Wrestling: Delaware Valley’s lightweights surge as Terriers shock No. 9 Phillipsburg

165: Garrett Tettemer (DV) vs. Hunter Cleaver (P) as Delaware Valley wrestling hosted Phillipsburg on Jan. 30, 2023.

120: Gavin Geleta (P) v. Jaden Perez (DV) as Delaware Valley wrestling hosted Phillipsburg on Jan. 30, 2023.

190: Delaware Valley's Jake Lagun (DV) pins Phillipsburg's Derek Stone as Delaware Valley wrestling hosted Phillipsburg on Jan. 30, 2023.

106: Massimo Gonzalez (P) v. Owen Kucharski (DV) as Delaware Valley wrestling hosted Phillipsburg on Jan. 30, 2023.

126: Kyle Beenders (P) v. Matt Roche (DV) as Delaware Valley wrestling hosted Phillipsburg on Jan. 30, 2023.

150: Chris Colasurdo (DV) vs. Patrick Day (P) as Delaware Valley wrestling hosted Phillipsburg on Jan. 30, 2023.

144: John Roth (P) in pain with a shoulder injury during a timeout against Ben Levy (DV) as Delaware Valley wrestling hosted Phillipsburg on Jan. 30, 2023.

113: Dawson McWilliams (P) v. Jake Taylor (DV) as Delaware Valley wrestling hosted Phillipsburg on Jan. 30, 2023.

126: Kyle Beenders (P) v. Matt Roche (DV) as Delaware Valley wrestling hosted Phillipsburg on Jan. 30, 2023.

150: Chris Colasurdo (DV) vs. Patrick Day (P) as Delaware Valley wrestling hosted Phillipsburg on Jan. 30, 2023.

113: Dawson McWilliams (P) v. Jake Taylor (DV) as Delaware Valley wrestling hosted Phillipsburg on Jan. 30, 2023.

157: Brayden Schneider (DV) vs. Liam Packer (P) as Delaware Valley wrestling hosted Phillipsburg on Jan. 30, 2023.

120: Gavin Geleta (P) v. Jaden Perez (DV) as Delaware Valley wrestling hosted Phillipsburg on Jan. 30, 2023.

157: Brayden Schneider (DV) vs. Liam Packer (P) as Delaware Valley wrestling hosted Phillipsburg on Jan. 30, 2023.

120: Gavin Geleta (P) v. Jaden Perez (DV) as Delaware Valley wrestling hosted Phillipsburg on Jan. 30, 2023.

138: Luke Geleta (P) v. Jackson Bush (DV) as Delaware Valley wrestling hosted Phillipsburg on Jan. 30, 2023.

190: Delaware Valley's Jake Lagun (DV) pins Phillipsburg's Derek Stone as Delaware Valley wrestling hosted Phillipsburg on Jan. 30, 2023.

132: Gavin Hawk (P) vs. Jackson Bush (DV) as Delaware Valley wrestling hosted Phillipsburg on Jan. 30, 2023.

113: Dawson McWilliams (P) v. Jake Taylor (DV) as Delaware Valley wrestling hosted Phillipsburg on Jan. 30, 2023.

157: Brayden Schneider (DV) vs. Liam Packer (P) as Delaware Valley wrestling hosted Phillipsburg on Jan. 30, 2023.

106: Massimo Gonzalez (P) v. Owen Kucharski (DV) as Delaware Valley wrestling hosted Phillipsburg on Jan. 30, 2023.

215: Caleb Rivera d. Anderson Olcitt as Delaware Valley wrestling hosted Phillipsburg on Jan. 30, 2023.

175: Connor Hille (P) v. August Savacool (DV) as Delaware Valley wrestling hosted Phillipsburg on Jan. 30, 2023.

215: Caleb Rivera d. Anderson Olcitt as Delaware Valley wrestling hosted Phillipsburg on Jan. 30, 2023.

106: Massimo Gonzalez (P) v. Owen Kucharski (DV) as Delaware Valley wrestling hosted Phillipsburg on Jan. 30, 2023.

144: Ben Levy (DV) waits for the bout to resume against John Roth (P) as Delaware Valley wrestling hosted Phillipsburg on Jan. 30, 2023.

190: Delaware Valley's Jake Lagun (DV) pins Phillipsburg's Derek Stone as Delaware Valley wrestling hosted Phillipsburg on Jan. 30, 2023.

