Cape wrestling hangs tough, but falls to Sallies in semis
Cape wrestling went hard at top-ranked Salasianum in the Division I semifinals of the state dual meet championships Feb. 14 in Smyrna.
The Vikings succumbed 40-25, as Sallies went on to capture the dual meet state title with a resounding 59-9 win over No. 2 Caesar Rodney, who had beaten Smyrna 41-27 in the other semifinal match.
Delaware Military Academy bowled over Laurel 52-17 for the Division II state championship.
Six of the eight teams across the two divisions to reach the semifinals were Henlopen Conference public schools. The conference tournaments are the weekend of Feb. 20-21, including Henlopen, Blue Hen and Independent. Conference tournament results for individual wrestlers determine placement in the state meet, which is set for Feb. 27-28 at Cape.
The Sallies-Cape match started at 120 pounds. Five bouts into the competition, Cape trailed 21-0.
A featured match was at 126 pounds, where top-ranked Dominic Lucian of Salesianum defeated Austin Guerrieri of Cape 7-2.
Grayson Davis, unbeaten in Delaware duals, got Cape on the board at 150 pounds with a pin over Garrett Till at 2:49.
Nick Walker followed with a 9-3 decision over Santino Sianni at 157 pounds, closing the team score to 21-9 with seven of 14 matches completed.
A dramatic win for Cape came at 215 pounds, as Robbie Payton earned a surprise pin of Chris Miller at 5:19 of the third period.
Salesianum forfeited 285 to Javier Morales. Cape trailed 37-21 with two bouts remaining but were mathematically eliminated.
Nolan Wright battled Will Socorson before losing by decision 8-4 at 106 pounds.
Freshman Jack Hudson scored a 9-1 major decision over Alexander Vasquez at 113 pounds for the final team score of 40-25.
Swiveling - Cape has 59 Henlopen Conference champions. Tyrone Gibbs (1974, 1975, 1976) and Thomas Ott (2012, 2013, 2014) are the only three-time conference champions. The 2022 dual meet state championship team crowned five conference champions. Known as the Basement Boys, they were Mikey Frederick, C.J. Fritchman, Carson Kammerer, Alex Taylor and Dalton Deevey. The 2023 team also crowned five champions, including Nick Walker, Luke Bender, Fritchman, Alex Taylor and Patrick Donahue.
