. Patel, 1:31; Hvy-Contance (S) d. Stumpf, 5-2; 106-Kiffer (B) wbf; 113-Carpenter (S) wbf; 120-Jackson (B) p. Mottola, 4:42; 126-Bijaczyk (S) p. Gens, 2:59; 132-Ricigliano (S) p. Carnival, 1:10; 138-HItt (B) p. Bodon, 2:32; 145-Novoa (B) p Yasin Ahmed, 4:30; 152-Hartz (B) d. Clarke-Goss, 6-2.
OTHER MATCHES
Hopewell Valley 60, Nottingham 20
150: Elian Mejia (HNN) over Luke Mutschler (HVH) (Fall 2:55)157: Max Pollara (HVH) over Prince Achi (HNN) (Fall 0:57)165: Preston Horvath (HVH) over Austin Kaye (HNN) (Fall 0:54)175: Ethan Barker (HVH) over Alberto Giron (HNN) (Fall 1:12)190: Scott Mangan (HVH) over Emilio Roman (HNN) (Fall 1:12)215: Gavin Barker (HVH) over Anthony Cortez (HNN) (Fall 1:37)285: Malcolm Louissaint (HNN) over Ken Pineda (HVH) (Fall 2:22)106: Said Jan Rahmani (HVH) over (HNN) (For.)113: Saif Ali Rahmani (HVH) over (HNN) (For.)120: Luca Schiavon (HVH) over Jude Wolak (HNN) (Fall 2:15)126: Dylan Somma (HVH) over Christian Morolda (HNN) (Fall 0:36)132: Lincoln Samonski (HNN) over Sebastian Soto (HVH) (MD 12-4)138: Kurt Falzini (HNN) over Jace Kalina (HVH) (MD 11-2)144: Isaac Miller (HVH) over Andrew Manning (HNN) (Fall 2:44)
Southern 36, North Hunterdon 29
106: Jonas Lusker (SORE) over Cayden Wadle (NOHU) (Dec 6-3)113: Owen Fol (NOHU) over Nick Banos (SORE) (Dec 7-6)120: Evan Stark (SORE) over (NOHU) (For.)126: Reid Buzby (NOHU) over Anthony Mason (SORE) (Fall 1:19)132: Aidan Yarussi (NOHU) over Dion Mesanko (SORE) (TF 19-4 4:54)138: Kieran Raley (NOHU) over Henry Zimmerman (SORE) (TF 20-4 5:58)144: Matthew Esposito (NOHU) over Tyler Morin (SORE) (MD 16-5)150: Attila Vigilante (SORE) over Ian English (NOHU) (Dec 7-6)157: Luke Charbonneau (NOHU) over Colton Gearl (SORE) (Dec 6-5)165: Vincent Esposito (SORE) over (NOHU) (For.)175: Nicholas Daddona (SORE) over Dylan McGuinness (NOHU) (Fall 1:53)190: Owen Dandeo (NOHU) over Brady Nolan (SORE) (Dec 3-0)215: Johan Figueroua (SORE) over Dajinder Dhillon (NOHU) (Fall 1:22)285: Noah Saropoulos (SORE) over Anthony DeSimone (NOHU) (Fall 1:07)
Princeton 40, West Windsor South 39
106: Sebastian Hunt (PRIN) over Kevin Harris Praveen (WWPS) (Fall 0:46)113: Patrick Giles (WWPS) over Silas Deutsch Hughes (PRIN) (Fall 2:36)120: Sawyer Zwick (PRIN) over Rohan Nair (WWPS) (Fall 5:37)126: Abdus Samad Shaik (WWPS) over Lucas Li (PRIN) (Fall 1:16)132: Karim El Razaz (WWPS) over Patrick O`Dowd (PRIN) (Fall 1:03)138: Quentin Gouvenot (WWPS) over Remy Suozzo (PRIN) (Fall 0:45)144: Youssef Shadid (WWPS) over Matthew Brophy (PRIN) (Dec 9-3)150: Colin Fitzgerald (PRIN) over Bilal Afridi (WWPS) (MD 11-3)157: Morton Whitlow (PRIN) over Giorgi Narindoshvili (WWPS) (Fall 3:43)165: Rehan Ahmed (PRIN) over Ibrahim Husseini (WWPS) (Fall 5:06)175: Mohamed Hammad (WWPS) over Guilherme Decotelli (PRIN) (Fall 1:58)190: Adam Schwarz-Manocchio (PRIN) over Shubham Goyal (WWPS) (Fall 0:38)215: Zyair Mackey (PRIN) over Jayadeep Atte (WWPS) (Fall 0:13)285: Sriman Dola (WWPS) over Amil Dhookie (PRIN) (Fall 5:07)
