GRANTHAM, PA (December 21, 2024) – Sussex County Community College completed the calendar year of 2024 with three matches at the Chocolate Duals hosted by Messiah University, going 1-2 on Saturday afternoon.
The Skylanders started off the event by taking on Liberty University, where they were defeated 40-8 but had some encouraging individual performances against a respected Division I program. The first came from Roman Citro who took Aiden Scheeringa the distance before ultimately losing by decision 8-3.
After Chris Casale lost by tech fall 17-1 against Blaise Verdino, Michael VanderMeulen and Thaylor Sibblies strung together back-to-back wins for Sussex. VanderMeulen dominated Rcey Ortega, winning by tech fall 15-0 in the first period, and Sibblies took Garrett Good to overtime tied 1-1. In overtime he punctuated the 4-1 sudden victory with a thunderous takedown, making the match score tied 8-8.
From that point on the Flames took control of the match and never looked back. Three of the next four matches were decided by either a tech fall or pin. Carlos Delgado and Shawn Pawlowski were both pinned against their competition, and Aidan Hallowich suffered an 18-2 tech fall defeat against Drake Bowers. Only Jose Alvarenga Giron avoided that outcome with a 12-5 decision loss against Syler Weber before Sussex forfeited the last two matches, which locked in the final score.
Against their second opponent of the day, Randolph College, the Skylanders jumped out to a huge 22-0 lead. The first two matches were close as Citro and Casale both squeaked by their competition. Citro survived Justin Porter with a 12-9 sudden victory thanks to a clutch takedown, and Casale won his match off riding time 9-8.
The next three Sussex wrestlers dominated the competition as VanderMeulen and Delgado each won their matches by pinning their opponent, while Sibblies earned an 18-9 major decision victory. Randolph College did gain some ground late with Hallowich being pinned by Austin Frazier and Alvargena Giron losing by tech fall 17-1 against Theodore Piluso to make it 22-11, but they forfeited the 184 match against Pawlowski that sealed the win for the Skylanders. This came despite Sussex forfeiting the last two matches (197 and 285) again, making the final score 28-23.
Their final match was against York College and it played out very similarly to their match against Liberty. VanderMeulen and Sibblies scored all nine points for the Skylanders with VanderMeulen pinning Jacob Grzybek, and Sibblies winning by decision 8-4 against Daniel Barra.
Every other wrestler Sussex sent out was either pinned or suffered a tech fall defeat. Citro and Hallowich lost by tech fall by scores of 18-0 and 19-2, while Casale, Delgado, Alvarenga Giron, and Pawlowski were each pinned. This resulted in the final score of 46-9 York College.
For the second straight week, Sussex County defeated a Division III program, and head coach Nick Barzano was impressed with his team’s overall performance. “We were in perfect shape today,” Barzano said. “We were winning the gas tank. There were a couple small positioning battles we lost against Liberty early, but we bounced back strong against Randolph. Now we just need to keep that momentum going for the rest of the way.”
As a reward for their win over Randolph, the Skylanders brought home a one-pound Hershey Kiss back to New Jersey. “It’s a pretty cool reward. Instead of bringing home some hardware, we’re bringing home a sweet treat,” Barzano said. “The guys are super excited to bring this home before Christmas, and they’ll be splitting it on the car ride back.”
Sussex County will take an extended break for the holidays and will return to the mat in 2025. Their next match is scheduled for Jan. 18 at 10 a.m. at home with their opponent still to be determined.
