Following the first two rounds on Friday night, only two Mercer County wrestlers are still in contention to win championships at the Region 5 Tournament at Franklin High School.
Two two who advanced to Saturday morning’s semifinals were Hopewell Valley 120-pounder Dylan Hersh and Princeton 138-pounder Blaise Mele.
A sophomore who won a District 17 title last week, Hersh (27-9) advanced with a 2-1 sudden victory triumph over Jake Gujski of East Brunswick. Hersch will now face top-seeded Noah Michaels (30-2) of Red Bank Catholic.
Second in the region last year, Mele (35-2) moved along by pinning his pre-quarterfinal round opponent in the first period and then winning by technical fall over Fernando Avellan of Edison.
Next up for the third-seeded Mele is second-seeded Giovanni Scafidi (19-3) of Howell. Looming at the top of the 138-pound bracket is Delbarton’s Jayden James, who beat Mele, 9-4, in last week’s District 17 final.
Quarterfinal round losers from Mercer who are still alive to finish in the top four and advance to states are Hopewell’s Dean Meissner (106), Konrad Haugeto (157) and Jon Trainor (215), West Windsor North’s Darren deJong (190) and West Windsor South’s Jordan Blaise (144).
QUARTERFINALS
106: Michael Dibiase (Red Bank Catholic Hs) 32-4 won by decision over Thomas Blewett (Middletown North) 28-10 (Dec 7-0); Quarterfinal – Cameron Sontz (Delbarton School) 32-4 won by tech fall over Dean Meissner (Hopewell Valley Hs) 28-8 (TF-1.5 2:33 (25-10); Quarterfinal – Dominick Lezark (East Brunswick H.S.) 31-5 won by decision over Nicholas Sheldrick (Raritan) 27-9 (Dec 4-1); Luke Johnston (Howell) 28-7 won by decision over Logan McDermid (Hillsborough) 30-7 (Dec 11-5)
113: Logan Roman (Old Bridge) 18-0 won by fall over Dylan Placca (Holmdel) 27-6 (Fall 1:11); Dominck Sena (Red Bank Regional) 28-1 won by fall over Ciaran O`Reilly (Middletown South) 20-15 (Fall 3:25); Eamon Fry (Rumson-Fair Haven Regional) 29-7 won by decision over Thomas Kester (Hillsborough) 27-13 (Dec 7-1); Peter Terranova (Delbarton School) 20-12 won by decision over Brady Klinsky (Middletown North) 35-3 (Dec 8-5)
120 Noah Michaels (Red Bank Catholic Hs) 30-2 won by fall over Nicholas Paulino (Holmdel) 23-12 (Fall 0:40); Dylan Hersh (Hopewell Valley Hs) 27-9 won in sudden victory – 1 over Jake Gujski (East Brunswick H.S.) 29-7 (SV-1 12-10); Elijah Bayne (Rumson-Fair Haven Regional) 24-9 won by fall over Robert Fritz (Sayreville War Memorial) 23-12 (Fall 0:48); Kevin Ruland (Red Bank Regional) 26-0 won by decision over Anthony Mayo (Hillsborough) 24-17 (Dec 10-8)
126: Dominic Terracciano (Keansburg) 33-1 won by fall over Aedan Samson-Huggins (East Brunswick H.S.) 28-7 (Fall 1:30); Ethan Delacruz (Bound Brook HS) 30-3 won by fall over Joaquin Duque (Rumson-Fair Haven Regional) 20-7 (Fall 3:34); Ryan DeGeorge (Delbarton School) 31-5 won by tech fall over Jacob Portman (Middletown North) 29-9 (TF-1.5 3:17 (18-3); Lawrence Liss (Matawan Reg) 32-4 won by major decision over Jeremy Negron (Edison) 30-7 (MD 11-2)
132: Xavier Ortega (Howell) 29-4 won by major decision over CJ McCrea (Sayreville War Memorial) 19-13 (MD 14-1); Alexander Liss (Matawan Reg) 26-5 won in tie breaker – 1 over Aidan Davis (Raritan) 24-11 (TB-1 4-2); Julian Duque (Rumson-Fair Haven Regional) 22-3 won by major decision over Anthony Paulino (Holmdel) 20-4 (MD 14-4); Chase Quenault (Delbarton School) 26-9 won by fall over Luken Ramos (Red Bank Catholic Hs) 17-11 (Fall 0:19)
