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Cape's J.J. Currie wins conference championship at 160 pounds

Smyrna wins team championship with Polytech second
Cape's J.J. Currie takes down Smyrna's Eli Hutchinson in the 160-pound class. Currie was awarded the match when Hutchinson was injured at 2-2 in the second period. BY DAN COOK
Dave Frederick
February 23, 2015
Cape's Emerson Fajardo grapples with Indian River's Matt O'Neal and takes an 8-2 decision in the consolation semis. BY DAN COOK
Emerson Fajardo takes third place with a 5-4 decision over Smyrna's Greg Baum in the 106 weight class. BY DAN COOK
Cape's Max Norquest grapples Milford's Jarek Lugo in the 120-pound class. Lugo won an 8-3 decision and took third place while Norquest took home fourth-place honors. BY DAN COOK
Cape's Max Norquest grapples Milford's Jarek Lugo in the 120-pound class. Lugo won an 8-3 decision and took third place while Norquest took home fourth-place honors. BY DAN COOK
Cape's Max Norquest grapples Caesar Rodney's Robert Stevenson in the 120-pound class consolation semis. Norquest won a 10-1 major decision. BY DAN COOK
Cape's Nick Diego wrestles Sussex Central's Blake Chambers in the 145 class. Diego won 3-1 to take fifth place in the championship. BY DAN COOK
Cape's Nick Diego wrestles Caesar Rodney's Thomas Gallucci in the 145-pound class. BY DAN COOK
Cape's 138-pounder Vinnie Diego looks at the clock as he drops a 9-7 overtime match to Max Tolson of Sussex Central. Tolson took third place while Diego placed fourth. BY DAN COOK
Cape head coach Chris Mattioni, right, and assistant Shane Jensen intently watch Emerson Fajardo's third-place match. BY DAN COOK
Cape's Justin Wright grapples Lake Forest's Ryan Sipple in the seventh-place match. Sipple won the match 3-2. BY DAN COOK

Cape senior J.J. Currie won the Henlopen Conference 160-pound title Feb. 21 at Sussex Central by defeating Eli Hutchinson of Smyrna by injury default. The match was tied at 2 when Hutchinson was unable to continue.

“Those guys are evenly matched, so a nice conference title for J.J.," said coach Chris Mattioni. "We moved him from 160 to 170 during the season as he and Cory Lawson switched off."

Currie has been a steady athletic performer for Cape since August, when football practice started. Currie had his highlight moments running and catching the football and playing defensive back.

Cape also has state qualifiers in Emerson Fajardo (106) who took third, Max Norquest (120) in fourth, Vinnie Diego (132) in fourth, Nick Diego (145) in fifth and Joel Torres (182) in fifth.

Focus now shifts back to the team effort, as the Vikings are the third-seeded team in the Division I State Championship Dual Meet tournament Tuesday, Feb. 24, and will take on Middletown in the opening round.

"We did not wrestle well as a team in the Henlopen Conference meet, so I hope we get our focus back for Middletown,” Mattioni said.

"State duals should be exciting," he continued. "Middletown will be a close match. It is a good match-up for both teams. I am pleased and impressed with how we have wrestled all year. The kids have worked hard, and it is nice to be back in the duals two years in a row. If we beat Middletown, we will face Poly again. We had a tough loss at Poly, so it will be nice to have the opportunity to wrestle them again. The timing of the duals being the week of individual states is less than ideal. We have the task of getting the kids who didn't make it to the individual tournament motivated to compete for a team event. It's going to be an exciting and busy week for the Cape wrestlers."

Cape will be the host school for the Individual State Championship Meet this weekend, Friday, Feb. 27 and Saturday, Feb. 28.

Middletown finished the regular season 8-2, only losing to Sussex Central 45-33 and Sussex Tech 37-30.

The team scores for the Henlopen Conference Championship meet were Smyrna, 284; Polytech, 194.5; Milford, 177; Caesar Rodney, 156.5; Sussex Tech, 141.5; Sussex Central, 131.5; Dover, 126; Cape Henlopen, 111.5; Woodbridge, 100; Lake Forest, 84; Indian River, 53; Delmar, 18.5; Laurel, 3; and Seaford, 0.

Championship matches results:

106 - Mason Harrington, CR, def. Cameron Hayes, Mil, injury default

113 - Chase Archangelo, Smy, maj. dec. Spenser Hahn, Poly, 13-0

120 - Andrew Schmeusser, Poly, dec. Cole Sebastianelli, Smy, 5-0

126 - Kody Stevens, Poly, dec. Alex Creasey, Mil, 8-1

132 - J. Price, Poly, dec. Dakota Kerr, Smy, 10-4

138 - Bart Dalious, Mil, maj. dec. Hunter Robles, ST, 12-3

145 - Tyreq Nelson, Wood, dec. Michael D'Antonio, Dov, 4-2

152 - Lucas Monson, Wood, dec. Justin Bennett, SC, 3-2

160 - J.J. Currie, CH, def. Eli Hutchinson, Smy, injury default

170 - Wuest, Smy, dec. Thomson, LF, 9-3

182 - Michael Clavier, CR, dec. Riley Parker, ST, 9-3

195 - Marquelle Bennett, Smy, dec. Ryan Parker, ST, 4-0

220 - Mark Mullnack, Poly, maj. dec. John Flamer, LF, 12-3

285 - Isaiah Abrams, Dov, dec. McNally, CR, 2-1 (3OT).

Commentary from Mattioni following the Henlopen Conference Championship meet:

"Overall the kids have wrestled hard all year long. Unfortunately, we didn't perform up to our ability during the Henlopen Conference Championships this past weekend. But it is a tough tournament and anything can happen. We qualified six wrestlers and have three alternates. I thought we would have at least eight guys qualify and thought we had an outside shot at 10. J.J. wrestled well, and he looked great throughout the tournament. His finals match was exciting, but ended with an unfortunate injury to Hutchinson. Emerson wrestled well; he closed the gap with Hayes from Milford who beat him by major decision earlier this year, and 106 might be the strongest weight class this year. He wrestled back well and avenged his loss to Baum from Smyrna in the consolation finals to take third. Norquest had a great tournament; he is a gamer and wrestles tough every outing. He lost close matches to quality kids. Vinnie and Nick Diego had close losses and should bounce back for the state tournament. Joel Torres had a solid performance; the matches he lost were close. Justin Wright, Matt Piner and Tray Bailey were alternates. They all wrestled well and were close to placing top six. Kaden Greelee and Cory Lawson were in tough spots in the brackets. They both lost close matches that bumped them out of the tournament. Brock Maloomian had to eat and drink to qualify for the 195-pound weight class. I give him a lot of credit for competing with kids that weighed more than 20 pounds more than he did. Julian Median had close losses to kids that beat him during the season. He has greatly improved."

 

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