Panthers pin Avoca
“I was very pleased,” said Campbell- Savona head coach Dom Scolaro. “We were very aggressive and we were hitting our moves.”
BY SHAWN VARGO The Leader

ERIC WENSEL/THE LEADER Campbell-Savona’s Chris McLaughlin (top) tries to control Avoca’s Charles Pragle.

CAMPBELL — Campbell- Savona opened its wrestling season with an impressive 48-18 victory over Avoca that featured six pins.

In fact, the Panthers (1-0) earned points in every match that was contested on the mat Thursday.

“I was very pleased,” said Campbell-Savona head coach Dom Scolaro. “We were very aggressive and we were hitting our moves.”

The match began at 145 pounds with Campbell- Savona’s Justin Tombs earning a 9-6 decision over Avoca’s Micah Fish-Gertz. Tombs jumped out to a 7-1 lead after two periods on the strength of a reversal and near fall in the second period. Fish-Gertz rallied in the third period with a takedown and near fall of his own, but a reversal by Tombs sealed the decision.

The second match of the day was also a hard-fought decision with the Panthers’ Jason Hyer out-pointing Jay Nicholson 12-7. A pair of takedowns and a near fall in the second period helped Hyer out-point his foe 8-1 – providing some cushion before the decision was final.

A pair of forfeit wins by Avoca’s Justin Zeh (160 pounds) and Chris Hognoski (171) gave the Tigers a 12-6 lead in the match, but Campbell-Savona was ready to show its strength in the upper weights.

Kaleb Drake began a pinfest with a one minute stoppage of Garth Lester at 189 pounds. That was followed by pin victories by Campbell- Savona’s Logan Wilson (215, 1:31) and Chris McLaughlin (275, 1:35) as the Panthers grabbed control of the scoreboard 24-12.

Anthony DeVito (119), Aaron Nichols (125) and Josh Simons (140) also earned pins for Campbell-Savona.

Campbell-Savona’s Tyler Romanki (96) and Avoca’s Chris Hogan (112) closed the scoring with forfeit wins.

“I thought it was very unexpected that we beat Avoca. We’re very young with a lot of freshmen and sophomores,” Scolaro said. “But it’s still early and we have a lot of work to do.”