.jpg){kind=logo}
HAMMONTON—Hammonton High School wrestling coach Dave Mauriello earned the 300th victory of his career last weekend, as the Blue Devils defeated rival St. Joseph 78-0 in the opener of a quad meet that also included Washington Twp. and Lindenwold.
The Blue Devils cruised to the win against St. Joe, collecting 10 forfeit wins while winning all four matches contested on the mat.
“It [the 300 wins] just means I’ve been doing this a long time,” Mauriello said.
“It’s a nice accomplishment. I’ve been very blessed to have had some great wrestlers and coaches with me here at Hammonton. I’m very thankful to everyone I’ve been able to work with for 16 years and that I’ve been able to have my dad [HHS assistant coach Paul Mauriello] with me the whole way,” Mauriello said.
Following the win against St. Joseph, Mauriello was presented with a banner recognizing his accomplishment.
Against a short-handed St. Joseph team, Edwin Flores (138) pounds, Aidan Fallon (144), Edward Niedoba (150), Kevin Watson (165), Keven Price (170), Juan Urbina (215), Justin Flood (106), Luca Giagunto (113), Frank Italiano (120) and Vincenzo Cirillo (126) all collected forfeit wins.
On the mat, Billy Way held on to defeat Nick Melchiore 6-5 at 157 pounds and at 190, Dylan Jones pinned Gavin Steiner in 43 seconds.
One of the most anticipated matches of the day came at 285 pounds, where Hammonton’s Anthony Evangelista rallied in the third period to pin St. Joe’s Bryan Butkus in 4:38.
“That was a big win for him [Evangelista]. He, Butkus and the kid from Washington Twp. [John Stone] are probably going to be the top three seeds at districts, so for Anthony to win maybe moves him from a three seed to a one or two,” Mauriello said.
The final win of the meet came at 132 pounds, where Brett Stansbury closed out the shutout for Hammonton with a 4-0 win against Doug Farinaccio.
The Blue Devils gave their coach win number 301 in their next matchup of the day, defeating Lindenwold 75-3.
Giagunto (113), Italiano (120), Cirillo (126), Ryan Stanziale (132), Fallon (144), Way (157), Watson (165), Jones (190), Urbina (215) and Evangelista (285) all had pins, while Flood (106), Stansbury (138) and Niedoba (150) won by forfeit.
The day ended with a 48-21 loss to Washington Twp.
Urbina pinned Nate Leone in 3:57 at 190 pounds and at 106, Flood scored a 3-1 decision against Mario Huggins.
At 113, Giagunto defeated Aiden Hardy 6-1. Flores pinned Troy Fink in 1:17 at 120 pounds and at 144, Fallon downed Chaz Melton 8-5.
Earlier in the week, Hammonton split dual meets against St. Augustine Prep and Vineland.
The Blue Devils led 18-0 early in their meet against the Prep, but eventually lost 52-24.
Flood (106) and Giagunto (113) opened the meet with forfeit wins before Italiano pinned Trevy Randle at 120. The Blue Devils would only earn one more victory, that one at 165 where Watson collected a forfeit.
Against Vineland, Hammonton won 11 matches in a 63-15 victory.
Cirillo opened the meet with a pin in 20 seconds against Everett Cronk at 126 pounds and at 132, Stansbury defeated Alesandro Calderon 5-2.
After Flores won by forfeit at 138, Fallon pinned Noah Cruz in 2:54 at 144 pounds. At 157, Way took down Lionel Powell in 1:35 and at 165, Watson pinned Shawn Lindholm in 51 seconds.
Serhii Chuhui won by forfeit at 190 pounds and at 215 Urbina pinned Joseph Egbeh in 2:56. Evangelista needed just 17 seconds to pin Ayden Rivera at 285, and at 106, Flood pinned Josh Kinchon in 3:24. Giagunto closed out the win with a pin in 1:52 against Dominic Bosco at 113 pounds.
Earlier this week, Hammonton opened the South Jersey Group 4 playoffs against Moorestown. The winner of that meet faced the winner of Northern Burlington and Central Regional in the semifinals. Those meets ended too late for this edition. On February 10, Hammonton hosts Oakcrest at 5 p.m.
Comments