UNRANKED DON BOSCO WRESTLING UPSETS NO. 12 DEPAUL; NO. 4 DELBARTON ROLLS PAST BOTH IN TRI-MATCH

Don Bosco Prep's Thomas Dougherty made the decision to stop playing one sport to focus on another. A moment like Saturday morning was among the reasons why. As unranked Don Bosco Prep wrestling was on the cusp of upsetting DePaul, ranked No. 12 in the latest NJ.com Top 20 poll, ahead by eight in the penultimate bout, Dougherty found himself on his back in the second period. Get pinned and the match's outcome would be decided in the final heavyweight bout. But Dougherty had other ideas. The former football player who decided to stop playing this summer to put more focus into wrestling managed to get out of trouble and eventually land a 9-7 decision over DePaul's David Drouet to clinch the Ironmen's eventual 38-24 win over the Spartans. Fueled by three wins to start from Kelly Dunnigan (106), Mike Tandurella (113) and Anthony Molinaro (120) and four to close it out from Nick Alvarado (182), Dan Donohoe (195), Dougherty and Jonathan Alvarado (285), Don Bosco Prep improved to 5-0 (though would later fall to Delbarton in its second match of the day). "We came into this knowing we were kind of the underdog and expected to lose," Dougherty said. "But everyone, starting from the bottom all the way up, we knew anything could happen. That's what coach always tell us, just fight and have heart for six minutes straight and I think we all did that." Wrestling without its head coach, Rick LaForge, who spent the day with his wife who was in labor, it was the Don Bosco Prep wrestling team which delivered its biggest win to date. The Ironmen won nine of 14 bouts, including a 9-3 decision from Will Grater over DePaul's Michael Esposito at 132 and received bonus points from Dunnigan (pin), who was making his Don Bosco debut after transferring from Bergen Catholic, Nick Franco (138; pin), Nick Alvarado (forfeit) and Donohoe (tech. fall). Acting coach Jason Silverstein also pointed out the performance of 145-pounder Ryan Cawood, who lost only by decision, 9-2, to DePaul's reigning state champion Ricky Cabanillas. "A lot of guys stepped up and won for us," Silverstein said. "A lot of guys who weren't maybe supposed to win won. And some who might've been expected to get pinned didn't get pinned. We picked up some key extra points. "Cawood not giving up a major... that was big for us. I told them that's what a team effort looks like. It's about getting those extra points, getting that last takedown for a major or not being taken down to avoid being majored. Everyone's working hard in that room, they're in good shape and ready to go for six minutes. We're starting to gel as a team." DELBARTON TAKES TWO Delbarton coach Bryan Stoll put it simply following his team's pair of wins Saturday. "We're finally starting to fire on all cylinders," he said. The Green Wave, ranked No. 4 in the latest NJ.com Top 20 poll, flexed their muscle in a 44-25 win over DePaul in their first match of the day before putting forth a dominant effort against Don Bosco Prep in a 54-21 victory. "We've got our full lineup in there now the last couple of matches and we're where we want to be at this point in the year," Stoll said. "The goal, as always, is to take as many guys to Atlantic City as we can and put as many as we can on the podium. Today was a step in the right direction toward that." Against DePaul, Delbarton won eight of the 14 bouts, seven of which earned the Green Wave bonus points. Nico Nardone won by technical fall at 113, Anthony Clark won by pin at 120, Andy Troczynski won by fall at 138 and AJ Lonski (170), Kieran Calvetti (182) and Luke Chakonis (195) rattled off three straight pins to turn a 20-16 lead into a comfortable 38-16 advantage. Against Don Bosco, Delbarton was even more impressive. The Green Wave won 10 of 14 bouts, including a streak of six straight first-period pins from 152 to 220. Dante Stefanelli (152) started it off, followed by Vincent Andreano (160), AJ Lonski (170), Kieran Calvetti (182), Luke Chakonis (195) and PJ Casale (220). Earlier in the match, Clark picked up his second quick pin of the day at 120. "We're a very young team," Stoll said. "At any time, there could be five or six freshman in the starting lineup and we're only got two seniors. So when you have a team like that, you're going to improve a lot throughout the year. The seniors have stepped up as leaders. AJ and Vinny, they've been great at pushing everyone else through. Last year, we graduated six guys that went to AC and obviously had Pat Glory. Early on this year, it's been about re-creating that culture in the room. We're getting to that point now." FULL RESULTS DON BOSCO PREP 38, DEPAUL 24 106: (DBP) Kelly Dunnigan pins (DP) Eric Checinski, 3:33 113: (DBP) Mike Tandurella dec. (DP) Nick Bottazzi, 1-0 120: (DBP) Anthony Molinaro dec. (DP) Derek Russell, 5-2 126: (DP) Nicky Cabanillas wins by forfeit | Bosco, 12-6 132: (DBP) Will Grater dec. (DP) Michael Esposito, 9-3 138: (DBP) Nick Franco pins (DP) Joe Ferrandiz, 3:07 145: (DP) Ricky Cabanillas dec. (DBP) Ryan Cawood, 9-2 152: (DP) Luke McFadden maj. dec. (DBP) Christian Jiminez, 18-8 160: (DP) Connor O'Neil pins (DBP) Torin Jacobs, 1:06 170: (DP) Stephen Barone tech. fall (DBP) Kevin Martel, 5:39 182: (DBP) Nick Alvarado wins by forfeit 195: (DBP) Dan Donohoe tech. fall (DP) Seth Otto, 17-2, 3:42 220: (DBP) Thomas Dougherty dec. (DP) David Drouet, 9-7 285: (DBP) Jonathan Alvarado dec. (DP) Eddie Bierals, 8-4 DELBARTON 44, DEPAUL 25 113: (DELB) Nico Nardone tech. fall (DP) Nick Bottazzi, 18-3, 5:27 120: (DELB) Anthony Clark pin (DP) Derek Russell, 1:12 126: (DP) Nicky Cabanillas maj. dec. (DELB) Jack Napeloni, 17-7 132: (DP) Michael Esposito dec. (DELB) Jack Sharma, 7-3 138: (DELB) Andy Troczynski pin (DP) Joe Ferrandiz, 1:35 145: (DP) Ricky Cabanillas pin (DELB) Luke Agaisse, 1:20 152: (DELB) Dante Stefanelli dec. (DP) Luke McFadden, 8-7 160: (DP) Connor O'Neil dec. (DELB) Vincent Andreano, 5-2 170: (DELB) AJ Lonski pin (DP) Stephen Barone, 3:47 182: (DELB) Kieran Calvetti pin (DP) Seth Otto, 0:23 195: (DELB) Luke Chakonis pin (DP) Davis Drouet, 1:20 220: (DELB) P.J. Casale wins by forfeit 285: (DP) Eddie Bierals pin (DELB) Liam Gray, 3:08 106: (DP) Eric Checinski dec. (DELB) Thomas Fischer, 4-0 DELBARTON 54, DON BOSCO PREP 21 120: (DELB) Anthony Clark pin (DBP) Anthony Molinaro, 0:21 126: (DELB) Jack Napeloni wins by forfeit 132: (DBP) Will Grater dec. (DELB) Jack Sharma, 7-1 138: (DELB) Andy Troczynski dec. (DBP) Nick Franco, 3-0 145: (DBP) Ryan Cawood pin (DELB) Luke Agaisse, 3:51 152: (DELB) Dante Stefanelli pin (DBP) Liam Noonan, 0:22 160: (DELB) Vincent Andreano pin (DBP) Torin Jacobs, 0:34 170: (DELB) AJ Lonski pin (DBP) Zach Kovanes , 0:11 182: (DELB) Kieran Calvetti pin (DBP) Nick Alvarado, 0:25 195: (DELB) Luke Chakonis pin (DBP) Dan Donohoe, 0:18 220: (DELB) PJ Casale pin (DBP) Thomas Dougherty, 1:47 285: (DBP) Jonathan Alvarado pin (DELB) Liam Gray, 0:18 106: (DBP) Kelly Dunnigan pin (DELB) Thomas Fischer, 1:39 113: (DELB) Nico Nardone dec. (DBP) Mike Tandurella, 11-4

UNRANKED DON BOSCO WRESTLING UPSETS NO. 12 DEPAUL; NO. 4 DELBARTON ROLLS PAST BOTH IN TRI-MATCH

Photo Credit: JJ Conrad