Bergen Catholic & Don Bosco Prep earn Garden State and Virginia Duals titles

Bergen Catholic holds off St. Peter’s Prep, wins Garden State Duals

By Rob Sherrill

The inaugural Garden State Duals, held at Rutgers University last weekend, produced the final everyone wanted to see between the state’s top two teams: Oradell Bergen Catholic and Jersey City St. Peter’s Preparatory.

Top-ranked Bergen Catholic won eight of the first 10 bouts and prevailed, 34-21.

Nick Suriano (113) opened the dual with an 18-6 major decision, one of five bonus-point wins the Crusaders scored during the streak. A technical fall by state place-winner Peter Lipari (126) and a decision from state qualifier J.P. Ascolese (132) pushed Bergen Catholic’s lead to 12-3.

State place-winner Connor Burkert stopped state qualifier Lauren Anghelina, 6-3 at 138, to make it 12-6 before the Crusaders broke away with a five-match run.

Zach Spira (145) started the run with a technical fall and two-time state champion Johnny Sebastian, battling through a dislocated shoulder suffered at The Clash National Duals, ended it with an 8-0 major decision for a 34-6 cushion.

In between, Jordan Pagano (160) scored a major decision, state qualifier Kevin Mulligan (170) earned the match’s only pin and state qualifier Joe Grello earned a 5-1 victory over state placewinner Ryan Burkert at 152.

Mulligan, who had four wins, was named the meet’s Outstanding Wrestler for the upper weights. The lower-weight OW went to D.J. Tirelli (138) of Oradell River Dell.

Don Bosco Prep emerges as contender

Down the shore, the Ironmen (5-0) of Don Bosco Prep of Ramsey, N.J., became the second New Jersey team to win the National High School Division title at the Virginia Duals in as many years, turning back Nazareth (Pa.), 32-20 in the final match. Even though star 126-pounder Kyle Bierdumpfel lost 4-2 in overtime to Tyrone Klump, the Dons won nine of the 14 matches.

Don Bosco Prep won its first three matches by an average score of 46-18. That’s a huge improvement from their dual-meet opener Jan. 4, when the Dons squeaked past Montvale St. Joseph Regional, 35-33.

So…who’s No. 2 in the Garden State? That question could be settled when the Dons travel to St. Peter’s Prep for a 10 a.m. match on Monday, Jan. 20, which is Martin Luther King Day.

Hone tops LaMont in Utah All-Star Dual

Three-time Utah 3A state champion Dusty Hone of Cedar City will have something else to remember from his senior season besides his expected fourth state title.

Hone edged Cadet National champion Taylor LaMont of Spanish Fork Maple Mountain, 3-2 at 132 pounds in the featured match of the Utah All-Star Dual, which included three bouts at each of the 14 high school weight classes, plus five junior-high matches.

The state’s other stars all won their matches, but some were pushed. Also sweating out one-point wins were two-time state champion Matt Findley (138) of Sandy Alta, who edged Junior National Greco-Roman finalist Johnny O’Hearon of Maple Mountain, 5-4. At 170 pounds, Kimball Bastian of Maple Mountain outlasted Dalton Harmon of Nephi Juab, third in 3A at 145 last year, by a 3-2 score.

Double Junior National champion Roy Nash of Murray Taylorsville, the 220-pound 5A champion last year, met the defending 195-pound champion, Colton Grossaint of Kearns, and came away with an 8-5 win.

Four other two-time champions won easily: juniors Kyson Levin (113) of 5A Pleasant Grove and Cole Eldridge (152) of 1A Monticello and seniors Chandler Strand (120) of 5A Herriman and Brandon Ashworth (145) of 4A Spanish Fork. Zach Dawe (285) of Pleasant Grove also scored a pin.