WRESTLING: Roll Colls! Panthers advance to final

COLLINGSWOOD - As he headed across the street to where the wrestling building stands, Collingswood coach Dechlin Moody got in the final word.

“Right back at ’em, you know?” the former Panthers’ star wrestler said with a cheeky grin. “Touché.”

Seven days removed from a 33-25 Haddonfield triumph that ended with three forfeits, the Panthers got their reversal.

They put the result in the bag early and surrendered the final trio of bouts at 106, 113 and 120 pounds in a 34-32 South Jersey Group 2 semifinal win.

While Moody got a laugh out of the coincidence, he admitted the move was to keep his club as healthy as possible.

“I kept telling the kids, ‘We’re gonna win,’” Moody said. “They whooped us (in the first meeting). Us losing last week was the best thing for us.”

The next afternoon, Moody put his kids through what senior heavyweight Ryan Harper called “the hardest practice all season.” It went for three hours.

A respectable loss to Paulsboro came Friday. Big wins against Shawnee and Cinnaminson followed on Saturday.

WRESTLING: Paulsboro gets by Colls

Then, top-seeded Collingswood (20-5) got the rematch. Over on Collings Avenue, the motto – “Roll Colls” – summed up the effort this time around.

“We gave up too many bonus points,” Bulldawgs’ coach Mike Miller lamented. “Too many pins.”

The first bout foreshadowed the night for fourth-seeded Haddonfield (19-6). At 126 pounds, Peter Rhodes faced Will West, whom he’d pinned in 92 seconds on Feb. 3.

This time, Rhodes suffered a leg injury with 1 minute, 28 seconds left in the second period. He couldn’t return to action. West won by default.

Miller’s Bulldawgs looked no worse for wear immediately after with major decisions from Donny Siok at 132 and Chris Bolletino at 145.

Ben Klaus got a decision at 138 for Haddonfield in between. Through four bouts, Miller’s group held an 11-6 advantage.

Then, Colls started its roll.

Christian Dolan led the charge at 152 with a pin of Jack Goldberg in 1:54 – 12-11.

Colin Lex decked Nick Bateman in 3:38 at 160 – 18-11.

Micah Roth narrowly avoided a first-period fall and earned a trip to overtime against Joe Murray at 170. Murray led 7-6 before called for a stall with six seconds left.

“I’m not losing,” Roth said of his mindset after the stall point. “I wasn’t losing at that point. I was determined to win.

“We’ve been drilling it all week. Drilled to the point of exhaustion.”

Roth took him down in 5.9 seconds in OT – 21-11.

Nick Barnes pinned Bauer Fichter with 27 seconds left in the 182-pound bout – 27-11.

Moody said afterward he knew the meet would come down to two weights, 126 and 152.

He got the first on default. The second came courtesy of a lineup maneuver that bumped Dolan up rather than face Bolletino at 145, where he’d lost 3-0 last week.

“I had to show ’em a different lineup,” the wily coach said. “We gained a win there, we knew they wouldn’t put Bolletino up.”

It worked and after Haddonfield’s Frank Fortino took a 3-2 decision over Michael Taulane, Dashon Burdett got a major decision over Will Murray at 220.

Harper got a 4-2 victory over Hunter Fasolo to make it 34-14.

“We knew we didn’t wrestle the way we should have, the way we’d been doing all year,” Harper explained of revenge factor against the Colonial foe. “That just adds to the glory.”

Now comes second-seeded West Deptford.  The Eagles beat No. 4 Cinnaminson in the other semifinal, 35-25.

“Group 2 is no walk in the park,” Harper added.

The Panthers and West Deptford split bouts at seven apiece in the regular-season meeting on Jan. 6. Collingswood got the result, 30-27.

“Gonna be another tight one,” Moody forecasted of Friday's rematch. “Gonna come down to scoring bonus points.”

Mark Trible; (856) 486-2424; mtrible@gannettnj.com

COLLINGSWOOD 34

HADDONFIELD 32

Man of the match: Collingswood senior 170-pounder Micah Roth, who topped Joe Murray with a takedown 5.9 seconds into OT.

Sly maneuver: Panthers’ coach Dechlin Moody moved Christian Dolan to 152 pounds to avoid a rematch of his 3-0 loss to 145-pounder Chris Bolletino last week. Dolan pinned in 1:54.

Well said: “They whooped us (in the first meeting). Us losing last week was the best thing for us.” – Moody