Paulsboro wins with flurry of falls

With a feeding frenzy of falls Thursday night at Paulsboro, the host Red Raiders ran away with a 67-9 victory over Kingsway in a nonleague wrestling match that left the losers with some work to do and the winners looking forward to the rest of the season.

Paulsboro (4-0) was favored to win the match; however, to record 10 falls in 14 bouts might have been more than even the Red Raiders or Kingsway (0-2) expected.

Ranked No. 1 in South Jersey by The Inquirer, Paulsboro racked up a half-dozen pins between 130 and 160 pounds and demonstrated overall balance as a team.

Senior Matt Cosgrove said he wasn't happy that he did not win by pin, too, at 171, after falls by Anthony Bennett (130), Nick Knauer (135), Mike Silvestro (140), Louis Gattuso (145), Dymere Rappa (152), and Anthony Dawson (160). However, the senior earned a major decision over Patrick Wexler to boost the lead to 61-9.

"Yes, I'm disappointed. We're thinking pin every match," Cosgrove said. "But [Wexler] did a good job."

Rappa, who pinned Archie Peterson in 5 minutes, 33 seconds, and Dawson, who decked Billy Leone in 40 seconds, spoke about the team psyche that evolves in the midst of such a string of falls.

"The [previous] pins gave me motivation to pin," said Rappa, who held ice to a hurting right hand.

Dawson added, "Some of us look at it as motivation to follow teammates in what they are doing."

Rappa, a senior, ran his record to 3-0, all by fall. Dawson is 4-0, including two falls.

Paulsboro coach Paul Morina was pleased that the younger wrestlers, such as freshman Juan Rivera, juniors Knauer and Silvestro, and sophomore John Gentile, did a nice job. All won by fall.

Kingsway coach Tim Pentz before the match cited key bouts at heavyweight, 160 and 119, figuring that his grapplers could win them. However, the Dragons' only wins were at heavyweight and 125.

It took Kingsway's Kyle Lloyd four overtime periods, but he scored on a reverse in the final 30 seconds to hand Nick Curl his first loss of the season, 5-3.

"When I saw him breathing heavy, I knew I was doing something right because he had me by about 40 pounds," the 240-pound Lloyd said.

Paulsboro 67, Kingsway 9

215: Eric McMullen, Paulsboro, pinned Nick Scuderi, 3:20. Hwt.: Kyle Lloyd, Kingsway, dec. Nick Curl, 5-3, 4OT. 103: John Gentile, Paulsboro, pinned Marshall Nickerson, 50 seconds. 112: Michael Zold, Paulsboro, pinned Ryan Chamberlain, 1:04. 119: Juan Rivera, Paulsboro, dec. Cody Watson, 1-0. 125: Ryan Harbeson, Kingsway, pinned Cody Croce, 3:38. 130: Anthony Bennett, Paulsboro, pinned Nick Marandola, 2:39. 135: Nick Knauer, Paulsboro, pinned Zach Peacock, 4:57. 140: Mike Silvestro, Paulsboro, pinned Steve Novosel, 2:36. 145: Louis Gattuso, Paulsboro, pinned Ryan Graham, 5:48. 152: Dymere Rappa, Paulsboro, pinned Archie Peterson, 5:33. 160: Anthony Dawson, Paulsboro, pinned Billy Leone, 40 seconds. 171: Matt Cosgrove, Paulsboro, major dec. Patrick Wexler, 10-1. 189: Ryan Dick, Paulsboro, pinned Josh Kohler, 4:41.