It was the collision between two No. 1 teams Thursday night in soggy, wind-battered Manahawkin.
One one side was Delbarton, the No. 1 team in the state, the No. 10 team in the nation according to Rokfin.
On the other side was Southern, the No. 1 public school team in New Jersey and the No. 5 team overall.
From the first tweet of referee Ed Tonnesen’s whistle it was a masterpiece. Delbarton’s technical brilliance. Southern’s unquestioned heart. The match was wrestled rapid pace, with super-quick attacks and even faster counters. Bouts were contested in the middle of the mat and stalling calls were minimal. It was what you’d expect from two of the best.
Delbarton won 48-12 and improved to 18-2 overall. Southern lost its first match and dipped to 11-1.
The match featured two returning Delbarton state champions. There were a combined 10 state medalists and 15 state-ranked wrestlers involved in the dual meet. There were eight scoreless periods in the match.
As former Toms River South head John DeMarco, a foremost expert on the sport noted: “Southern wrestled tough like Iowa does. Delbarton wrestled like Penn State.”
Southern unquestionably gained Delbarton’s respect. At the same time, Delbarton earned some from Southern as well. Southern did not use 165-pounder Cole Velardi. Velardi weighed-in, but did not wrestle.
“Of course they earned our respect,” said Delbarton head coach Bryan Stoll. “They did that just by calling us for a match.”
Few teams in New Jersey seek out the powerhouse Green Wave for a match, but Southern did. And to its credit, Southern gave Delbarton one. Southern won four bouts and could have — not should have — won two more.
“We knew they were going to be tough,” Stoll said. “We wanted to wrestle in this gym, in this atmosphere. We just saw what is probably the best-coached team in the state.”
Southern’s ever-positive head coach Dan Roy actually gave his team a chance went hardly anyone else did.
“I had us winning six (bouts),” Roy said. “If we win six, maybe something happens someplace else …
“I’m still glad we wrestled them. I don’t have any regrets. We have a pretty good team (arguably the best in Southern history) and I gave my kids a chance at being the No. 1 team in the state. If I didn’t, I couldn’t have lived with myself.”
The difference in the match was this: Southern has good wrestlers in spots. Delbarton has great wrestlers in spots. From 138 to 190 pounds, Southern went without a takedown — yet still managed to win one of those bouts.
After six bouts, Southern trailed 13-9. At that point Delbarton unleashed the wrestling version of Murder’s Row. Tyler Vazquez (138) won by pin in 24 seconds, Joseph Davi by 6-2 decision at 144, Alessio Pertain by technical fall at 157, Luis Cerchio by pin at 165 and Simon Ruiz by fall at 175 and Vincent Lee by first-period pin at 190.
In what seemed like the blink of an eye, Delbarton had a 35-9 lead.
In the span of five days, Delbarton defeated the two best public school teams in the state — Delsea being the other — by a combined score of 117-15. Last Saturday Delbarton blasted Delsea, 69-3, at the Jack Welch Duals.
Interestingly, both teams got something out of the match. Both squads got challenges they not only wanted, but probably needed with the sectional tournament and the individual postseason rapidly approaching.
“No question,” Roy said when asked if the match would make his team better in February and March.
In a meeting of the No. 1- and No. 2-ranked 150 pounders in the state, Southern’s Matt Henrich scored an escape with 1:04 left in the bout and took No. 1-ranked Cross Wasilewski to overtime.
In the second overtime period, Henrich escaped with nine seconds left. In the third period, Henrich was warned for stalling but and had to survive a restart with 1.6 seconds left. Wasilewski sprung to his knees, but Henrich snapped Wasilewski back to the mat for a 3-2 victory which will help him come seeding time for the state tournament.
Wasilewski had a cut at eyebrow level above his left eye reopened by an inadvertent elbow from Henrich in the second period. Wasilewski used nearly all five minutes of blood time.
At 132, Southern’s John Stout was a 4-2, overtime winner against Delbarton’s Trevor Jones. Jones is ranked No. 8 in the state at 132 and Stout No. 5 at 138.
Stout was called for locking hands with 1:04 left in the third period. He cut Jones loose eight seconds later and trailed 2-0. Jones had Stout on the defensive, but with 40 second left, Stout spun behind for a takedown. Stout was able to ride Jones out and force overtime.
In sudden victory, Stout connected on a low leg attack nine seconds in. He stood, switched to a high single and dragged Jones to the mat for the victory.
Delbarton heavyweight Connor Martin picked up a win that should help his seeding status later this season when he used a trapped-arm roll that caught Anthony Evangelista on his back. Martin, who has a reputation for being dangerous from the bottom, scored the ball 50 seconds into the bout.
There was also a close match at 103 pound where Delbarton’s Dylan Palentchar, ranked No. 8 in the state, won 3-2. He scored the decisive point when Anthony Mason intentionally cut Palentchar in the third period. Mason, who was ridden out in the second period, could not get a takedown.
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Joe Zedalis covers Shore Conference and Greater Middlesex Conference wrestling for NJ.com. He can be reached at jzedalis@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @Josephzedalis
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