WILKES-BARRE, PA (December 14, 2024) – Sussex County Community College traveled across state lines to King’s College of Pennsylvania for the King’s Quad Match Saturday afternoon taking on Division III schools in King’s, Keystone, and Alvernia.
Starting off the day against King’s, Sussex picked four points right away thanks to a 15-4 major decision from Roman Citro over Cole Anderson. However, those were the only four points the Skylanders scored all match.
Chris Casale would be pinned by Nick Germano after a minute and a half to put the Monarchs in front and they would increase that lead to 12-4 after back-to-back decision victories as Michael VanderMeulen and Thaylor Sibblies lost 5-2 and 4-1, respectively.
The deficit would continue to climb as Carlos Delgado was pinned by M.J. Turi in the first period, and then Aidan Hallowich followed that up with a 17-1 tech fall loss against Jordan Bently, making it 23-4 King’s.
The last remaining wrestlers for Sussex were Jose Alvarenga Giron and Shawn Pawlowski. Both would make it to the end of the match but neither snatched a win as Alvarenga Giron lost by major decision 14-5, and Pawlowski lost by tech fall 18-0. This forced the Skylanders to forfeit their 197 and heavyweight matches to bring it to the final score of 44-4 Monarchs.
After a break Sussex took on Keystone and early on the Skylanders benefited from forfeits as the Giants forfeited the 125 and 133 matches to give them a 12-0 lead. That lead would increase to 24-0 after VanderMeulen and Sibblies would both pin their opposition, Justin Santiago and Michael Palinkas, with VanderMeulen pinning Santiago in just over a minute and Sibblies pinning Palinkas in the second period.
Despite the huge lead, Keystone stormed back to cut the deficit to 24-18 after three straight pins from Codi Bomboy, Dalten Klinges, and Mariano Monacelli. All three wrestlers pinned Delgado, Hallowich, and Alvarenga Giron in under two minutes.
The remaining three matches of the tournament were all decided by forfeits. Keystone forfeited the 184 match, but Sussex again forfeited at 197 and the heavyweight to bring the score to an even 30-30 tie. However, because of a tiebreaker, Sussex squeaked out a narrow victory 31-30 for their first match victory over a Division III opponent in program history.
The final match of the afternoon was against Alvernia and again the Skylanders had the upper hand early thanks to Alvernia forfeiting the 125 match, but much like against King’s, those would be the only points Sussex tallied all match.
Casale was pinned by James King late in the second period to tie it up and the Golden Wolves took the lead 9-6 after Sebastiano Spina won a close match by decision 3-0 over VanderMeulen. Alvernia would pin every remaining wrestler Sussex brought out with Pawlowski being the only one that lasted longer than two minutes for the Skylanders. This made the final score 51-6 Golden Wolves.
Head coach Nick Barzano was proud of his wrestler’s performance against the Division III competition. “Today was a great day overall for the program as the guys got to see exactly how close team scores can be, and see the importance of bonus points,” Barzano said.
“To beat a Division III opponent for the first time is special for the program, and King’s and Alvernia are both strong programs as well,” he added. “We had some great individual battles with both of them.”
Next up for the Skylanders is the Chocolate Duals on Dec. 21 at 10 a.m. hosted by Messiah College in Grantham. It will be the last match for Sussex County before the 2025 new year.
