There were 13 wrestling matches across the state Dec. 13, and most of them were not closely contested.
Rolling light to heavy through 14 weight classes at Milford, Cape got off strong with pins by Austin Guerrieri (106) and Cale Baker (113), then held off a solid Milford team to win 47-22 heading into the weekend Beast of the East tournament.
“Coach [Don] Parsley always has his team ready,” said Cape coach Chris Mattioni. “I feel we wrestled well, and our kids showed they are in good shape. We want all our guys to be able to go hard for six minutes.”
Milford won a major decision by Kaden Swain (120), which was countered by Max Meadows of Cape (126) as the score settled to 16-4.
Davonne Dallas of Milford won by pin at 132 to cut the Vikings’ lead to 16-10.
Cape responded with six straight wins beginning with Colin Poulis (138), a 9-1 major decision; Nick Walker (144) by forfeit; Hayden Wheeler (150), a 14-7 decision; Brady Cole (157), a 10-5 decision; and Noah Diamond (165), a pin.
Cape led 40-10 with four bouts remaining.
Milford recorded two straight wins by pin beginning with Brian Seward (175) over Jeff Rainer, followed by Jordan Curry (190) over Luke Arnold-Decyk. The score closed to 40-22.
Patrick Donahue (215) pinned Greg Lockett at 2:19, followed by Tyler Costello (285) earning a 2-0 decision over Josue Villarreal Gomez for the final of 47-22.
Cape is taking nine wrestlers to the Beast of the East tournament: Austin Guerrieri, Cale Baker, Max Meadows, Nick Walker, Hayden Wheeler, Brady Cole, Jeff Rainier, Patrick Donahue and Tyler Costello.
“We have some inexperienced kids in our lineup,” Mattioni said. “We have a lot of work to do before our Jan. 3 home match versus Sussex Central.”
The Golden Knights opened the season with a 48-15 win over Polytech.