Cape wrestling tames Red Lion 49-20, moves on to William Penn
Cape wrestling rode three falls and three forfeits to a convincing 49-20 home victory over Red Lion Christian Jan. 22 at the Big House gym.
"We were missing Jeffery Reneer at 175, so bumped some guys up,” Cape coach Chris Mattioni said. “Hopefully we are done with weather postponements and can get back on schedule and back on weight.”
The featured bout of the evening occurred after seven matches were in the books (match started at 150) as freshman 106-pounder Austin Guerrieri of Cape, ranked No. 2 in Delaware by DelawareLiveSports, battled top-ranked Dominic Spennato, Red Lion’s eighth-grade phenom.
“I couldn't stop thinking about the match all day in school,” Guerrieri said. "I told myself it’s only a dual meet and it will get serious in states, but I was still a little nervous.”
Guerrieri got a first-period takedown, which was followed by a Spennato escape. The score was 2-1 entering the second period.
Spennato chose bottom to start the second period. Guerrieri had a Red Lon by the tail. Spennato got loose, tying the score at 2 entering the final period.
It was Guerrieri’s choice, and he chose the bottom. The Cape freshman got free to lead 3-2. The Red Lion coaches and wrestlers roared at their wrestler, “Takedown wins it!”
The talented and quick-as-a-cat Spennato spun behind Guerrieri in the final seconds, and he was in control. Everyone on the Red Lion bench held up two fingers and chanted “Two! Two!”
The official awarded no points. There was a coach/referee confab at the scoring table. Outcome: Decision stands. No points. Guerrieri wins 3-2 and climbs to the top of the rankings at 106.
“It was a takedown situation because they were neutral,” said Cape assistant Shane Jensen. “The ref got it right; no takedown, no points.”
Cape got pins at 150, Nick Walker over Giovanni Ramirez (3:05); 175, Hayden Wheeler over Aidan Bickley (1:16); and 190, Luke Arnold-Decyk over Jacque Wilson (5:50).
Arnold-Decyk was trailing the entire match on his back and somehow came out from under to over, catching and sticking Wilson with 10 seconds left on the clock.
“Red Lion has some tough kids,” said Mattioni. “That was a huge win for Luke.”
Red Lion had a pair of wins by pins: at 285, Nikko Sarson over Sean Costello (3:09) and at 113, Tye Bellarin over Cale Baker (3:49).
Cape also got wins at 157, Noah Diamond over Thomas Lawhorn (5-0); at 215, Patrick Donahue over Xavier Moore (MD 13-2); and at 132, Max Meadows over Garrett Till (9-2).
Red Lion wins by decision included at 165, Ulysses Van Atta over Brady Cole (MD 11-3) and at 126, Santino Sianni over Tripp Gannon (MD 10-0) .
Cape will wrestle at William Penn at 1 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 27.
