Wrestling returns with weekend tournaments

Snow days transitioned to go days as pent-up grapplers headed out to weekend tournament competitions. 

The Iron Horse duals at C. Milton Wright High School in Maryland welcomed Henlopen Conference teams Sussex Central, Cape Henlopen and Smyrna. The Delaware teams were in different pools and did not face each other as they wrestled seven bouts over two days. 

Sussex Central was unbeaten in Pool B, placing ahead of Brunswick and South River. 

Cape placed third in Pool A behind Loyola Bakefield and Liganore. 

Smyrna took fourth in Pool C, placing behind McDonough, Huntingtown and Damascus.

Cape is back on the grinding wheel with a Wednesday, Jan. 15 home match versus Delaware Military Academy and a Saturday, Jan. 18 home match versus William Penn.

The Delcastle Invitational welcomed 24 teams. The top six team scores were Salesianum with 298 points, Caesar Rodney with 249, William Penn with 200, St. Georges Tech with 199, Sussex Tech with 165 and Milford with 153. 

Sussex Tech crowned two champions, Anthony Edwards at 126 and Dustin Elliot at 157.  

Caesar Rodney also crowned a pair of champions, with Trevor Copes at 138  and Craig Dixon at 165.

Salesianum led the way with four tournament champions: Mason Catania at 106, Gabe Campanelli at 113, Ricky Jewell at 150 and Brayden Ranauto at 190. 

Notes: Cape coach Chris Mattioni said: “Luke Arnold was 7-0; that’s the best he’s wrestled all year. We utilized Patrick [Donahue] at heavyweight, and he beat the No. 1 and No. 2 heavyweights from Maryland. The No. 1 is from Loyola; he won the War at the Shore. He beat the William Penn heavyweight. Nick [Walker] should have been undefeated; we bumped him up to the better 157-pounders, but he lost a 5-4 decision to the No. 4-ranked 157-pounder. He gave up a takedown right at the end. Austin [Guerrieri] had a slow start. He should have been undefeated. He beat the No. 2-ranked kid in Maryland in a great match. That kid beat Malachi Stratton [of Sussex Central].”