Delbarton’s Resilience Shines in Catholic Duals

MIDDLETOWN – Most wrestling teams that are short-handed and facing two other nationally ranked teams would probably not win the matches Delbarton did Saturday, Jan. 3 in the Catholic Schools Duals semifinal and final at Christian Brothers Academy. However, Delbarton is not most teams.

The Green Wave, ranked No. 6 in the country by flowrestling.org and No. 1 in the New Jersey Wrestling Writers Association Top 20, won the Catholic Duals for the third straight season by defeating St. Peter’s Prep 49-13 in the semifinal and then CBA 41-26 in the final. St. Peter’s Prep is ranked No. 40 and No. 6 in New Jersey, while CBA is No. 8 nationally and No. 3 in the state.

“I’m very proud of the kids,” Delbarton coach Bryan Stoll said. “It wasn’t easy. We faced a tremendous amount of adversity throughout the weekend. We lost two guys yesterday (Friday in the pool portion of the two-day event) and then we lost two more guys in the first match (Saturday against St. Peter’s Prep).”

Delbarton, which has been in the NJSIAA Non-Public A championship match the last three seasons with a state championship in 2024, wrestled both matches Saturday without 2024 state champion and two-time state finalist and Rutgers University recruit Ryan DeGeorge and 2024 state fourth-place finisher Gabe Logan. In the final, 2025 NJSIAA fifth-place finisher P.J. Terranova and starter Nicholas Marchetti were unavailable.

“To be able to beat a team like that (CBA) down so many guys is really good,” Stoll said.

Who did not wrestle was one of the stories of the event.

Delbarton was not the only team at the event that was without major firepower.

CBA, which defeated defending Non-Public A state champion St. Joseph (Montvale) 38-28 in the semifinal, has wrestled all season without sophomore and Iowa recruit Sean Kenny. Kenny, third in the state last year at 106 pounds, has a shoulder injury, CBA coach Billy Ashnault said.

“If he gets surgery, he’s out for the year,” Ashnault said. “If he doesn’t get surgery, maybe we see him. It’s just kind of up to their family and Sean. They’re just trying to kind of decide what the best path is right now is for his future.”

CBA did receive some good news with the return of junior 175-pounder Brock Oizerowitz after he did not wrestle the first three-plus weeks of the season. Oizerowitz, third in the state at 175 last year and eighth at the same weight in 2024, accepted a forfeit Friday in CBA’s second match of pool action and majored Delbarton’s Ryder Bernholz Saturday.

St. Joseph (Montvale) wrestled without sophomore 120-pounder JoJo Burke, last year’s 106-pound state champion, and standout freshman 106-pounder Ray Burdette. The Green Knights forfeited both 106 and 120 in both the semifinal and their 44-25 defeat to St. Peter’s Prep in the third-place match. NJ.com reported Friday Burke has a broken hand and will be sidelined three weeks.

Delbarton still had too much firepower for CBA.

The Green Wave still had six returning state medalists in their lineup, including two-time champion and Lehigh recruit Cameron Sontz (120) and 2025 150-pound champion and Penn State recruit Jayden James (165), who is pound-for-pound one of the best wrestlers in the country.

Other state medalists who wrestled against CBA were Tommy Marchetti (126), who was third at 120 last year, Carl Betz (190), fourth at 190 last year, Nick Schwartz (157), who was sixth at 144 last year and Trevor Jones, eighth at 157 last year.

All won in the final.

Sontz won by forfeit; James won by technical fall against Brendan Boyer, who has twice been within one win of being a state medalist; Betz pinned returning state qualifier Jarred O’Neill; Marchetti won by technical fall against Santino DiMatteo, who was fourth at 106 last year when he was at Brick Memorial; Schwartz majored returning region champion Will Sakoutis and Jones edged returning region champion James Jakub 3-2 on a rideout in the ultimate tie-breaker period.

“We weren’t healthy today, but we put a team out that could win,” Stoll said.

CBA has clearly made progress.

The Colts have gotten better in each of Ashnault’s seven seasons.

This, with five returning state medal winners currently in the lineup, including junior and returning state champion and Iowa recruit Paul Kenny, four other returning state qualifiers and two extremely talented freshmen in Santino Edgar (106) and Shiloh Joyce (113), would appear to be their best team during Ashnault’s tenure.

CBA won six bouts against Delbarton, including an enthralling 1-0 win by Edgar in the final bout on a third-period rideout over talented freshman Finn Anderson.

“As a team, we gave good effort,” Ashnault said. “There’s some individuals that can probably wrestle a little better and those individuals have to do that to help our team continue to climb.”

Non-Public A is loaded. In addition to the four semifinalists Saturday, there is Bergen Catholic, which ranked No. 5 in the NJWWA Top 20 and No. 7 Paramus Catholic.

But, there is no doubt, pending how the seeds for the Non-Public A state tournament shake out, CBA has a reasonable chance of being in the state final on Feb. 22 at Rutgers University’s Jersey Mike’s Arena.

“We certainly wouldn’t be surprised if they’re the team that we run into the semis, the final or the quarterfinal,” Stoll said. “They’re building something really special there. They have a great coaching staff. I’m happy for those guys to get where they’re going. I just don’t want them to catch up to us just yet.”

Final Results

Delbarton 41, CBA 26

• 113: Shiloh Joyce (CBA) md. Alex Rosciano 13-2
• 120: Cameton Sontz (D) by forfeit
• 126: Tommy Marchetti (D) tf. Santino DiMatteo 4:29 (20-5)
• 132: Paul Kenny (CBA) tf. Connor Glory 4:46 (21-5)
• 138: Braden Jones (D) p. Teag Saito 2:51
• 144: Bobby Duffy (CBA) p. Andrew Matter 1:01
• 150: Nick Schwartz (D) md. Will Sakoutis 15-4
• 157: Trevor Jones (D) d. James Jakub 3-2 (Ultimate tiebreaker)
• 165: Jayden James (D) tf. Brendan Boyer 2:59 (18-3)
• 175: Brock Oizerowitz (CBA) md. Ryder Bernholz 15-4
• 190: Carl Betz (D) p. Jarred O’Neill 1:39
• 215: Tyler Palumbo (CBA) md. Brody Ismael 16-3
• NOTE: 100th career win for Palumbo, who was sixth in the state at 215 last year and is a Rutgers recruit
• HWT: August Moser (D) by forfeit
• 106: Santino Edgar (CBA) d. Finn Anderson 1-0

Semifinal Results

CBA 38, St. Joseph (Montvale) 28

• 106: Santino Edgar (CBA) by forfeit
• 113: Charlie Esposito (SJM) d. Shiloh Joyce 5-2
• 120: Santino DiMatteo (CBA) by forfeit
• 126: Paul Kenny (CBA) p. Mikey Bautista 2:42
• 132: Johnathon McGinty (SJM) d. Teag Saito 13-9
• 138: Brian Little (SJM) tf. Cael Dutton 3:36 (21-6)
• 144: Bobby Duffy (CBA) by forfeit
• 150: Will Sakoutis (CBA) tf. Angelo Paino 3:28 (20-5)
• 157: Ryan Mitchell (SJM) d. James Jakub 4-0
• 165: Brendan Boyer (CBA) md. Joseph Paretti 10-2
• 175: Benjamin Marques (SJM) d. Cael Dutton 13-7
• 190: Adam Sepulvada (SJM) tf. Jarred O’Neill 3:41 (19-4)
• 215: Tyler Palumbo (CBA) tf. Joey Alvarez 2:37 (21-5)
• HWT: Cristian Alvarez (SJM) by forfeit