Hamilton's Ryan Bennett was the area's lone region champion on Saturday but the big news from the region action wasn't so much about who won but who lost.
Allentown's Joe Lamparelli, already a two time region champion, fell short of tying the CVC record of three region titles set by Steinert's two time state champion Brandon Cray when he lost to Middletown North's Fred Luchs 6-4 in overtime in the final of the NJSIAA/Rothman Orthopaedic Region 6 Tournament at Jackson Liberty.
At 40-6, Luchs is no slouch but considering Lamparelli came into the final at 39-0 and had defeated Luchs 9-3 in the District 22 final a week earlier, the loss had to be a disappointing one.
Lamparelli, who has just missed out on placing in the toughest weight class of the state tournament the past two years, will now face a tougher road to the elusive goal of medaling in Atlantic City. In a weight that includes several returning place winners, including last year's 113 pound state champion, Dean Peterson of St. John Vianney, the hit he is likely take in seeding from the loss will not help.
As unexpected as Lamparelli's finals defeat was, the lone area wrestler who claimed a region title also surprised as Bennett won the 170 pound championship at Region 6 after being seeded eighth in the weight.
Bennett, at 33-2 was an unlikely eighth seed but he quickly put the lie to that ranking when he knocked off the bracket's top seed, District 21 champion Brendan Newbury of Wall, 9-4 on Friday night in Jackson.
He cruised through his semifinal bout with a 12-4 decision over Burlington City's 4-seed James Ball and then completed his championship run with an 11-3 major decision in an all Mercer County final over Allentown's Paskal Miga.
Miga's path to the title match was just as littered with upset wins. The 10-seed Miga defeated 7-seed Connor Verga of Lawrence in Wednesday night's opening round and then buried 2-seed Anthony Bailey of Raritan in the first period of his Friday quarterfinal. Miga stamped his ticket to the final with a 7-3 semifinal win over 6-seed Jack Friedman of Long Branch.
In addition to Lamparelli and Miga, four other area wrestlers finished second in their regions. In Region 6, Northern Burlington's Brandon Totten avenged his surprising District 21 final loss to Wall's Cole Meyer by defeating Meyer in the semifinal at 113, 5-3. He lost in the final to top seeded and four time region championTyler Klinsky of Middletown North.
Allentown's Nick Golden also reached the final. Golden pinned his way through two rounds before falling in the final 3-2 to Red Bank Catholic's Sabino Portello, who won the championship out of the eighth seed.
Over in Region 5 at Franklin, both Princeton's James Romaine at 152 and Hopewell Valley's Christian Cacciabaudo at 220 were runners-up. While 3-seed Romaine came up short in the final in a 7-5 loss to top seed Michael McGee of Shore, he had an impressive tournament.
Romaine easily dispatched 6-seed Owen Fitzgerald of Middletown Southin the quarterfinals Friday night and then scored an impressive overtime win in the semifinals over 2-seed Anthony Romaniello of Hunterdon Central 11-10. Suffering through a late assault on top by Romaniello at the end of regulation, Romaine held on to force overtime and then parlayed a near fall in the second period of overtime to forge the victory.
Cacciabaudo, the sixth seed, was a sleeper at 220 as he surprised the weight's 3-seed, Joseph Porcaro of Sayreville 5-3 in the semifinals to earn his spot in the finals. He lost to 5-seed Michael Pavlinetz of Holmdel 7-2 in the final.
All of Hopewell's big three upper weights will be heading to Atlantic City as the two other members of the trio, 182 pounder Josh Beigman and Brian LaCross at 195 finished fourth in Region 5. Beigman, the fourth seed, had lost to top seed and eventual champion Blake Clayton of St. John Vianney in the semifinal while 5-seed La Cross lost his quarterfinal bout to 4-seed Alex Uryniak of North Hunterdon but wrestled all the way back to the consolation final.
Six other wrestlers will be heading to Atlantic City after placing fourth at Region 6. Hightstown produced three state qualifiers as Chris Stavrou at 195, Bryan Bonilla at 220 and Brenden Hansen at 285 all advanced, as did Allentown's Matt Paglia at 145 and Northern Burlington's Blake Geibel at 120.
Robbinsville's Drake Torrington caught a tough break in the seeding at 126, being stuck in the upper bracket with Freehold Boro's 1-seed Nico Messina. Still, 4-seed Torrington was able to defeat Wall's Mike Bruno 6-4 in the consolation semifinals to qualify for A.C.
Eight other area wrestlers placed at their regions but did not qualify for the state tournament. Hopewell Valley's Christian Micikas at 106 and Jacob Venezia at 113 both placed fifth at Region 5 while Northern Burlington's Brandon Rzuczek at 195 and Lawrence's Jake Dallarda at 160 and Mooamen Nasr at 285 finished fifth at Region 6.
Hightstowns Kether Thornton at 132 and Bordentowns Jason Baldorossi at 182 finished sixth in Region 6.
The rest is here:
Times of Trenton wrestling: Hamiltons Bennett wins, Allentowns Lamparelli loses in region action - nj.com
