Big House rocks for wrestling; Cape beats Central 33-28
The Big House was rocking from the opening bout at 120 pounds Jan. 4 in a much-ballyhooed wrestling match between host Cape Henlopen and the Golden Knights of Sussex Central from Georgetown.
“Sending Anthony [Caruso] out to start the match set us up well,” said Cape coach Chris Mattioni. “He likes the spotlight, and he can’t wait to get to work. Plus, I knew at 106 and 113 we were giving up 12, so obviously the number we were looking for was plus-13 after the 285-pound bout.”
Caruso earned a tech fall over Central’s Junior Perez at 5:17 for five points. The Golden Knights responded when Rashad Stratton got a major decision over his first cousin Andre Currie 18-5 in the 126-pound bout, making the score 5-4 Cape.
Cape’s Max Norquest (132) pinned Brandon Greenlee at 3:23 for an 11-4 Cape advantage, and the Vikings stayed in front the rest of the way, earning a 33-28 win with many embedded storylines.
Cape and Sussex Central pose the strongest threat to Smyrna’s dominance in the Henlopen Conference and state dual-meet championships in February. Cape will host the Eagles Wednesday, Jan. 18, while Central closes out the dual-meet season at Smyrna Friday, Feb. 10.
“You want to be the team with the No. 1 seed in the duals; it’s just an easier road, but in no way easy,” Mattioni said. Six teams make the dual tournament, with the top two earning first-round byes.
Central’s Drew Morris decisioned Vinnie Diego at 138, 12-5, to close the gap to 11-7. Speaking of gaps, Diego wrestled with a mask and a mouth guard after losing two front teeth in a match two weeks ago.
Ezekiel Bean of Cape earned a major decision over Tyler Bunting 13-3 at 145. At 152, Cape’s Dante Jaquet scored a takedown in the waning seconds to secure an 11-9 decision over Mark Tolson.
The turning point of the match came at 160. With two 2016 state champions ready to lock up, Central’s Brandon Bautista bumped up to 170, so Cape held back Cory Lawson and sent out freshman Mark Knestaut. The Golden Knights sent Luis Velasquez into the circle. And before Cape fans figured out “Who’s Mark Knestaut and what’s he doing out there?” the freshman executed the quickest pin of the night in 1:24 and Cape was out to a 24-7 lead.
The bump-and-run strategy came into play because Central’s senior Blake Chambers, a 170-pound top eliminator, was injured in the Battle at the Beach tournament last week and had to miss the Cape match.
With the two state champs now at 170, Lawson beat Bautista 4-3. Lawson got a third-period takedown and the Cape crowd came loose. The Vikings’ lead jumped to 27-7, but the match was far from over.
Lucas Hudson was in control over Cape’s Chris Handlin who bumped up to 182, but Handlin caught Hudson and had him shoulders to the mat, but the official didn’t see both blades touch. Hudson, working around a tender shoulder, held on for a 12-8 decision.
Holden Kammerer of Cape followed with an 8-5 decision over Michael Wright at 195, but eyes went to the scoreboard. It showed a 30-10 Cape advantage with four matches to go, and they knew they were giving up 12 points to forfeits in the final two.
Johnny Morris stayed at 220 - the thought on the Cape side was he would bump to 285 - and he pinned Billy Ott in 2:58 to close the gap to 30-16.
Zack Flores, a senior up from JV the year before, the 6-foot-4, 285-pounder who earned the nickname “Fluffy” (which he is OK with), stepped into center ring showtime to grapple with junior Mario Santizo, who weighed in at 220. The crazy bump-and-run match would go to the winner between big and bigger. Flores is literally a “stand-up guy,” that is his signature move. He was on the bottom to start the second period. He got up and got behind for a two-point reversal and a 2-0 win to ice the match. Flores didn’t smile but looked self-satisfied after his win - he met the moment and he owned it.
Cape competes in the Capitol Duals this weekend at St. John’s College in Washington, D.C.
Sussex Central wrestles in the Delcastle Invitational Jan. 6-7.
