Haddonfield rallies to win Bond tournament

Chris and Will Dengler reversed the tide for Haddonfield on Tuesday, helping the Bulldogs win their own Ronald Bond Duals wrestling tournament.

Haddonfield trailed Eastern in the championship match, 13-0, when junior Chris Dengler won a major decision over Eastern's Michael Angelow, 12-1, at 140 pounds. Senior Will Dengler, his brother, followed with a 5-3 victory over Eric Traister at 145, and the Bulldogs went on to a 41-25 win.

Although six teams were scheduled to compete in the second annual event, Robbinsville and John F. Kennedy failed to appear because of weather-related problems.

Haddonfield beat Camden, 83-0, and Bishop Eustace, 63-13, to advance to the championship match. The Vikings defeated Camden, 68-6, and Eustace, 54-17, before losing to Haddonfield.

"It feels good winning in front of fans and family," Chris Dengler said. "Before the [bout], coaches said it was important to win to get momentum and to stop Eastern's momentum."

Eastern's lead slipped to 13-7 after Will Dengler's win.

"We knew they would stop the bleeding," Haddonfield coach Pete DiPol said of the brothers.

The Bulldogs took the lead, 19-13, when Rob Schlitt won by injury default over Tory Irvin at 160. They expanded the advantage to 37-13 at 215 when Kris Rahn won by forfeit.

But at 285, Eastern sophomore Trevor Cetrullo pinned senior Jon Hughes in 3 minutes, 47 seconds to cut the margin to 37-19.

"I was trying for a pin because I still thought that we had a chance," said Cetrullo, a first-year varsity wrestler with a 5-0 record.

Although the Vikings won the first four bouts, between 119 and 135, they lost the next seven, between 140 and 215.

"Our guys are young there," Eastern coach Bobby Stinson said. "We don't have one guy from 140 to 215 that has had varsity experience. And it showed. But our guys did a good job of fighting [in each match] for six minutes."

Stinson was pleased by Cetrullo's effort and saw the bout as a highlight of the match.

Another bout was a highlight, but for different reasons.

DiPol sent Kevin Gregorio against former state champion Rob Deutsch at 125, hoping to get his senior some valuable experience.

Deutsch won by major decision, 17-7, but Gregorio earned a moral victory by scoring a takedown in the third period, cutting his opponent's lead to 12-6.

"My mind-set was to try not to get pinned and minimize the damage for my team," said Gregorio, whose record is 7-3.

Deutsch ran his record to 10-0, which includes five pins, a technical fall, and the major decision.

"I was getting too cocky," Deutsch said about his takedown by Gregorio. "He turned [quickly] and took a shot."

Haddonfield 41, Eastern 25

119: Jake Bacal, Eastern, dec. Bill Tanenbaum, 7-5. 125: Rob Deutsch, Eastern, major dec. Kevin Gregorio, 17-7. 130: Louis Mueller, Eastern, dec. Nathaniel Thompson, 7-2. 135: Kristopher Castignola, Eastern, dec. Whitten Oswald, 8-4. 140: Chris Dengler, Haddonfield, major dec. Mike Angelow, 12-1. 145: Will Dengler, Haddonfield, dec. Eric Traister, 5-3. 152: Logan Vielehr, Haddonfield, pinned Andrew Mueller, 1:01. 160: Rob Schlitt, Haddonfield, injury default over Tory Irvin, 6-0. 171: Sam Haley, Haddonfield, pinned Derek Smith, 2:43. 189: Carson Stack, Haddonfield, pinned Zach Micciche, 1:02. 215: Kris Rahn, Haddonfield, won by forfeit. 285: Trevor Cetrullo, Eastern, pinned Jon Hughes, 3:47. 103: Jake Manelis, Eastern, pinned Chris Kreps, Haddonfield, 5:49. 112: Kyle Klaus, Haddonfield, major dec. Colin Mitchell, 8-0.