PHILLIPSBURG, N.J. — Tim Longacre and his three Phillipsburg assistant coaches sat around after Saturday morning’s weight check and light workout when the topic of matchups for the annual Easton showdown later in the day came up.
Most of the staff’s sentences started with, ‘What if …”
Longacre heard a few of those what ifs before interjecting a thought.
“I finally looked at them all and said, ‘Stop,'” the first-year head coach said. “We are not going to what if all day. We are going to relax. You’ve built this giant [program] and you have to trust it.”
Longacre and his staff trusted Liam Packer, Derek Stone and, lastly, Anthony Pettinelli on Saturday night. In one of the best duals in the 86 meetings between the rivals, Packer and Stone rallied Phillipsburg and Pettinelli did his job in the final bout.
The Stateliners won 28-27 on the second criteria (most six-point wins, which includes pins and forfeits) to extend their winning streak against the Red Rovers to five in a row, eight of the last 10.
Packer stemmed the tide by winning at 175 after back-to-back crushing setbacks at 157 and 165. Stone rallied from a 6-1 deficit to win 9-8 at 190 and Pettinelli avoided being pinned or giving up a technical fall at 106 to give Phillipsburg reason to celebrate on the elevated platform in front of a full house.
Easton has a 64-22 series lead, but that won’t take the sting away from a head coach and a group of seniors who have not experienced a victory against Phillipsburg.
The Stateliners (11-0) left their home gym thrilled to come out on top in a drama-filled, tense matchup of unbeaten teams.
The Red Rovers (13-1) will spend the rest of the weekend wondering, ‘What if.’
“Every one of those kids after the match was focused on, ‘What could I have done to get one more point,'” Karam said. “The good news is we put ourselves in position to win the match.
“Now we have to see what the decision-making process is for our team, our kids over the next 48 hours. Right now, everyone’s really disappointed. That’s going to go away. Now we have to make decisions. What are we going to do from here?”
Easton’s biggest decision to make in Saturday’s matchup was where to insert the extra wrestler. New Jersey has 14 weight classes. Pennsylvania has 13. Site determines which is used.
The Red Rovers won the coin flip and opted to move Jaron Trimmer down to 138, bump Ben Fanelli up to 144 and insert Evan Carss in at 150.
Trimmer got a late cradle near the edge of the mat for Easton’s only pin. Fanelli lost 3-1 to Phillipsburg standout Luke Geleta and Carss was pinned.
But Easton recovered when Quentin Hammerstone won 8-7 at 157. It appeared Phillipsburg’s Pat Day did not know that he was losing in the last minute and failed to make any offensive move until the final few seconds.
The Red Rovers then got a James Geiger 2-1 sudden-victory decision at 165 on a stall call on Phillipsburg’ Jon Roth to take a 20-15 lead after nine bouts.
But Packer countered Easton freshman Justin Cosover’s several attacks and was able to finish twice and get a reversal in a 6-3 decision at 175.
Stone got reversed and gave up two back points to trail 6-1 early in the second period against Easton’s Shae Linegar at 190.
The Phillipsburg junior didn’t think about, ‘What if.’ He didn’t think at all. He just reacted. He kept fighting. He nearly decked Linegar midway through the second period after getting a reversal.
Linegar’s takedown with 1:34 left in the match gave him an 8-7 lead. Stone responded with a reversal at the 1:08 mark and rode him out for the pivotal win.
“I knew I had to score so I just went back to my basics,” said Stone who was named the Brad Weaver Memorial Most Outstanding Wrestler of the match. “I did all my stuff right and came out on top. I just blocked everything out.”
Stone said the Phillipsburg student chanting his name as time wore down in the third period provided inspiration to hang on and ‘all the hell coach Longacre puts us through’ prepared him for those challenging situations.
Trailing 21-20 with three bouts left, Easton responded when Kurtis Crossman avenged a 1-0 loss in last month’s Bethlehem Holiday Wrestling Classic to Nate Smith with a 3-1 win at 215. He took Smith down with 57 seconds left and rode him out to give the Red Rovers a 23-21 lead.
John Wargo’s pin at 285 gave Phillipsburg a 27-23 advantage and forced Easton freshman Noah Fenner to get big bonus at 106.
Fenner dominated but couldn’t finish off Pettinelli, settling for a 14-4 major decision and providing the last of the what ifs.
“Before the match, it was uglier on paper,” Karam said, “so I can’t discredit our kids’ effort. They did well. It was a great match. We’re heading in the right direction.”
Geleta’s 3-1 decision at 144, thanks to a takedown with four seconds left in the first period, earned him the Easton Lions Club’s most aggressive wrestler award.
Phillipsburg won’t have long to celebrate the 1,040th win in program history. It hosts Delaware Valley (N.J.) on Tuesday.
Easton, with 1,016 career wins, visits Pocono Mountain West on Wednesday before hosting Northampton on Saturday. The Red Rovers have not beaten the Konkrete Kids since Jan. 29, 2014. Northampton won the previous seven meetings, including one last season on criteria.
Morning Call reporter Tom Housenick can be reached at 610-820-6651 or at [email protected]
Phillipsburg 28, Easton 27 (on criteria)
113: Nick Salamone (E) maj. dec. Massimo Gonzalez, 12-4
120: Owen Garriques (P) dec. Ethan Krazer, 5-0
126: Dawson McWilliams (P) dec. Ben Riehl, 4-2
132: Chris Kelly (E) maj. dec. Gavin Geleta, 12-4
138: Jaron Trimmer (E) pinned Anthony Ashford, 5:44
144: Luke Geleta (P) dec. Ben Fanelli (E), 3-1
150: Gavin Hawk (P) pinned Evan Carss, 1:00
157: Quentin Hammerstone (E) dec. Pat Day, 8-7
165: James Geiger (E) dec. Jon Roth, 2-1 SV
175: Liam Packer (P) dec. Justin Cosover, 6-3
190: Derek Stone (P) dec. Shae Linegar, 9-8
215: Kurtis Crossman (E) dec. Nate Smith, 3-1
285: John Wargo (P) Ladearus Conyers, 0:21
106: Noah Fenner (E) maj. dec. Anthony Pettinelli, 14-4
484-896-8867
Service Areas