144: Ben Levy (DV) v. John Roth (P) as Delaware Valley wrestling hosted Phillipsburg on Jan. 30, 2023.

175: Connor Hille (P) v. August Savacool (DV) as Delaware Valley wrestling hosted Phillipsburg on Jan. 30, 2023.

144: Ben Levy (DV) v. John Roth (P) as Delaware Valley wrestling hosted Phillipsburg on Jan. 30, 2023.

190: Delaware Valley's Jake Lagun (DV) pins Phillipsburg's Derek Stone as Delaware Valley wrestling hosted Phillipsburg on Jan. 30, 2023.

165: Garrett Tettemer (DV) vs. Hunter Cleaver (P) as Delaware Valley wrestling hosted Phillipsburg on Jan. 30, 2023.

190: Delaware Valley's Jake Lagun (DV) pins Phillipsburg's Derek Stone as Delaware Valley wrestling hosted Phillipsburg on Jan. 30, 2023.

The Delaware Valley student sections starts to celebrate a win as Delaware Valley wrestling hosted Phillipsburg on Jan. 30, 2023.

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Jake Lagun wore a large dog bone around his neck when he came out for an interview after Monday’s home match with Phillipsburg.

“It’s the Pin Dog award,” said the Delaware Valley senior wrestler. “For the biggest pin of the match.”

Or biggest pin of the month. Or year. Or decade.

Or whatever time period you want, perhaps.

For it was Lagun’s fall at 190 pounds that secured the Terriers’ first win over the Stateliners since 2006, 33-27.

Now that’s something to bark about.

After falling behind P’burg sophomore Derek Stone in the first period 5-0, Lagun rallied for a pin in 4:24 to put Del Val up 33-18 with two matches to go. It was only the seventh Terrier win in 45 matches against the Stateliners.

The key decision of the first four – indeed, perhaps of the match other than 190 – came at 113, where Del Val junior Jake Taylor mounted a rally from a 4-1 first period deficit to top Stateliner junior Dawson McWilliams 5-4 with – you guessed it – a strong third period.

“He was gassing out in the third period,” Taylor said. “After I got down 4-2 I had stay off his game and not wrestle his match. He had that over-tie slide by he got me with twice; I had watched a lot of his matches and he didn’t do that, and it messed me up. I had to control his hands and elbows better.”

Taylor survived an intense, athletic third-period scramble before getting the takedown with a minute left that put him up 5-4.

“I was confident that I’d come out of that scramble with a takedown,” Taylor said. “I roll around with Owen, with Colasurdo, with Tettemer, with Roche in scrambles all the time.”

Then Taylor protected his lead with smart top wrestling.,

“I just had to stop his rolling and tie up his wrists,” said Taylor, whose dad was on the 1993 Terrier team that also defeated Phillipsburg. “I knew I had a stall to give at the end (when he walked McWilliams out of bounds with 20 seconds left) so I could give up the stall, get the restart and hold on from there.”

Which he did.

“That was a really key win for us,” Fitz said. “Jake is resilient, he’s tough as nails. He’s worked really hard to make weight at 113 and he solidified our lineup by doing so,”

The middle of the match saw Phillipsburg get a pin from Gavin Hawk at 132 and two majors from Luke Geleta (138) and Liam Packer (157), who worked hard in third periods to get to the scoring margin they needed, while the Terriers won 7-1 at 144 behind a physical effort from Ben Levy.

The drama picked up at 165, where many thought Phillipsburg might bump Hunter Cleaver up, as they did versus Easton, to avoid Del Val’s LVL-No. 1-ranked Garrett Tettemer. But Cleaver came out and Tettemer majored him 15-6, again on a third-period takedown.

P’burg answered with Connor Hille securing a very late takedown to secure his 12-3 major at 175 to set up the final drama.

“I am proud of this team,” Fitz said. “There’s a whole generation of Del Val wrestlers that had never beaten Phillipsburg.”

Now they have.

“This is huge for us, going into sectionals having beaten Phillipsburg,” said Taylor of the upcoming Central Group 1 sectionals and states where the Terriers will enter as favorites. “This in an incredible feeling that will make us work even harder in the room and feel more confident in ourselves to keep the ball rolling.”

A ball the Pin Dog, Jake Lagun, started rolling with his big bark and pinning bite.

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Brad Wilson may be reached at bwilson@lehighvalleylive.com.

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