138: Jayden James (Delbarton School) 31-0 won by fall over Jomar Mena (North Brunswick Township) 24-9 (Fall 0:17); Owen Miller (Hillsborough) 29-12 won by decision over Marco Conroy (Red Bank Catholic Hs) 17-6 (Dec 11-10); Blase Mele (Princeton) 35-3 won by tech fall over Fernando Avellan (Edison) 32-5 (TF-1.5 3:16 (18-1); Giovanni Scafidi (Howell) 19-3 won by major decision over Matthew Shumsky (Monroe Township) 26-11 (MD 13-0)
144: Sonny Amato (Rumson-Fair Haven Regional) 34-3 won by fall over George Crostewitz (East Brunswick H.S.) 28-9 (Fall 1:46); Jackson Obe (Montgomery) 26-4 won by decision over Brian Butler (Piscataway) 36-3 (Dec 5-1); Trevor Jones (Delbarton School) 24-12 won by decision over Justin Fearon (Middletown North) 27-8 (Dec 10-7); Zach Reilley (Raritan) 34-2 won by tech fall over Jordan Blaise (West Windsor-Plainsboro South) 31-4 (TF-1.5 3:10 (22-7)
150: Alexander Delaurier (Raritan) 32-4 won by fall over Tyler Hays (Bound Brook HS) 29-9 (Fall 1:15); Sean Love (Piscataway) 32-3 won by decision over JJ Machnik (Howell) 28-6 (Dec 4-3); Alec Holland (Middletown South) 29-8 won in sudden victory – 1 over Cole Pangborn (Rumson-Fair Haven Regional) 9-1 (SV-1 5-3); Gabe Logan (Delbarton School) 28-3 won by fall over Robert Connelley (Red Bank Catholic Hs) 26-12 (Fall 3:06)
157: Frank Romeo (Red Bank Catholic Hs) 28-7 won by decision over Konrad Haugeto (Hopewell Valley Hs) 32-5 (Dec 6-0); Logan Acevedo (Raritan) 27-10 won by decision over Jake Tenebruso (Old Bridge) 31-6 (Dec 2-1); Matthew Castelli (Middletown North) 33-2 won by fall over Michael Zaunczkowski (Sayreville War Memorial) 28-8 (Fall 1:45); Carl Betz (Delbarton School) 21-9 won by major decision over Colin Palumbo (Matawan Reg) 29-6 (MD 16-7)
165: Alessio Perentin (Delbarton School) 32-2 won by major decision over Tanner Hodgins (Howell) 29-3 (MD 14-6); Ryan Willi (Middletown South) 32-8 won by decision over Louis Mustillo (Middletown North) 18-11 (Dec 6-1); Tyler Boelhower (Woodbridge) 32-2 won by fall over Evan Ridgway (Rumson-Fair Haven Regional) 11-5 (Fall 2:34); Alexander Todisco (Holmdel) 25-6 won by decision over Matthew Miller (Hillsborough) 31-10 (Dec 9-7)
175: Louis Cerchio (Delbarton School) 30-4 won by fall over Devin Leonardo (Marlboro) 25-15 (Fall 0:49); Daniel Benbrook (Middletown North) 30-7 won in sudden victory – 1 over Lucas Velando (Manville Hs) 24-9 (SV-1 3-1); Omar Cholula-Conde (Monroe Township) 28-5 won by major decision over Garrett Pech (Piscataway) 31-8 (MD 9-0); Tyler Palumbo (Red Bank Regional) 24-3 won by decision over Luke Dougherty (Rumson-Fair Haven Regional) 26-12 (Dec 3-0)
190: Alexander Reyes (Holmdel) 26-1 won by tech fall over Dominick Paulino (Old Bridge) 27-11 (TF-1.5 5:53 (18-1); Trip Freitag (Manville Hs) 37-2 won by fall over Darren deJong (West Windsor-Plainsboro North) 34-5 (Fall 3:15); Elbrus Majagah (Delbarton School) 19-8 won by decision over Mario Carbonaro (Woodbridge) 28-5 (Dec 7-5); Conor Delaney (Rumson-Fair Haven Regional) 32-4 won by tech fall over Bryce Bouchard (Sayreville War Memorial) 26-10 (TF-1.5 5:52 (18-2)
215: Hudson Skove (Rumson-Fair Haven Regional) 34-0 won by fall over Sean Sylvester (Sayreville War Memorial) 14-10 (Fall 0:29); Dane Colfer (Howell) 30-1 won by decision over Jon Trainor (Hopewell Valley Hs) 23-7 (Dec 6-0); Matthew Jones (Hillsborough) 35-6 won by decision over Evan Eckerstrom (Red Bank Regional) 21-4 (Dec 3-2); Vincent Lee (Delbarton School) 23-1 won by fall over Noah Berlin-Langston (Highland Park) 33-3 (Fall 0:36).
