Nine area wrestlers are still alive for medals in Atlantic City.
Phillipsburg’s Brandon Paetzell and Robert Melise stand one win away from wrestling in Sunday’s NJSIAA championship finals after the pair of Stateliners won their quarterfinal bouts Saturday afternoon at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.
Paetzell and Melise will wrestle in semifinals at 5 p.m. Saturday.
Paetzell defeated Edison’s Robert Cleary 8-3 in his quarterfinal and will face Toms River South’s Owen McClave in the semifinals. McClave defeated Bergen Catholic’s Christopher Foca 4-3 in his quarterfinal; Foca had defeated Paetzell 6-4 in December at the Beast of the East.
Melise overwhelmed Paramus’ Michael Daniele in his quarterfinal, taking him down in five seconds off the opening whistle and pinning in 1:47.
Melise will meet St. Augustine’s Prep James Brady in his semifinal. Brady defeated South Plainfield’s Zach DelVecchio 3-1 in his quarterfinal. Brady met Melise at the Beast of the East in December and won 5-2.
Nine area wrestlers are alive in the consolations – Delaware Valley’s Matt Kolonia (132), Kyle Lightner (182) and Kyle Schlittler (195), Phillipsburg’s Kyle Markus (113) and DJ Wissing (152), Voorhees’ Kyle DiNapoli (126) and North Hunterdon’s Derek Ciavarro (160).
Markus, DiNapoli and Ciavarro all lost quarterfinals Saturday. Markus was pinned in 4:53 by Delbarton’s Pat Glory; DiNapoli fell 7-4 to Roxbury’s Troy Stanich and Ciavarro lost 5-1 to West Milford’s Christian DelCais.
Losing consolation matches Saturday and eliminated from the tournament were Warren Hills’ Cody Harrison (106), Delaware Valley’s AJ DeRosa (113), Hackettstown’s Alex Carida (132), DelVal’s Connor Mills (138), Phillipsburg’s Brian Meyer (145), North Warren's Anthony Duardo (152) and the Stateliners’ Kyle “Nacho” Nothnagel (285).
Nothnagel did win his 100th career bout when he pinned Brian Velez of West Orange in 1:18 in a first-round consolation but the Stateliner senior was pinned by Jedh Downey of Old Tappan in 2:53 in the next round.
Brad Wilson may be reached at bwilson@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @bradwsports. Find Lehigh Valley high school sports on Facebook.