Basement Boys hammer down 47-19 win at William Penn
Cape bumped the Basement Boys to cover the 170-pound weight class and inserted first-time starter Richard Garcia into the starting lineup at 138 Jan. 23 at undefeated and defending Blue Hen champion William Penn. The Colonials have a storied history in wrestling, yet the Vikings had never wrestled there.
The Vikings closed the match on a 23-0 run to breakaway for a 47-19 win on the road.
The match started at 182, meaning Mikey Frederick, 145; Luke Bender, 152; C.J. Fritchman, 160; and Carson Kammerer, 170 – each state placers in 2020 and basement workout partners at Uncle Buck’s home gym on Anna B Street – held the collective hammer time.
Cape led 24-19 heading into the Richard Garcia bout at 138. The Vikings were a pin away from trailing 25-24. Garcia, a senior, came through with a 7-3 win over Kamar Hughes, a freshman. Cape forged ahead 27-19.
Colonial Michael Lane at 145 took Mikey Frederick down twice, but suddenly Lane was on his back and pinned at 1:46 of the first period. Cape’s closing four of Frederick, pin; Bender, tech fall; Frichtman, 8-5 decision; and Kammerer, pin, sealed the Vikings win.
“The match starting at 182 worked well for us,” Cape coach Chris Mattioni said. “I felt confident that we were set up to close it out, but, man, there were some tough matches.”
Cape’s Dalton Deevey at 182 pounds pinned Kendrell Mason; teammate Alex Taylor, 195, decisioned William Penn’s Cardire Cook 8-4; Jackson Handlin, bumping up to 220, took one for the team and lost a 14-6 major decision to Nasir Dreuitt; Lucas Ruppert, 285, pinned Ijai Twyman. Cape led 15-4 rolling into the lightweights.
The Vikings won at 106 pounds with Arthur Bennett’s decision over Brooklyn Gordy 8-3 and at 126 pounds with Grant Barczak’s fall over Myles Harding.
The Colonials snagged wins at 112 with a Thomas Murray pin of Rony Perez; at 120 with a Patrick Hunter pin over Josh Wright; and at 132 with a Danile Sinclair decision over Bryan Garcia 6-1.
Cape are set to host defending Division II state champion Caravel Monday, Jan. 25. The Buccaneers have four state champions in the starting lineup, including Luke Poore, 120; Ethan Gray, 145; Alex Poore, 160; and Danny Stradley, 195. Dylan Knight, 126, placed second in the state in 2020. Two-time state champion Nik Hall, 170, is in the building, but hasn't appeared on the wrestling roster.
