Cape wins Division I wrestling title
Milestone Man Mattioni turned 50 years old last summer, in the year Chris coached Cape wrestling to its first Division I state title in the consolidated school's 50-year history.
Coach followed that up this season by winning the Henlopen Conference regular-season dual-meet title for the first time since 1990.
At Smyrna Feb. 12, the improbable journey continued after Cape beat Caesar Rodney 43-26 in the finals to put the 2022 Division I State Dual Meet Championship trophy on the school bus, which would be escorted home to Sesame Street by the Sea by fire trucks from Lewes, Milton and Rehoboth.
“Never the easy way to a championship,” Mattioni said. “The semifinal 33-31 win over Smyrna was maybe the most intense match I’ve ever been involved in. And on the other mat, there was Caesar Rodney upsetting Salesianum 37-34. I had to do a quick scout to see how we wanted to match up against the Riders.”
The championship match versus CR started at 126 pounds, where Josh Wright pinned Dylan Bennett in 4:49. Cape bumped up Andrew Schaen to 145 and Mikey Frederick to 152, with Schaen winning 15-10 over Cody Waski and Frederick following with a 16-1 tech fall victory over Jaxon Kopp.
C.J. Fritchman (160) pinned Mason Bush in 1:58, and Carson Kammerer (170) won by tech fall over DeVaughn Baker 17-2, followed by an Alex Taylor (182) win. Taylor descended to 182 pounds for the match, earning a fall over Brock Connor in 4:27.
That set the stage for Lucas Ruppert at 285 pounds. Ruppert pinned Robert Meister in 3:40 to give the Vikings a 37-18 advantage with just three bouts remaining. The only thing that could beat Cape was three pins and an unsportsmanlike penalty point deduction.
The final score of 43-26 came on a Holt Baker (120) pin of Antonio Darby, setting off a celebration that lasted 15 minutes.
Cape got to the finals after winning a semifinal match the hard way, 33-31 over Smyrna. The team win was set up by a Dalton Deevey pin of Kael Howell at 220 and a Lucas Ruppert decision over Chijioke Eule at 285.
Cape led 33-25 with bouts at 106 and 113 remaining. Smyrna was heavily favored in both bouts. Cape’s little big men had to stay off their backs and not get dominated.
Jacob Goodsell (106) did his job, losing to Warren Coates 10-7, as the Cape lead shrunk to 33-28. Rony Perez (113) stayed out of major trouble too, losing 8-4 to Wyatt Miller. Cape survived 33-31 to advance to the final.
Caravel won the Division II title with a 52-15 victory over Delaware Military Academy. The Buccaneers reached the finals by beating Lake Forest in the semifinals 75-6.
Cape will compete in the Henlopen Conference tournament this Friday and Saturday, Feb. 18 and 19, at Sussex Central High School.
“I’m pretty sure Cape has never won that tournament,” Mattioni said.
