December 24, 2011

Prep's Armond Cox (above) scored a technical fall victory in his 220-pound match. (Photo: Jason Bernstein)

Delbarton at St. Peter's Prep Werestling Photo Gallery

JERSEY CITY – On the surface it would seem that standing at only 5-foot-9 and giving up six or seven inches to his opponents would be a huge disadvantage for St. Peter's Prep wrestler Ryan Medina. Instead, the Marauders' senior heavyweight feels the opposite is true.

"I feel like I'm at the advantage," Medina said. "They have to come down to my level and I feel like I'm as tough as any heavyweight and I feel confident in the way my team trains me."

Based on the results it'd be hard-pressed to disagree with Medina as he needed just 59 seconds to pin Corben Davis to give St. Peter's Prep a 33-25 come-from behind victory over Delbarton yesterday.

"He's not a big kid, he's thick. He's only 5'9", a lot of kids have six or seven inches on him," Prep head coach Anthony Verdi said. "At heavyweight being 5'9" is a disadvantage, but he's used to it. It's good for him because he knows how to use his leverage."

Medina used that leverage to his advantage right away, needing just eight seconds to take down his foe for two quick points. Once on the mat, he eventually used his leverage to score the winning pin fall.

"I knew I had to be heavy on top so when I got him in a good tie-up I snapped him down," Medina explained. "And it was just such a rush for me to snap him down, get him in a front-head, just bounce his head a couple of times, get around him, turn him, power half."

"He's such an intense kid," Verdi said. "There was no doubt in my mind in that moment that he was going to step up for us."

Medina's pin capped off an impressive comeback for the Marauders (1-0). St. Peter's Prep quickly found itself in a 19-0 hole after dropping the first five matches, but the momentum started to shift at 138 with Peter Hilburn's take down in the final 10 seconds of his 138 match with Jorge Lopez for a come-from-behind win by decision.

Teammates Alexander Richardson and Francisco Colom followed with wins of their own to cut the Green Wave lead down to 19-10.
"The 138 match was a momentum shift for us," Verdi said. "It was a big win and from there we just continued to grind it out and inch back in. We have a lot of experienced guys so they were comfortable. Nobody panicked, everybody just wrestled their best and we knew we were going to get back in it."

Delbarton, ranked No. 7 in New Jersey by MSG Varsity, stopped the streak with Josef Johnson's pin at 160. But Prep quickly recovered as James Kellner (170 and Christian Colucci (195) earned wins by decision, sandwiching a Tony Pafumi win via forfeit at 182.

With the chance to take its first lead of the duel, a focused Armond Cox came out and dominated in his 220-pound matchup with Aaron Sladowtiz. Cox, a sophomore, registered a takedown to take the lead just 30 seconds in and never looked back, increasing his lead to 11-1 after the second round and earning the win by technical fall at the 5:37 mark.

"My coaches said, don't worry about the matches before you, worry about your match and you'll be fine," Cox said. "That's pretty much what I did. As soon as I went out there, everything that happened before me I forgot about. I focused on my match, wrestling the way I was supposed to wrestle and I did my job."

With the win, St. Peter's Prep snapped a four-match losing streak against their Non-Public rival from Morris County. For a Marauder team with state title aspirations it was the type of win that could prove as the springboard for a championship type of season.

"We've been a good team for a couple of years," said Verdi of his team, currently ranked No. 4 in the state by MSG Varsity. "I think the mentality this year for us is to go from being a good team to being a great team. And I think the kids now believe they can be a great team."

Prep's Christian Colucci (left) gets the upper hand vs Kohl Geibel in their 195-pound bout. (Photo: Jason Bernstein)

Delbarton at St. Peter's Prep Werestling Photo Gallery