Twelve New Jersey wrestlers stayed alive in the championship bracket by earning quarterfinal-round victories at the prestigious Powerade Wrestling Tournament on Wednesday night at Canon-MacMillan High in Canonsburg, PA.
Prep powerhouse Blair sent five into Thursday’s semifinals, while St. Joseph of Montvale, No. 3 in the NJ.com Top 20, sent three, No. 1 Delbarton had two and No. 10 Howell and No. 2 Bergen Catholic advanced one each.
New Jersey schools put three semifinalists in the 160-pound weight class, with two at both 172 and 138 in the three-day tournament, which concludes Thursday with matches starting at 9:30 a.m.
The 160 final four includes second-seeded Lorenzo Norman of Blair, third-seeded Hunter Mays of Howell and fourth-seeded Nick Fea of Bergen Catholic.
Mays out-pointed sixth-seeded Gage Wright of Parkersville (WV), 13-9, in the quarters, and will next face Norman, who advanced with a 6-1 decision over seventh-seeded Jared Keslar of Connellsville (PA).
Fea reached the semis with a 9-0 decision over unseeded Dom Federici of Wyoming Seminary (PA) and will next face unseeded Holden Garcia of Notre Dame (PA), who won by injury default over top-seeded Grant Mackay of Laurel (PA).
Michael Dellagata of St. Joseph (Mont.), seeded seventh at 172, decisioned second-seeded Rocco Welsh of Waynesburg (PA), 6-3, in the quarters to earn a semifinal matchup with sixth-seeded Braden Thompson of Lockport (IL). Welsh, an Ohio State commit, is ranked No. 3 nationally by Flo Wrestling.
The other semifinal will pit fourth-seeded Daniel Wask of Blair against top-seeded Gabe Arnold of Wyoming Seminary. Wask advanced with a 5-4 decision over fifth-seeded Rune Lawrence of Frazier (PA).
Dellagata’s teammate, second-seeded Jimmy Mullen, pinned seventh-seeded Charles Crews of Williamsport (PA) in 1:11 to roll into the semis. Mullen, ranked No. 2 nationally, will next face third-seeded Riley Robell of Bishop McDevitt (PA).
Mullen is one victory away from a potential showdown with top-seeded Nick Feldman of Malvern Prep (PA), ranked No. 1 nationally. Feldman eliminated Dominick Brogna of Bergen Catholic, the eighth seed, via tech fall, 23-8, in the quarters and faces fourth-seeded Ty Banco of Trinity (PA) in the semis.
At 138, second-seeded Alex Almeyda of St. Joseph (Mont.) and third-seeded Paul Ognissanti of Blair set up a semifinal matchup.
Almeyda earned a 3-0 quarterfinal decision over seventh-seeded Connor Saylor of Hickory (PA), while Ognissanti took out unseeded Kai Owen of Wyoming Seminary, 5-1.
Delbarton’s Nick Olivieri, seeded sixth at 189, pulled off an upset in convincing fashion when he earned a 10-3 decision over third-seeded Andrew Connell of Malvern Prep in the quarters. That sends Olivieri into another tough matchup, against second-seeded Jude Correa of Wyoming Seminary, ranked No. 6 nationally.
Cross Wasilewski of Delbarton, seeded third at 145, advanced with a 6-0 decision over unseeded Chris Bacchioni of Bergen Catholic. Wasilewski draws 10th-seeded Ty Watters of West Allegheny (PA) in the semis.
Blair’s other semifinalists are TJ Stewart, the top seed at 215, and Nick Kunstek, unseeded at 152.
Stewart, ranked No. 9 nationally by Flo Wrestling, reached the semis with a 13-3 major decision over ninth-seeded Justin Thomas of Homewood Flossmoor (IL). Stewart advances to meet fourth-seeded Andrew Blackburn-Forst of Lockport (IL), who won a 5-2 decision over fifth-seeded Remy Brancato of Bergen Catholic.
Kunstek decisioned fourth-seeded Chase Kranitz of Norwin (PA), 3-1, in the quarters to earn a matchup with top-seeded Jackson Arrington of Forest Hills (PA).
Twenty wrestlers from New Jersey schools had advanced to the quarterfinals, with eight from Bergen Catholic, which is fifth in the team standings, followed by Blair with 87. Wyoming Seminary leads the way with 164 points.
Other Bergen Catholic wrestlers falling in the quarters were Brian Melamud at 106, Aidan Wallace at 126, Joe Cangro at 138 and Al Fricchione at 189.
Howell’s Xavier Ortega also lost at 113.
Wallace made a big run as an unseeded wrestler, knocking off fourth-seeded Nick O’Neill of Malvern Prep in the round of 32 via a 5-0 decision. Wallace then advanced with a 2-0 decision over Ethan Lebin of Hempfield (PA) before losing a tough 3-2 decision to another unseeded wrestler, Billy Dekraker of McDonogh (MD), in the quarters.
The fourth-seeded Cangro won by tech fall in the round of 16 over Lonzy Vielma of Connellsville (PA), before dropping an 11-4 decision to fifth-seeded Pierson Manville of State College (PA) in the quarters.
Ortega, the ninth seed, lost via major decision, 19-8, to top-seeded Luke Lilledahl of Wyoming Seminary (PA). Ortega had reached the quarterfinals without allowing a point, decisioning Jimmy Sloan of St. Joseph (Mont.), 11-0, and Tony Burke of Council Rock North (PA), 3-0.
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