North Hunterdon
It wasn’t in the lower weights where Middletown North’s Blewett brothers, Thomas and Ryan, are a powerhouse combination. It didn’t come between 126 and 138 pounds where the triumvirate of Reid Buzby, Aidan Yarussi and Kieran Raley comprise the Annandale version of Murder’s Row.
Instead, it would be each team’s wrestlers at the tippy-top of the lineup — a spot where neither team has been overly successful — which set the tone. Third-seeded North Hunterdon, the defending Group 4 champions, swept three pivotal bouts at 190, 215 and 285 pounds and blew past second-seeded Middletown North with an unexpectedly easy 52-20 victory.North Hunterdon will try for the Middletown sweep and a second-straight sectional title and its fourth in the last five seasons when it travels to Middletown South on Wednesday, 6 p.m. Middletown South , the No. 1 seed, advanced with victories over Westfield in the quarters and then Rahway in the semifinal. The Middletown North-North Hunterdon match figured to be close. Last year North Hunterdon squeaked past Middletown North, 32-31, on a final bout major decision by Raley. This year’s back-and-forth tussle never materialized. In fact, after 11 bouts, Middletown North had two takedowns, one reversal and four back points. The domination came in all positions.Bell stoked the fire under his team with a small lineup maneuver at the outset. Bell pushed regular 175-pounder, Dylan McGuiness, to 190 and 190-pounder Owen Dandeo to 215. The move worked brilliantly. McGuiness was a terror on his feet and closed out the 20-2 technical fall with a pair of tilts. Dandeo opened up a 12-3 lead and then scored a pin at the 4:20 mark for an 11-0 lead. “We got the matchup we wanted at 190,” Bell said. “Then Dandeo came out firing. We haven’t been great in the upper weights, but when we wrestle up to our potential, we can get some things done. We’ve been working hard with the goal of getting consistent effort in 14 matches. “We weren’t sure what they were going to do with Benbrook,” Bell added. “We knew we would see him either first or last. So we made the move with Dylan at 190.” Benbrook, who has been injured of late, did not wrestle at all. Middletown North sent out Logan Gunderson at 190 and then forfeit in the final bout of the match at 175. North Hunterdon finished off the up-top sweep when senior 285-pounder Anthony DeSimone won by pin at 2:44 and gave his team a 17-0 lead.At 106, Middletown North’s Thomas Blewett, the No. 1-ranked 106-pounder in New Jersey by, used a vicious spladle on his way to a 10-2 major decision over the state’s No. 2 106-pounder, Caden Wadle. Ryan Blewett, ranked No. 4 at 113, followed with a 55-second pin than helped Middletown North close to within 17-10. After that, however, all Middletown North saw was North Hunterdon’s tail lights. Owen Dandeo of North Hunterdon wrestles Jake Schettino of Middletown North in the 215 pound bout during the NJSIAA Central Jersey, Group 4 wrestling semifinal between Middletown North and North Hunterdon at Middletown High School North in Middletown, NJ on 2/16/26.North Hunterdon responded with six-straight victories and score bonus points in all of them. The binge started with consecutive technical falls by Owen Fol and Buzby at 120 and 126, respectively. Then came a 19-second pin by Yarussi at 132, a technical fall spy Raley at 138 and a Matt Esposito fall at 144. Ian English capped it off with a 2-1 win at 150 in sudden victory. English won when the Middletown North wrestler was called for unsportsmanlike conduct for an incident when both wrestlers went out of bounds and onto the gym floor.“We spent last week working hard in every position but especially our offense,” Bell said. “We only went for an hour on Monday, but I left that session feeling good about where we were.” Joe Zedalis is in his 48th year covering high school sports. A graduate of Jackson Memorial High School and Ocean County College, Zedalis worked at the Lakewood Daily Times, the Daily Observer in Toms River,...
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