285: Lorenzo Portella (Red Bank Catholic Hs) 32-1 won by fall over Evan Hartel (Franklin) 22-9 (Fall 0:21); Matt Smith (Rumson-Fair Haven Regional) 29-9 won by decision over Kwabena Afrifah (Princeton) 21-4 (Dec 7-2); Connor Walsh (Sayreville War Memorial) 30-4 won by fall over Nicholas Duarte (Hillsborough) 28-12 (Fall 1:14); Connor Martin (Delbarton School) 24-5 won by fall over Michael Dwyer (Middletown North) 26-13 (Fall 0:54)
PRE-QUARTERFINALS
106: Michael Dibiase (Red Bank Catholic Hs) 32-4 received a bye () (Bye); Thomas Blewett (Middletown North) 28-10 won by major decision over Melvin Lopez-Castro (Red Bank Regional) 17-10 (MD 9-0); Dean Meissner (Hopewell Valley Hs) 28-8 won by decision over Gavin Fong (Montgomery) 28-8 (Dec 3-1); Cameron Sontz (Delbarton School) 32-4 received a bye () (Bye); Nicholas Sheldrick (Raritan) 27-9 won by decision over Sean Eagle (Edison) 26-9 (Dec 6-0); Dominick Lezark (East Brunswick H.S.) 31-5 won by fall over Henry Marshall (Rumson-Fair Haven Regional) 16-13 (Fall 5:49); Luke Johnston (Howell) 28-7 received a bye () (Bye); Logan McDermid (Hillsborough) 30-7 received a bye () (Bye)
113: Logan Roman (Old Bridge) 18-0 received a bye () (Bye); Dylan Placca (Holmdel) 27-6 won by fall over Tyler Northern (Edison) 25-11 (Fall 4:00); Dominck Sena (Red Bank Regional) 28-1 received a bye () (Bye); Ciaran O`Reilly (Middletown South) 20-15 won by fall over Nick Cavallo (Monroe Township) 23-12 (Fall 1:57); Eamon Fry (Rumson-Fair Haven Regional) 29-7 won by fall over Shane Maghan (Howell) 10-6 (Fall 2:51); Thomas Kester (Hillsborough) 27-13 won by tech fall over Victor Perez-Alvarado (Franklin) 20-12 (TF-1.5 2:55 (15-0); Peter Terranova (Delbarton School) 20-12 received a bye () (Bye); Brady Klinsky (Middletown North) 35-3 received a bye () (Bye)
120: Noah Michaels (Red Bank Catholic Hs) 30-2 received a bye () (Bye); Nicholas Paulino (Holmdel) 23-12 won by decision over Tyler Oden (Middletown North) 22-13 (Dec 4-3); Dylan Hersh (Hopewell Valley Hs) 27-9 received a bye () (Bye); Jake Gujski (East Brunswick H.S.) 29-7 won by decision over Anthony Drake (Manville Hs) 26-12 (Dec 7-0); Elijah Bayne (Rumson-Fair Haven Regional) 24-9 won by fall over Arjun Monga (Princeton) 18-16 (Fall 0:32); Robert Fritz (Sayreville War Memorial) 23-12 received a bye () (Bye); Anthony Mayo (Hillsborough) 24-17 won by fall over Andrew Roy (Woodbridge) 18-14 (Fall 1:45); Kevin Ruland (Red Bank Regional) 26-0 received a bye () (Bye)
126: Dominic Terracciano (Keansburg) 33-1 received a bye () (Bye); Aedan Samson-Huggins (East Brunswick H.S.) 28-7 received a bye () (Bye); Joaquin Duque (Rumson-Fair Haven Regional) 20-7 won by decision over Cole Rose (Princeton) 29-9 (Dec 8-2); Ethan Delacruz (Bound Brook HS) 30-3 won by fall over Leonidas Morales (Woodbridge) 25-9 (Fall 1:47); Ryan DeGeorge (Delbarton School) 31-5 received a bye () (Bye); Jacob Portman (Middletown North) 29-9 received a bye () (Bye); Jeremy Negron (Edison) 30-7 won by decision over Corey Iannucci (Hillsborough) 27-13 (Dec 1-0); Lawrence Liss (Matawan Reg) 32-4 won by major decision over Michael Milke (Red Bank Catholic Hs) 11-19 (MD 9-0)
