Brandon Hull and his Phillipsburg High School teammates help propel New Jersey All-Stars past Pennsylvania

FROM THE EXPRESS TIMES

Brandon Hull's performance at Tuesday night's Easton Lions Club Wrestling All-Star Classic ended up pretty much like the last time the Phillipsburg High School senior wrestled -- cheering Stateliner fans and a trophy for Hull.

But for Delaware Valley Regional High School's Will VanDoren and Easton Area High School's Peter Stanley, their matches Tuesday didn't look at all like the previous time they wrestled -- and they are glad for that.

Hull's pin of Easton's Francis Slover in a nifty cradle in 16 seconds at 220 pounds put an exclamation point on the New Jersey All-Stars' 28-15 defeat of the Pennsylvania All-Stars in a two-thirds-full 25th Street Gym. New Jersey has won three classics in succession for the first time, though Pennsylvania leads the overall series 19-13.

Hull, a New Jersey state champion who took home the classic's Outstanding Wrestler Award, said he had a friend in mind when he took the mat.

"I had a lot of revenge on my mind for Anthony Pare," said Hull, referring to Slover's 7-3 defeat of the Phillipsburg senior 285-pounder Pare in the teams' dual meet Jan. 26. "I was trying to help him out there. This was great, and it's a lot of fun."


All three Stateliner wrestlers in the classic won -- Pare edged Kirby Mutton of Pen Argyl 3-2 at 285 and V.J. DelMonico posted one of the night's overall strongest performances, dominating on the mat in a 6-3 defeat of Parkland's Bryson Berard at 155 -- but the loudest cheers from the enormous P'burg fan contingent went to Hull.

"Phillipsburg fans are the best," Hull said. "We go to faraway places and we still have more fans. I love P'burg fans to death. This has been a perfect season, I couldn't ask for more."


VanDoren and Stanley could, but they enjoyed Tuesday well enough.

The previous time VanDoren was on the mat, he was seen on his knees in frustration after surrendering a third-period lead to Jeff Farina of St. Joseph's-Montvale in the seventh-place match in Atlantic City.

"I relaxed for a second and you can't do that, and I thought that was my last match in a Del Val singlet and I didn't want it to be a loss," said VanDoren, who will major in neuroscience while wrestling at Brown. "I didn't know I'd be here, and now I can always remember my last match in a Del Val singlet being a win."


VanDoren dominated Tri-Valley's Evan Heffron 5-0 at 175 on Tuesday.

"This was just fun; it was nice to wrestle with no pressure," VanDoren said. "I could just go out and wrestle my style."


Stanley, too, did just that in a typically controlled, defensive and completely effective manner in a 1-0 decision over Paramus' Joe Rizzitello at 126 pounds.

Well, Stanley was near 126, anyway.

"He was huge," Stanley said. "They don't weigh us in here and I was 128 but he was a lot bigger."


Stanley, who was eliminated in the Class AAA Northeast Regional and surprisingly did not make states, still managed to ride Rizzitello for the whole second period and made a third-period escape stand for the win.

"It took a little while to get over what happened at regionals; I definitely didn't want to end my senior season with a loss," Stanley said. "I wanted to keep wrestling and (winning tonight) helped a lot after not making states."


Stanley will be attending and wrestling for West Point next season, and he said he cherished what he's leaving behind.

"Wrestling for Easton has been a great experience," Stanley said. "It's unmatchable by anything else."


Brandon Hull would probably agree about Phillipsburg as well.

32nd Easton Lions Classic
(at 25th St. Gym)
New Jersey 28, Pennsylvania 15
(bouts listed in order wrestled)
120: Joe Cruz, Hopatcong (N.J.) md. Guesseppe Rea, Stroudsburg 8-0
132: DeMarquis Holley, Dieruff (Pa.) d. Dylan Thorsen, Belvidere 3-1
175: Will VanDoren, Delaware Valley (N.J.) d. Evan Heffron, Tri-Valley 5-0
170: Justin Marsh, Palisades (Pa.) d. Joe Ragsdale, North Hunterdon 8-3
285: Anthony Pare, Phillipsburg (N.J.) d. Kirby Mutton, Pen Argyl 3-2
126: Peter Stanley, Easton (Pa.) d. Joe Rizzitello, Paramus 1-0
155: V.J. DelMonico, Phillipsburg (N.J.) d. Bryson Berard, Parkland 6-3
140: Mark Misczenski, Easton (Pa.) d. Ronnie Honickel, Voorhees 6-5
138: Jason Stephen, Northampton (Pa.) d. Derek Zehnbauer, Delaware Valley 5-2
160: Nathan Dow, Belvidere (N.J.) d. Aaron Transue, Stroudsburg 6-2
150: Ken Theobold, Toms River South (N.J.) d. Cole Sheptock, Northampton 6-2
195: Tyler Rios, Highland Park (N.J.), d. David Wilke, Nazareth 1-0
220: Brandon Hull, Phillipsburg (N.J.) p. Francis Slover Easton 0:16

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