Running Recap of Friday's State Wrestling Championships

UPDATED AT 9:18 P.M.—All right, readers. Time for Patch to shut down the live blog. Lots of great wrestling tonight. Come back Saturday for photos and results from Friday night's prelims and pre-quarters matchups.

Count Sullivan's win among the biggest highlights. Also, Monarque had a great showing for Jefferson. Hopatcong's Haines and Burgos both fell in the prelims. Montville has two athletes advancing. Fun fact: Tonight's attendance was announced at 9,068.

UPDATED AT 9:16 P.M.: Morristown's Dungee also advanced to tomorrow's quarterfinals. He won, 3-0, using his strength to ride out Hull.

UPDATED AT 9:11 P.M.— Huge win for Delbarton's Sullivan. With 12 seconds remaining in the third period, Sullivan pinned Bordentown's Matt Bauer. Sullivan was down by a bunch. Stunning. Bauer slammed his head gear on the mat after the loss.

UPDATED AT 9:08 P.M.—Bernstein won, big-time. Wasn't a contest. In other news, Darren Dungee of Morristown just hit the mat. The 215-pound Colonial was tied with Brandon Hull of Phillipaburg, 0-0, after the first period. Also, Sullivan is losing, 7-2 in the third period.

UPDATED AT 9:05 p.m.—Delbarton's Dean Sullivan just hit the mat at 215 pounds in the pre-quarters. And Bernstein nailed a takedown, putting him ahead, 3-0. Despite Bernstein's injury stoppages, he looked too fast for Garwood. It showed. Now Bernstein's ahead, 5-0. Might have had a pin had time not run out in the second.

UPDATED AT 9 P.M.—Bernstein takes another injury stoppage. From here, can't see the problem. In the second period, Bernstein earned an escape after starting on bottom.

UPDATED AT 8:55 P.M.—Montville's Taylor Bernstein and Clearview's Dan Garwood are squaring off in the 215-pound pre-quarterfinals. Each had a preliminary-round bye. Bernstein needed a injury stoppage early in the first period.

UPDATED AT 8:50 P.M.—Got anything to tell your local wrestlers in Atlantic City? Tell us in the comments section. We're waiting for a trifecta of area 215-pounders to hit the mats.

UPDATED AT 8:36 P.M.—Intile beats Marotti, 8-3, despite taking on a higher seed. On another mat, Mike Monarque of Jefferson, a senior 152-pounder, beat Khalid Shakir of Bordentown, 5-2. Monarque gave himself the comfortable lead with a reversal with almost a minute left.

UPDATED AT 8:28 P.M.— Meytrott loses, 5-0, in the pre-quarters. Never got good positioning. But the Mustangs' Intile is up, 5-3, in the second period. Still some hope for the Montville faithful.

UPDATED AT 8:21 P.M.—Mike Intile of Montville taking on Frank Marotti of West Essex at 152 pounds. Intile is up 4-2 in the second period. But at the adjacent mat—we're talking mats three and five, guys—Meytrott is still down, 2-0, heading into the third period.

UPDATED AT 8:17 P.M.— At 145 pounds, Parker Meytrott is taking on Paramus' Nick Alpher. After the first period, it's Alpher ahead, 2-0. Meytrott starting second period on bottom.

UPDATED AT 8:06 P.M.—Canfora pinned his opponent to move on to tomorrow's quarterfinals. Meanwhile, Guidice was up, 7-2. But Hamrick scored three points before Guidice had to take an injury stoppage. Still, Guidice held on for a 8-5 victory and walked off slapping his coaches' hands.

UPDATED AT 8:00 P.M.— Hillsborough's T.J. Guidice, at 140 pounds, started rough against Collingswood's Eric Hamrick. But he recovered, going up 5-0 after grabbing a takedown and three back points—and a near pin. But time expired. On a mat across the gym, Delbarton's Jeff Canfora, a 135-pounder, took on Ocean's Withler Marcelin. Canfora's up, 4-1, in the second pariod.

UPDATED AT 7:56 P.M.—Lopez lost, 8-5, after Quintero hit him with two more back points with less than 10 seconds left in the third period. Lopez had a preliminary-round bye.

UPDATED AT 7:49 P.M.— Delbarton's Jorge Lopez down to North Bergen's Julian Quintero at 130 pounds. It's 6-4, Quintero.

UPDATED AT 7:41 P.M.—Got a lull in area wrestlers right now. So, a question: Should Atlantic City really host a high school sports tournament? Sure, it's a great city if you're 21 or over. But do you think it's appropriate for teenage kids? To be fair, there haven't been many indicents reported over the last few years.