132: Xavier Ortega (Howell) 29-4 received a bye () (Bye); CJ McCrea (Sayreville War Memorial) 19-13 won by decision over Joshua Shumsky (Monroe Township) 27-8 (Dec 9-7); Alexander Liss (Matawan Reg) 26-5 won by tech fall over Ryan Brown (West Windsor-Plainsboro North) 25-11 (TF-1.5 4:07 (16-1); Aidan Davis (Raritan) 24-11 received a bye () (Bye); Julian Duque (Rumson-Fair Haven Regional) 22-3 received a bye () (Bye); Anthony Paulino (Holmdel) 20-4 won by major decision over Shane Myiow (Middletown North) 17-15 (MD 9-0); Luken Ramos (Red Bank Catholic Hs) 17-11 won by decision over Jake Markey (Bound Brook HS) 22-9 (Dec 10-6); Chase Quenault (Delbarton School) 26-9 received a bye () (Bye)
138: Jayden James (Delbarton School) 31-0 received a bye () (Bye); Jomar Mena (North Brunswick Township) 24-9 won by decision over James Vanderham (Holmdel) 24-9 (Dec 6-2); Owen Miller (Hillsborough) 29-12 received a bye () (Bye); Marco Conroy (Red Bank Catholic Hs) 17-6 received a bye () (Bye); Blase Mele (Princeton) 35-3 won by fall over Connor Brown (Middletown North) 9-18 (Fall 1:36); Fernando Avellan (Edison) 32-5 won by fall over Isaac Miller (Hopewell Valley Hs) 20-14 (Fall 5:40); Matthew Shumsky (Monroe Township) 26-11 won by major decision over Andrew Silvia (Marlboro) 26-13 (MD 15-4); Giovanni Scafidi (Howell) 19-3 received a bye () (Bye)
144: Sonny Amato (Rumson-Fair Haven Regional) 34-3 received a bye () (Bye); George Crostewitz (East Brunswick H.S.) 28-9 won by decision over Jason Huss (Red Bank Regional) 20-6 (Dec 3-1); Brian Butler (Piscataway) 36-3 received a bye () (Bye); Jackson Obe (Montgomery) 26-4 won by major decision over Anthony Degaetano (Red Bank Catholic Hs) 12-12 (MD 14-1); Trevor Jones (Delbarton School) 24-12 received a bye () (Bye); Justin Fearon (Middletown North) 27-8 won by fall over Brett Lockburner (Hillsborough) 20-17 (Fall 3:56); Jordan Blaise (West Windsor-Plainsboro South) 31-4 won in sudden victory – 1 over Aidan Grant (Howell) 14-11 (SV-1 8-6); Zach Reilley (Raritan) 34-2 received a bye () (Bye)
150: Alexander Delaurier (Raritan) 32-4 received a bye () (Bye); Tyler Hays (Bound Brook HS) 29-9 won in tie breaker – 1 over Michael Todisco (Holmdel) 24-11 (TB-1 3-2); JJ Machnik (Howell) 28-6 won by fall over Lukas Valentin (Woodbridge) 22-12 (Fall 3:16); Sean Love (Piscataway) 32-3 received a bye () (Bye); Alec Holland (Middletown South) 28-8 won by fall over Alexander Jang (Marlboro) 24-15 (Fall 2:44); Cole Pangborn (Rumson-Fair Haven Regional) 9-0 received a bye () (Bye); Robert Connelley (Red Bank Catholic Hs) 26-12 won by tech fall over Anthony Ramirez (Monroe Township) 23-9 (TF-1.5 5:32 (17-0); Gabe Logan (Delbarton School) 28-3 received a bye () (Bye)
157: Frank Romeo (Red Bank Catholic Hs) 28-7 received a bye () (Bye); Konrad Haugeto (Hopewell Valley Hs) 32-5 won by decision over Christian Paul (Princeton) 25-10 (Dec 11-5); Logan Acevedo (Raritan) 26-10 won by fall over Devan Monahan (East Brunswick H.S.) 25-11 (Fall 1:27); Jake Tenebruso (Old Bridge) 31-5 won by fall over Felix Medina-Rodriguez (Woodbridge) 13-7 (Fall 3:14); Matthew Castelli (Middletown North) 33-2 received a bye () (Bye); Michael Zaunczkowski (Sayreville War Memorial) 28-8 won by fall over Jack Cleary (Holmdel) 23-10 (Fall 0:40); Carl Betz (Delbarton School) 21-9 received a bye () (Bye); Colin Palumbo (Matawan Reg) 29-6 received a bye () (Bye)
