The Collingswood High School wrestling team came into Wednesday’s dual meet against Paulsboro in an unusual position.
Favorite.
The Panthers stunned the favored Red Raiders last year for their first victory over Paulsboro since 2008 - when they ended Paulsboro’s 308-match Colonial Conference winning streak and 25-year Group 1 state title run in the same year.
In none of those three occasions were the Panthers clear favorites, but they were on Wednesday and they played the role to perfection.
Collingswood doubled up Paulsboro, 44-22, for a two-match winning streak against the perennial power.
“I don’t think anybody would have seen this coming,” said Collingswood coach Dechlin Moody. “After getting beat down for 35 straight years, we’re owed a few. I’ll take them when I can get them because I don’t know how long it will last.
“(Paulsboro coach Paul Morina) is rebuilding and you can see it, but they’re hard workers, good coaches but now’s our time.”
The win improved the Panthers to 10-1, while the Red Raiders have dropped three of four to fall to 6-3.
Collingswood is looking like a team which could be a factor in South Jersey Group 2 at least behind heavily favored No. 17 Lower Cape May.
Paulsboro, which is young and dealing with a few crushing season-ending injuries, is scrapping but faces an uphill battle to continue its South Jersey Group 1 dominance. It has won every title but one since 1980.
Last year, Paulsboro was 7-7 before ripping off eight straight wins to capture another title, but that was after Kyaire Harvey returned to the team mid-season. Harvey is one of the wrestlers who is out for the year.
“Some kids wrestled pretty good, we were good in spots,” said Paulsboro coach Paul Morina. “We need to pick up pins where we need them and stay off our backs. It is what it is, keep working hard, see what we can come up with and hopefully improve.
“This is what we have, do the best we can and we’ll do what we can do. I can’t answer (whether another late-season run is coming). It’s kind of a different group, but we’re young and we’ll keep chugging.”
The Collingswood win came on the annual night the Panthers honor former standout Ryan Rodgers, who passed away in a car accident.
“I’m just proud of our kids especially on Ryan Rodgers night,” said Moody. “He always wanted to beat Paulsboro and never could. He’s looking down, and he’s smiling right now.”
Collingswood started the match with a pin at 106 before James Jiles delivered what felt like an early knock-out blow at 113. In a match tied at 5 in the final seconds, Jiles threw Ben Pacheco to his back.
Pacheco momentarily slipped free and looked like he might avoid the takedown, but Jiles kept on the attack and jumped back on top, not only securing the takedown but a pin with 20 seconds left in the match.
“My coach told me to go out and stick him, so I did what my coach told me to do, can’t let my coach down, you know?” said Jiles. “We had to do it for Ryan Rodgers. We just went out there and wrestled and did our thing.
“The coaches, our practices we go hard, they push us 100 percent and keep our stamina up. Everything I do is because of them.”
After a pair of technical falls from Paulsboro’s Will Cruz (120) and Antonio Chila (126), Collingswood posted six straight wins - five by bonus points - to build an insurmountable 41-10 lead.
Mason Musciano (144) notched a 7-1 decision over Ben Price, while Avante Sosa (157) pulled away late for a major decision against Julian Sosa.
“I think we won (the Jiles) match on conditioning,” said Moody. “Jiles sometimes doesn’t believe in himself. He went from losing to winning, and when we got that one I knew they were in trouble. That was going to be hard to bounce back from.
“We’re kind of on pace (this season). I wanted to test us, see where we’re at, Group 2 is tough, Lower Cape May is the top dog, but we’ll see. It’s high school sports. We’ll see them at the end.”
Paulsboro won three of the last four to make the final score more respectable. It was solid in spots but couldn’t do enough on a night it was clearly out-gunned by the Panthers - for once.
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