UPDATED AT 7:29 P.M.— Rogers beat Carter handily. The 6-2 final score was about a good indicator of how the match went. Despite his lower seed, Rogers didn't have much trouble with the Timber Creek 112-pounder.

UPDATED AT 7:26 P.M.—Magaldo won, 3-0. Rogers having a great match. He's up, 6-2. Not going to lie, our seats are high and far from the mats. Tough to see all the action, especially on the higher-numbered mats. Hey, at least our noses aren't bleeding.

UPDATED AT 7:23 P.M.—Magaldo went ahead, 2-0. They're in the third. Rogers is up, 1-0, in the second period.

UPDATED AT 7:17 P.M.— Watchung Hills' Mike Magaldo (112 pounds) started his pre-quarters match with Robert Trombetta of Nutley. Max Rodgers of Delbarton also started his 112-pound match aginst Timber Creek's Ricky Carter, a region champion.

UPDATED AT 7:07 P.M.—Innarella lost, 9-1. Rough match. Gonzalez looked too quick for the Green Waves' grappler.

UPDATED AT 7:02 P.M.—Boardman loses, 6-2. The 103-pound pre-quarters have started. Christian Innarella of Delbarton is against North Bergen's Luis Gonzalez. Innarella is down, 4-1, early in the second.

UPDATED AT 6:58 P.M.—Boardman's down, 5-0. He got a point off an escape from Cherokee's Timothy Swanson. But Swanson's been controlling the match. He was ahead, 3-0, at one point early.

UPDATED AT 6:54 P.M.— Amaro made it 4-3 when Sullivan let him up at the beginning of the third. But Sullivan got reversed, going down by a point. Amaro let him up for a 5-5 tie. Then Sullivan was able to score two points and let Amaro go before the final buzzer. Delbarton's 215-pounder moved ahead, 7-6.

UPDATED AT 6:49 P.M.—Sullivan went up, 2-1, against Michael Amaro. He had a strong takedown, then let Amaro, of St. Mary, up. Sullivan started the second period down. But he soon reversed Amaro, then let him up. No riding for Sullivan. He went ahead, 4-2.

UPDATED AT 6:45 P.M.— Stepped away for second. We're here, overlooking a sparsely populated Boardwalk Hall, awaiting heavyweight Mike Boardman's match with Cherokee's Timothy Swanson. Waiting for Delbarton's Dean Sullivan, too, at 215 pounds.

UPDATED AT 6:35 P.M.—Burgos down, 3-0, after letting Dawson up at the beginning of the third period. Dawson promptly took Burgos down for a 5-0 advantage. Burgos lost, 5-1. Dawson let him up near the end of the match. Both of Hopatcong's wrestlers are out of the tournament.

UPDATED AT 6:30 P.M.— Hopatcong's Miguel Burgos (160 pounds) took a few hops and turned back to his opponent, Anthony Dawson of Paulsboro. Then they started. Dawson went up, 2-0, in about 40 seconds. Stayed that way into the second period, where Dawson started on top.

UPDATED AT 6:28 P.M.—Vasile goes down, 4-2, after a Schlitt takedown. Schlitt lets him up and the two go neutral to make it 4-3. "Grueling match," Patch Assistant Regional Editor Rick Burchfield said. With 15 seconds left, Vasile shot at Schlitt, but came up empty. End result: Vasile loses, 4-3.

UPDATED AT 6:25 P.M.— Vasile g0t an escape. Schlitt might have let him go. It was 3-3 heading into the third period, with Vasile on top.

UPDATED AT 6:20 P.M.—Vasile's was down, 2-0, to Schlitt before he went for a big takedown, almost a slam. Schlitt tried slipping out after the takedown, but Vasile pushed him out of bounds. Then, Schlitt escaped, going up 3-2. Vasile's shoulder seems injured during stoppage.

UPDATED AT 6:18 P.M.—Jefferson's Anthony Vasile began his 152-pound match against Haddonfield's Robert Schlitt as Meytrott finished his with a 6-2 win. Vasile has a shoulder sleeve. Let's see if he protects it.

UPDATED AT 6:14 P.M.— Montville's Parker Meytrott went down, 2-0 in his 145-pound match against Caldwell's Jason Kratch. But Meytrott rebounded, putting Kratch on his back for two points before gaining another two back points to go ahead, 4-2, in the second period. Meytrott started on top in the third.

