A pair of No. 7 seeds score big upsets in Region 7 quarterfinals

Upsets were far and few between Friday night in the NJSIAA/IBEW Local 102 Wrestling Tournament at Lacey High School.

All 14 No. 1 seeds advanced to Saturday morning’s 10 a.m. semifinals. However, there were two, No. 2 seeds who now find themselves in the wrestlebacks.

REGION 7 RESULTS, PAIRINGS

A full rundown from the two-day tournament.

The two No. 7 seeds — Toms River East freshman Jayce Cappello at 126 pounds and West Deptford senior Caleb Jackson at 175 -- scored upsets in the quarterfinals.

“He doesn’t wrestle like a freshman,” said Toms River East head coach Steve Giannios. “We looked at the bracket and he doesn’t care who he wrestles. He’s a kid who does everything right in the room.

“He’s always ready to go after anybody he wrestles.”

Cappello won his first region match when he won by technical fall over Owen Gardner of Paul VI. In the second bout, against Arroyo, he fell behind 6-1 at the outset.

“He got dragged twice,” Giannios said. “But then he hit a seven-point body lock. He took (Arroyo) right to his back.

“He (Cappello) is a pinner and a gamer. When you put those two things together you get a dangerous wrestler.”

Cappello, now 27-8, gets a rematch of last week’s District 26 final against Lacey junior Aiden Flynn (29-7), the No. 3 seed. Flynn won the district title with an 11-4 victory.

Jackson (32-5) pinned Frank Romeo of Red Bank Catholic at the 5:47 mark. Jackson also won his prequarterfinal bout by fall, decking Giovanni Patti of Audubon in 4:47.

In the quarterfinals, Jackson is paired against Joseph Dunne (24-9), the No. 3 seed from Central Regional. Dunne was a 7-5 winner over Benjamin Hoffman of Delran.

Jackson was second in District 25 last week. He lost to Cole Stangle of St. John Vianney, 13-0, in the final. Stangle is the No. 1 seed in the Region 7 tournament.

Jackson has won 17 of his last 18 bouts.

106-pound thriller

One of the best bouts of the night came in the 106-pound quarterfinal featuring Southern freshman Cade Collins and St. John Vianney sophomore, Julian Zargo.

The bout was scoreless for 5:59. Collins rode out Zargo in the second period. Zargo nearly rode out Collins in the third.

But with one second left, the unflappable Collins hit a gramby roll that freed him from Zargo’s grasp for a 1-0 victory.

Collins (32-7) move into the semifinals where he is matched against top-seeded Killian Coluccio (26-1). Coluccio is a defending region champ and placed third in the state championships last March.

Milestone reached

Haddonfield’s 120-pounder Michael Lamb (34-2) won the 100th bouts of his career Friday night. Lamb scored a fall with 1:59 left in the quarterfinals to reach the century mark. Lamb, the second seed, takes on Mason Musiciano (31-8) of Collingswood in the semifinals.

Team advancement

St. John Vianney advanced 11 wrestlers to the semifinals including three-time state champion Anthony Knox (30-0) at 126 pounds.

Defending 285-pound state champion Rocco DellaGatta, who won his state title for St. Joseph (Mont.) last March, improved to 25-0.Also advancing for St. John Vianney was: Matthew Gould (120), Patrick O’Keefe (132), Abraham Adu-Amoako (138), Jake Zaltsman (144), Dezmond Lenaghan (150), Ryan Gavrish (157), Stangle (165), John Saravia (175) and Thomas Foley (190).

Host Lacey advanced eight: Coluccio (106), Brendan Schuler 9133), Flynn (126), Gutierrez (138), Kyle Leonard (150), Michael Colon (175), Jake Mott (215) and Mike Seeley (285).

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Joe Zedalis covers Shore Conference football for NJ.com. He can be reached at jzedalis@njadvancemedia.com.

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