Eagles Wrestling Storms Back to Pin Down Panthers

For the better part of 30 minutes the lightweight wrestlers sat and watched as Collingswood celebrated.

The Panthers opened up Friday’s Colonial Conference match with two decisions, a major decision and a pin–with a tech fall produced by West Deptford’s Rory Bonner severing as the only blemish to their 16-5 lead.

With each win the Panthers grew more excited, jumping out of their chairs and celebrating as if an upset was on the way.

It caught the Eagles' attention.

“Seeing them getting all fired up gets us ready and thinking, ‘We have to take them down; this is our gym,’” Zuzulock said.

Zuzulock and the rest of his teammates did exactly that, responding with seven-straight wins and 32-straight points to pull away for a 37-25 victory that kept the Eagles perfect on the season.

“It gets us going,” junior Tyler Kaminski said of the energy shown by the Panthers. “It gets us fired up and makes us want to achieve more."

Gerald Owens got the comeback started with a pin in 46 seconds to pull the Eagles within 16-11. Heavyweight Dave Branco followed with a hard-fought 3-2 decision that drew West Deptford (11-0) even closer.

From there, the lightweights took over.

Griffin Bonner (tech fall), Kaminski (major decision), Zuzulock (pin), and Steve Alt (decision) took the heart out of the Panthers, and Christian Terinoni sealed the victory with a pin, as the Eagles turned a 16-5 deficit into a 37-16 lead.

“You could definitely tell, particularly after Steve's match, they were starting to die down,” Zuzulock said. “They knew they couldn't win anymore after that.”

The lightweights have been a strength for the Eagles all season. Griffin, Kaminski and Zuzulock are all on their way to having favorable seeds come district time.

“My lightweights have done a fantastic job for us,” West Deptford coach John Craig said. “We knew coming into the year that we were going to be dynamic down at the bottom with Tyler and Evan and with Griffin coming in.”

“Our lightweights are tough,” echoed Kaminski. “We all go in to win the match and we do what we've got to do, whether it’s save bonus points or get bonus points.”

That’s why there was little concern over the shaky start to the match.

“A lot of times when we start at the middleweights, we end up a little behind, so from 106 on we know we have to turn it on,” said Zuzulock.

Kaminski’s win may have been the biggest of the match. Bonner had just given the Eagles their first lead of the match, 17-16, on a 13-0 major decision, but it appeared as though the Panthers were about to regain the momentum.

Collingswood’s Tony Giancola led Kaminski 4-0 after the first period of the 113 pound bout, and had nearly secured a pin. Kaminski shrugged off the rough start to tie the match at 5-5 at the end of two periods.

In the third, he took complete control, racking up a trio of near-falls to walk
away with a 14-5 major decision.

“It was awesome,” Craig said. “He got caught in that scramble in the beginning and got taken down to his back, but he persevered, like Tyler does, against a really tough kid, maybe the best kid on their team.

"I thought he imposed his will and did what we teach, which is even if you are losing, the match is six minutes long–not five, not four. He went there for six minutes and made sure he finished the job.”

For Kaminski, it was business as usual.

“I just went in and wanted to win,” Kaminski said. “I had the will to take it and I did it.”

West Deptford is right back in action today as it takes on Pennsville and Deptford in a tri-meet.