On Monday night, town and division rivals Cinnaminson and Delran wrestled in a NJSIAA Group 2 South playoff match with Cinnaminson entering as the third seed and Delran as the sixth seed. Delran was looking for revenge after Cinnaminson had defeated them 37-33 at Delran on January 20.

The match ended up being a blowout as the Pirates won 44-18.

Whenever these two teams meet up the intensity is big, but during a playoff match, the unexpected could always happen.

Head Coach Mike McConnell had input on that when he said, “I think every time we wrestle Delran, they come ready to wrestle, and they come ready to get after it.”

The match began at 182, when Junior Andrew Halecki wrestled Burak Ozbay in a thriller. Throughout the time they wrestled, the match was close and both wrestlers didn’t slow down. The match went into overtime tied 3-3, where Ozbay would go on to win 6-3.

Next up for Delran at 195 was Zach Bohn and for Cinnaminson Eddie Davilla. Eddie was wrestling for his first varsity win. Davilla wrestled with high intensity the entire match and pinned Bohn in the 3rd period. With the pin, Eddie won his first varsity match of the season and put his team up 6-3.

The following bout was 220 pounder Joey Cody for the Pirates against Delran’s Devin Rolon. Cody would go on to lose the match by pin in the final seconds of the third period, putting the Bears up 9-6 with undefeated, heavyweight stalwart Keith Swartley coming to the mat for Cinnaminson.

Wrestling for Delran against Swartley was Anthony Grozozki. Swartley has been a dominant force on the mat this season and he showed why with an 11-0 major victory putting the Pirates up 10-9.

“On paper we weren’t suppose to win all these matches,” Swartley explained, “but we have never had easy practices. We worked hard and in the end we were tougher than Delran.”

After the weight dropped down to 106, TJ Emanuel wrestled for the Pirates against Delran’s Dakota Hunter. TJ would go on to win a good match, 7-1.  In fact, after TJ took a first period lead of 7-0, Hunter scored the only other point of the match.

“I knew my opponent would come into this match prepared and ready to wrestle,” said Emanuel, “I was prepared just like him and I knew that if I stuck to the fundamentals that I could win the match for my team.”

With the Pirates winning, they sent 113-pounder Isaiah Elias to the mat against Eric Gardner of Delran. Elias won in convincing fashion, pinning Gardner in 24 seconds. Cinnaminson took a 19-9 lead after the pin.

Delran would win the next bout at 120 when Marcus Miraglia pinned Kevin Schoch in the first period.

Junior Jarrod Averill was the next wrestler for Cinnaminson as he wrestler Orhan Kahraman. Averill would win a back-and-forth affair, 11-5, to keep the Pirates up 22-15.

“I think everybody wrestled great up and down the lineup,” Jarrod said, “it’s Delran so there was no need to hype anyone up, we were all ready to wrestle. I stayed hydrated and ready for my match and I was prepared to win.”

Jahmil Williams wrestled 132 for Cinnaminson against Louie Rossner. Williams would win a decision 4-2 to keep the Pirates rolling. Cinnaminson 138-pounder Ryan Teague would wrestle Randy Savage of Delran. Teague won by pin in just the first period of the contest.

With Delran trailing 31-15, they sent out Anthony Cameron at 145 versus Joe Saxton. The match was close throughout, but Saxton would win in overtime, 3-1, to put Cinnaminson up 34-15. Shane Spence of Cinnaminson would go to the mat to try to clinch a Pirates victory as he wrestled Mark Olivo of Delran. Spence won in a huge major decision 10-0 putting thee Pirates up 38-15 and locked up the victory for Cinnaminson.

Delran’s Phil Rodgers would go on to beat Mike Dunleavy 9-2 to put Rodgers one win away from 100 career wins. For the last match, Cinnaminson’s Shaun Davilla would pin Berkant Halioglu to make the final score 44-18, with the Pirates destroying the Bears after winning 10 of the 14 bouts for the night.

The win stood in contrast to the close victory over the Bears on January 20, where the matches were split 7-7.  For this match, Cinnaminson had Schoch and Eddie Davilla wrestling, allowing them much more flexibility with their lineup.

Head Coach Mike McConnell was pleased after the match. “To wrestle in a packed gym with this atmosphere is a new experience for some of our new wrestlers. But they didn’t let the atmosphere scare them, they used all the technique we used in practice to help us get the victory. Now we are just looking ahead and preparing for our next match and we will be ready.”

The win was also the third consecutive win over Delran by Cinnaminson.  It was also the largest victory over Delran since a 57-24 throttling of the Bears in 2013.

Cinnaminson squares off against West Deptford Wednesday at 7 in the next round of the playoffs.  West Deptford is the top seed in South Group 2, and it has defeated Kingsway, a team CHS lost to this season.  But, it also lost to Haddonfield, a team CHS recently defeated.  

If the Pirates win, they would either head to Collingswood for the sectional finals.  Collingswood handily defeated CHS 46-17 on Saturday.  If Collingswood loses to Haddonfield for a second time this season, CHS would host Haddonfield on Friday night at 7.  The Pirates defeated Haddonfield 35-31 on January 30.