Cape Henlopen’s Holden Kammerer (right) works toward a 10-2 major decision win at 182 pounds against Sanford’s Evan Carswell during Cape Henlopen’s win at Sanford Wednesday.
Cape Henlopen’s Joel Torres (right) moves toward an eventual pin on Sanford’s Spencer Green at 195 pounds during Cape Henlopen’s win at Sanford Wednesday.
HOCKESSIN – Cape Henlopen wrestling coach Chris Mattioni knew his Vikings would be fine once they reached the upper weights.
Sanford put up a good fight, but Cape won the last four matches to pull away and make the bus trip home a little warmer with a 42-21 victory on Wednesday night.
“They’ve got some really talented kids,” Mattioni said of Sanford. “We know their lightweights are tough, they’re solid. … But we knew that we had a little more up top than they did and they would forfeit at least one to us.”
The Vikings (9-2), ranked fourth in Division I, were trailing 21-20 through 10 matches. The Warriors (3-4), ranked second in Division II, stretched their lineup as far as possible – bumping up several wrestlers – but finally hit the wall.
“Half of our team had to go up one to two weight classes,” Sanford coach Cory Frederick said. “Some of our guys were giving up 20 pounds. There was no sense in us trying to keep it close; we want to win.”
Holden Kammerer gave Cape the lead for good with a major decision at 182. Then Joel Torres scored a pin at 195, the Warriors forfeited at 220, and the Vikings’ Zach Flores pinned his opponent in 1:19 at 285 to close it out.
“They moved some guys to cover some weights to challenge us,” Mattioni said. “Within the match, the score doesn’t show it but there were some really close matches.”
The action came in the lighter weights, especially at 126. Cape’s Max Norquest and Sanford’s Kyle McDonough squared off in a meeting of state title contenders, with Norquest pulling away late for a 9-2 decision.
“I just went out there and wrestled my hardest and tried my best to beat him, and I did,” Norquest said. “… I was waiting to wrestle him, because it’s going to be a state tournament match.”
Mattioni was happy to see Norquest meet the challenge.
“Those guys could both be state placers,” the Cape coach said. “They’re two of the better kids at 126, and I wasn’t sure how that was going to shake out. Max went out there and wrestled really well, and that was one of his best matches.”
The Warriors had the upper hand in another marquee match at 138, as Andrew Brooks outpointed Vinnie Diego 10-5.
“They’ll probably see each other again at states, and hopefully we can correct some things and have a better match there,” Mattioni said.
Sanford junior Brendan Lamey, a 2015 state champion at 145, is wrestling at 152 this season but bumped up all the way to 170 to grind out an 8-4 decision over Cape freshman Chris Handlin.
“That was a great battle, a great match,” Mattioni said. “Our guy had the weight advantage, but Lamey is talented and our guy is young.”
Cape also got a pin from Anthony Caruso at 113, a 7-2 decision from Jose Ascencio at 145, a narrow 8-6 decision from Dante Jacquet at 152 and a technical fall from Cory Lawson at 160.
Sanford got pins from Trent Wall at 106 and Niko Chilson at 132, and an 11-4 decision from Matt Rosenthal at 120.
Contact Brad Myers at bmyers@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter: @BradMyersTNJ