EAST STROUDSBURG, PA (February 1, 2025) – Sussex County Community College completed their regular season schedule at the ESU Quad, going 0-3 against the competition but have their eyes set on the GSAC Championship next weekend.
The Skylanders first match of the day was against Centenary University and the Cyclones dominated with a 55-0 sweep. Of all the wrestlers Sussex sent to the mat, Thaylor Sibblies was the only one to avoid being pinned or suffer a tech fall defeat, losing by decision 3-0 to Xavier Pena at 149.
Roman Citro, Chris Casale, Michael VanderMeulen, and Shawn Pawlowski were all pinned while Carlos Delgado and Jose Alvarenga Giron lost by tech fall 17-2 and 18-2, respectively. For the other three matches at 174, 197, and 285, the Skylanders were forced to forfeit.
Against East Stroudsburg, Sussex was defeated decisively once again 47-6, but saw some strong performances from Pawlowski and VanderMeulen. Pawlowski pinned Cody Edwards at 184 in the second period, and VanderMeulen went the distance against Elijhah Bundro before eventually coming up short by decision 7-2. Aside from that it was very similar to the Centenary match with every other wrestler defeated by tech fall, pin, or forfeit.
The last match of the afternoon was against American International College, and it was by far the closest but Sussex fell just short 28-24. The Skylanders got the quick edge they were looking for when Citro pinned Jack Sullivan in just over a minute and a half, but their opponent turned it around with three straight wins immediately afterwards.
Casale was defeated by tech fall 19-3 followed by VanderMeulen and Sibblies each losing by decision 10-3 and 9-7. Delgado managed to stop the bleeding briefly by pinning Luis Rosa at 157, but once again three straight losses followed suit making it 28-12 American International. This made it so that despite Sussex benefitting from back-to-back forfeits, victory was out of reach.
Despite the sweep, head coach Nick Barzano is focusing on the positives ahead of the GSAC Championship. “We’re a young team going against a lot of fifth year DI and DII wrestlers, but a lot of your guys were in the matches and even winning at some points. We just need to iron some things out and finish stronger,” Barzano said.
He continued saying, “We knew this was going to be some of our hardest competition close to home, but I thought it was necessary to get this experience right before the GSAC,” he said. “We’ll take the second seed and look to improve upon the beginning of the year and see what happens.”
The GSAC Championship will take place on Saturday Feb. 8 at 10 a.m. at Camden County College. The Skylanders are looking to defend their championship from last season and make it back-to-back titles.
