High School Wrestling:
Delaware Valley Squeaks by Sterling 26-25

Saturday, February 20, 1999

By Forrest Robleto
SJSports Staff Writer

All good things must come to an end. The Sterling Silver Knights had captured the South Jersey Group 2 championship over the two-time defending champions Dragons of Kingsway High School, 33-23 on Thursday. The celebrations ended on Saturday when the Delaware Valley Regional High School Terriers visited Sterling and handed them a heartbreaker 26-25 in the State Group 2 finals.

The Silver Knights opened up a 12-3 lead in the under 125 pound classes with a particularly impressive pin by Mark Manchio. In the 119 pound match with 52 seconds left in the third fall the match was restarted without the clock. After some time the clock problem was noticed and the match was stopped and the clock was set to 47 seconds. This may have been significant as Brad Alcorn outscored Nick Wean 7-0, and if he had gotten a single additional point the match would have ended in a tie. Delaware Valley rolled relentlessly back through the 189 pound class with major decisions by Andrew Rebecca and Joe Angione and a pin by Justin Sigafoos. Terrel Jackson did everything except pin Scott Carver and that was very significant, because if he had pinned him Sterling would have won. In the final match of the day Pete Mancini out wrestled Mark Howell by the slimmest of margins (3-2) to give Delaware Valley the 26-25 win over Sterling.

In semifinal action Delaware Valley easily handled Rahway 48-15 while Sterling squeaked by Pascack Hills 32-28. Rahway handled Pascack Hills handily 43-31 in the consolation round.

Weight Class	Sterling			Delaware Valley
	Wrestler	Match Points	Total Points	Wrestler	Match Points	Total Points
103	Desmond Wiggins	3	0	Lance Thatcher	10	3
112	John Sauer	3	6	Dan Hutchins	1	3
119	Brad Alcorn	7	6	Nick Wean	0	3
125	Mark Manchio	Pin 1:33	12	Adam Hendrickson	-	3
130	Joe Lukas	5	12	Andrew Rebecca	13	7
135	Steve Cox	-	12	Justin Sigafoos	Pin 3:39	13
140	Kevin Haubois	5	15	Alex Shallop	4	13
145	Sean Plasket	2	15	Joe Angione	12	17
152	Mike Barlkian	6	15	Steve Haver	8	20
160	John Eddis	8	18	Mike Conord	7	20
171	John Villec	6	21	Adam Shumacher	2	20
189	Tom Gibbons	2	21	Don Shaefer	5	23
215	Terrel Jackson	15	25	Scott Carver	5	23
Hwt	Mark Howell	2	25	Pete Mancini	3	26

Photos by Forrest Robleto