'The perfect recipe': Delaware Valley wrestling falls to Paulsboro in Group 1 final

PISCATAWAY – The karma, the intangibles, the good vibes started for Paulsboro when they won the flip before the Group 1 final, earning the right to dictate the matchups against Delaware Valley.

How many times have the Red Raiders won the toss this season”

“We only won two tosses all season,” Paulsboro coach Paul Morina said. “And you think I’m kidding, find the other coaches.”

So it was a good start and it only got better for Paulsboro. The Gloucester County school pulled the upset by beating Delaware Valley 33-25 at the NJSIAA state dual championship final at Jersey Mike's Arena at Rutgers.

Delaware Valley (20-2) was going for a three-peat and topped Paulsboro, 34-31, in last year’s final.

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Sunday, Paulsboro held a 9-5 edge in matches, winning seven decisions including two overtime bouts and limited bonus points in two matches.

In other words, the Red Raiders – which injury defaulted the final match when the outcome was already decided – posted a near-perfect performance for them.

In 2022, Del Val edged Paulsboro 33-27 in the semifinals.

“I tip my cap to Paulsboro,” Del Val coach Andy Fitz said. “They wanted it. They were the hungrier team out there. … We won two very close matches the last two years. They were obsessed with winning this match and we weren’t. I’ll take the blame.”

Paulsboro coach Paul Morina said, “The kids talked about it all the time. That’s all we kept thinking – we got to get it this year. They motivate us for the whole year, in the offseason this is the goal.”

Fitz noted that the Red Raiders had “the perfect recipe” by winning at 106, 113, 215 and 285, then taking matches in the middle.

The match started at 190 with Delaware Valley’s Anderson Olcott winning 14-4. Paulsboro bumped up Austin Willetts, who won 8-5 at 215.

In fact, Paulsboro started strong by winning five of the first six bouts to take a 15-4 lead. That included Jared Hazel winning 7-5 at heavyweight in sudden victory and Aundre Hill getting a takedown in the final 20 seconds to prevail 4-2.

While the Terriers didn’t give up any bonus points in that span, they lost four straight matches from 144 to 164, including overtime at 150.

Delaware Valley had been dominating opponents. The Terriers won 41 of 42 matches to capture the Central sectional title with scores of 75-0, 72-6 and 81-0.

Along the way, Fitz earned his 285th career win to become the storied program’s all-time leader in his 17th season. His father Vince had 284 wins in 19 seasons from 1971 to 1990.

Del Val then beat Hanover Park in Friday’s group semifinals, 55-16.

All those accolades, though, will be discussed at a later date.

“The seniors have never had any adversity in the postseason,” Fitz said. “We had the Covid-shortened freshman year and everything went their way the last two years in the postseason. This is the first time in a while Del Val has had adversity in the postseason and we’re going to have to regroup, get over it. In the end we’ll be better for it, but right now it’s a little painful.”

He added, while graciously talking to reporters afterward, “I want to be on that bus so quickly.”

Paulsboro 33, Delaware Valley 25

190 - Anderson Olcott (Delaware Valley Regional) over Luke Metz (Paulsboro H.S.) Maj 14-4

215 - Austin Willetts (Paulsboro H.S.) over Evan Newman (Delaware Valley Regional) Dec 8-5

285 - Jared Hazel (Paulsboro H.S.) over Kyle Cooke (Delaware Valley Regional) SV-1 7-5

106 - Will Cruz (Paulsboro H.S.) over Tristan Fawthrop (Delaware Valley Regional) Dec 10-4

113 - Hayden Holmes (Paulsboro H.S.) over Luacs Beyers (Delaware Valley Regional) Dec 9-3

120 - Aundre Hill (Paulsboro H.S.) over Jake Taylor (Delaware Valley Regional) Dec 4-2

126 - Tye Falkenstein (Delaware Valley Regional) over Olivia Palmer (Paulsboro H.S.) Fall 1:53

132 - Jaden Perez (Delaware Valley Regional) over Keros Cooper (Paulsboro H.S.) Fall 2:41

138 - Matt Roche (Delaware Valley Regional) over Sean Daniels (Paulsboro H.S.) Dec 11-7

144 - Logan Sichelstiel (Paulsboro H.S.) over Jackson Bush (Delaware Valley Regional) Fall 3:27

150 - Kyare Harvey (Paulsboro H.S.) over Sebastian Dobak (Delaware Valley Regional) SV-1 6-4

157 - Chase Bish (Paulsboro H.S.) over Ben Levy (Delaware Valley Regional) Dec 6-3

165 - Roman Onorato (Paulsboro H.S.) over Mitchell Sutter (Delaware Valley Regional) Fall 0:47

175 - Kevin Roman (Delaware Valley Regional) over Sawyer Cabanas (Paulsboro H.S.) Inj 2:00

This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: NJ wrestling: Delaware Valley falls to Paulsboro in Group 1 final