Cape wrestling wins at William Penn 47-19

Cape wrestling won 47-19 at William Penn Feb. 4, prevailing in 10 of 14 matches. 

One final week remains in the regular season before the eight-team fields for the Division I and II dual-meet championships are decided. 

The top four in each division will wrestle at home Wednesday, Feb. 15. The surviving four teams will grapple at Smyrna Saturday, Feb. 18, to determine the dual-meet state champion in each division.

The top four in Division I heading into the final week are Sussex Central, Cape Henlopen, Caesar Rodney and Salesianum.

Both Sussex Central and Caesar Rodney have narrowly defeated Salesianum, Cape beat Caesar Rodney early in the season and Sussex Central narrowly defeated Cape. 

Pivotal matches in the final week feature Sussex Central at Caesar Rodney Wednesday, Feb. 8, and Salesianum at Cape Saturday, Feb. 11.

“I’m hoping we are at full strength to close out the season, and I know all teams deal with injuries and weight issues over the long season,” said Cape coach Chris Mattioni. “It’s a cliché, but in wrestling, it's all about matchups.”

Holt Baker (126) started off the William Penn match with a pin over Mykhy Pritchett (5:15). Nick Walker (132) followed with a 10-2 major decision over Nick Hendricks. Cape led on the scoreboard 10-0.

Daniel Sinclair (138), the defending state champion, won by major decision (13-3) over Cape’s Josh Wright.

Braydon Cole (144) won by fall over Austin Smith (5:46). Andrew Schaen (150) followed with a 9-2 win over Myles Harding. Cape led 19-4.

Jason Hughart (157) of William Penn pinned Hayden Wheeler (4:21), tightening the score to 19-10.

The Vikings won the next four weight classes starting with Luke Bender (165) with a tech fall over Franklin Norris (19-4); C.J. Fritchman (175) with a pin of Cole Urbanski (2:43); Patrick Donahue (190) with a 5-2 win over Ziyad Badreldein; and Mason Couchman (215) over Trevor Livesay by a 3-1 decision. 

Cape led the match 36-10 with four bouts remaining.

Eliedxander Jarquin-Torres (285) won in overtime 4-2 with a takedown of Cape’s Tyler Costello. Cape’s Tripp Gannon (106) won by fall over Jayden Ellis (2:00), followed by Cale Baker (113) with a tech fall over Eric Bodine 20-4. 

The match closed with a Brooklyn Gordy win by pin over Cape’s Max Meadows (3:13) for the final score of 47-19.