165: Alessio Perentin (Delbarton School) 31-2 received a bye () (Bye); Tanner Hodgins (Howell) 29-2 received a bye () (Bye); Ryan Willi (Middletown South) 32-8 won by major decision over Yisreal Thomas (East Brunswick H.S.) 21-14 (MD 16-3); Louis Mustillo (Middletown North) 18-11 won by fall over Ethan Barker (Hopewell Valley Hs) 29-8 (Fall 2:38); Evan Ridgway (Rumson-Fair Haven Regional) 11-5 received a bye () (Bye); Tyler Boelhower (Woodbridge) 32-2 won by fall over Christian Rodriguez (Red Bank Catholic Hs) 20-15 (Fall 5:22); Alexander Todisco (Holmdel) 24-6 won by decision over Shawn Retta (Keansburg) 29-7 (Dec 4-3); Matthew Miller (Hillsborough) 31-9 received a bye () (Bye)
175: Louis Cerchio (Delbarton School) 30-4 received a bye () (Bye); Devin Leonardo (Marlboro) 25-15 won by decision over Jayden Johnson (Keansburg) 24-10 (Dec 7-3); Daniel Benbrook (Middletown North) 29-7 received a bye () (Bye); Lucas Velando (Manville Hs) 24-8 won by major decision over Liam Brett (Middletown South) 12-10 (MD 9-1); Omar Cholula-Conde (Monroe Township) 27-5 received a bye () (Bye); Garrett Pech (Piscataway) 31-7 won by fall over Nick Merino (Highland Park) 16-14 (Fall 1:48); Luke Dougherty (Rumson-Fair Haven Regional) 26-11 won by decision over Ray Purrelli (Howell) 12-10 (Dec 8-2); Tyler Palumbo (Red Bank Regional) 23-3 received a bye () (Bye)
190: Alexander Reyes (Holmdel) 25-1 received a bye () (Bye); Dominick Paulino (Old Bridge) 27-10 won by fall over Filipe Granadiero (South River) 19-12 (Fall 3:43); Darren deJong (West Windsor-Plainsboro North) 34-4 won by fall over Stephen Mcguire (Howell) 21-7 (Fall 4:13); Trip Freitag (Manville Hs) 36-2 won by fall over Metin Metioglu (Matawan Reg) 11-14 (Fall 4:38); Elbrus Majagah (Delbarton School) 18-8 received a bye () (Bye); Mario Carbonaro (Woodbridge) 28-4 received a bye () (Bye); Bryce Bouchard (Sayreville War Memorial) 26-10 won by fall over Ryan Settle (Raritan) 16-15 (Fall 1:37); Conor Delaney (Rumson-Fair Haven Regional) 32-4 received a bye () (Bye)
215: Hudson Skove (Rumson-Fair Haven Regional) 33-0 received a bye () (Bye); Sean Sylvester (Sayreville War Memorial) 14-9 won by fall over Christopher Eagle (Edison) 23-12 (Fall 2:42); Jon Trainor (Hopewell Valley Hs) 23-6 received a bye () (Bye); Dane Colfer (Howell) 29-1 received a bye () (Bye); Matthew Jones (Hillsborough) 35-6 received a bye () (Bye); Evan Eckerstrom (Red Bank Regional) 21-4 won by decision over Jack Dowling (Montgomery) 16-20 (Dec 12-5); Noah Berlin-Langston (Highland Park) 33-2 won by fall over Hamsa Elmesei (Holmdel) 12-11 (Fall 2:32); Vincent Lee (Delbarton School) 22-1 received a bye () (Bye)
285: Lorenzo Portella (Red Bank Catholic Hs) 31-1 received a bye () (Bye); Evan Hartel (Franklin) 22-8 won by fall over Mohammad Targali (Matawan Reg) 26-12 (Fall 3:21); Matt Smith (Rumson-Fair Haven Regional) 28-9 won by fall over Troy Hutchinson (Piscataway) 9-13 (Fall 1:10); Kwabena Afrifah (Princeton) 21-3 won by fall over Eloi Latouche (Old Bridge) 12-4 (Fall 1:19); Connor Walsh (Sayreville War Memorial) 29-4 received a bye () (Bye); Nicholas Duarte (Hillsborough) 28-11 received a bye () (Bye); Michael Dwyer (Middletown North) 26-12 won by decision over Jonathan Gazerwitz (Raritan) 27-8 (Dec 7-1); Connor Martin (Delbarton School) 23-5 received a bye () (Bye)