UPDATED AT 6:03 P.M.—T.J. Guidice of Hillsborough won, 5-4, Tim Garripoldi of Roxbury at 140 pounds. That one went to the wire. In the second period of the Johnson-Zak match, it was 2-2 until Zak was able to get behind Johnson to go ahead by two.

UPDATED AT 5:59 P.M.—Not exactly a packed crowd for prelims. Perhaps fans waiting to join stands for first-round matchups. Delbarton's Josef Johnson down, 2-0, to Chris Zak of Jackson Liberty at 145 pounds. But he tied it up, 2-2, quickly.

UPDATED AT 5:52 P.M.—Canfora gets the win with a takedown halfway through the one-minute OT. What a way to end a thrilling match. Canfora will take on the winner of Don Bosco's Luke Farinaro or Ocean's Withler Marcelin.

UPDATED AT 5:49 P.M.—Canfora of Delbarton almost got behind Delia, who knocked Canfora down and then almost slipped behind him. But after the two went out of bounds, they battled to overtime.

UPDATED AT 5:43 P.M.—Delbarton's Jeff Canfora (135 pounds) was ahead, 2-0, on Delsea's Curt Delia. Quick takedown in the first. Canfora started on the bottom in the second round. Then it became 3-2, Canfora late in the second period. Canfora would have on top in the third. But he let Delia go neutral, making it 3-3.

UPDATED AT 5:41 P.M.—That's it for Hopatcong's Haines. He became the school's all-time wins leader earlier this year. He would have faced Livington's Jason Estevez in the first round. The pin came at 5:26. It was the only time Haines has been pinned this year.

UPDATED AT 5:38 P.M.— DiCarlo lost, 7-4, after a Maye takedown. Haines let Scott escape, making it 5-4. Haines and Scott got tied up, but Scott overpowered him, pinning Haines with 24 seconds left.

UPDATED AT 5:34 P.M.—Haines tied it up, 2-2. But then he went back down, 4-2, as Jones was able to slip behind him. Haines also took an injury stoppage. DiCarlo's losing to Maye, 5-4, now.

UPDATED AT 5:32 P.M.— Haines went down, 2-0, to Jones early in the first period. Maye is beating DiCarlo, 2-0. Also, Mike Magaido of Watchung Hills pinned his first-round opponent.

UPDATED AT 5:28P.M.— Anderson outlasted Zazzara, 6-4. During the match, Hillsborough's Joey DiCarlo (119 pounds) got started against Michael Maye of Bergen Catholic. Also, Hopatcong's Dan Haines started his match against Dontay Scott of Paulsboro at 125 pounds.

UPDATED AT 5:23P.M.—Anderson's up, 4-2, going into the third period. He's on an injury stoppage right now.

UPDATED AT 5:19P.M.—Rodgers of Delbarton stayed ahead. After lasting the second period without secoring, they started in neutral in the third. Then he lifted Zazzara off the matt and put him down for two points midway through the period. Rodgers held on for a victory. Meanwhile his teammate, Nick Anderson, is controlling Waldwick-Midland Park's Danny Tyson, 2-0.

UPDATED AT 5:10 P.M.—Delbarton's Max Rodgers is controlling West Essex's Carlo Zazzara at 112 pounds. Rodgers took a 4-0 first-period lead. He had to take a second to check his headgear befor starting on bottom in the second period.

UPDATED AT 5:07 P.M.—Delbarton's Innarella beat St. Augustine's Gattinella, 8-7. It wasn't that close. Innarella was ahead, 8-5. On another mat, Montville's Lizza took a tough, 6-4, loss to Rinaldy Hidalgo of Passaic. His night's done.

UPDATED AT 5:05 P.M.—We're at 103 pounds. Delbarton's Christian Innarella is up, 4-3, on his preliminary-round opponent, Tom Gattinella of St. Augustine. Innarella was ahead, 2-0. Meanwhile, Montville's Nick Lizza is down, 2-1, to Rinaldy Hidalgo of Passaic.

UPDATED AT 5 P.M.–The craziness that is Day 1 of the state wrestling championships is underway, with 16 wrestlers simultaneously taking to eight mats in Boardwalk Hall. As Patch area wrestlers finish their matches, you'll see the results here as soon as it happens. Make sure to come back often. Also, don't forget to come back on Saturday, as we'll do it again starting at 10 a.m. for quarterfinals and wrestlebacks, and then a second time at 5 p.m. for semifinals and wrestlebacks. On Sunday, we'll bring you live coverage of the consolations and finals at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., respectively. Here we go...