Cape wrestling rolls over Caravel 69-9 heading into holidays
The Cape wrestling team rolled over Caravel 69-9 on the road Dec. 20, snapping a three-year losing streak to the Buccaneers.
“Caravel forfeited two weight classes at 106 and 175, and two other starters haven’t weighed in this season, so I knew we were in good shape,” said Cape coach Chris Mattioni. “We’re at the Governor Mifflin tournament the weekend after Christmas. Then we open the new year Jan. 3 with a home match against Sussex Central.”
The showdown match of the night was at 215 pounds, where Cape’s Patrick Donahue battled Brock Rhoades. Rhoades had beaten Donahue in two previous matchups, including in last year's state tournament third-place final.
The match was tied at 4-4 after two periods, but Donahue’s wrestling room conditioning paid off, as the junior outlasted Rhoades to score six unanswered points for a 10-4 victory.
The match started at 106 pounds with Anthony Guerri getting a forfeit. Cale Baker (113) then secured a hard-fought 14-6 major decision over Natalie Redecki. That was followed by three straight Cape pins, beginning at 120 with Hudson Senard over Julian Rexrode (1:10), at 126 with Claudio Gonzalez over John Kaszyski (5:34) and at 132 with Max Meadows over Mason Manelski (1:32).
The Vikings led 28-0 after five of 14 matches.
Eddie Radecki (138) took Colin Poulis to the mat at 4:40 to get the Bucs on the board, trailing 28-6.
Owen Mattioni (144) came off the sick list and into the lineup for his first win of the season, beating Nick Massey 11-6 in a match that was tied at 6-6 after two periods.
“It felt good to be back out there and going hard for three periods,” Mattioni said.
Nick Walker, one of Cape’s hammers in the lineup, bumped up to 150 and secured a pin over Richard Massey at 3:12.
“Walker almost got caught at the end of period one, but he wriggled out of a precarious situation at the buzzer,” coach Mattioni said.
“It's a good experience,” Walker said afterward. “I learn from those situations.”
Brady Cole (157) won by pin over Alex Diluzio in 5:02. Colin Sekers (165) of Carevel won a 5-0 decision over Cape’s Noah Diamond. Cape’s Jeff Rainer (175) won by forfeit.
Luke Arnold-Decyk (190) of Cape won by fall over Brian Brooks (3:32). Donahue then topped Rhoades, before Tyler Costello (285) closed out the match with a quick pin over Matt Brunner (1:26) for the final score of 69-9.
