Delbarton Advances Seven Wrestlers to State Tournament

Delbarton will be sending seven wrestlers to Atlantic City for the state wrestling tournament on the weekend of March 4, including two Region 3 champions.

Leading the way for Delbarton on Saturday at Union High School was 140 pound junior Devon Gobbo, who stopped Boonton’s Eric Fajardo, 3-0, in the Region 3 finals.

Gobbo, who has a 35-1 record, advanced to the finals after stopping South Plainfield’s Corey Stasenko with a second period technical fall (16-0) in the semifinals.

“I went into the match knowing that I could win, knowing that I could do it. But he’s such a great wrestler. He’s got his throws, which you’ve got to always stay on guard for the whole time, you can’t let your guard down for a second,” said Gobbo.

Gobbo, who was the No. 1 seed at 140 pounds, explained how he deals with the added pressure of having his name at the top of the bracket.

“It’s a lot of pressure, but I talk with my coaches, they’ve all handled the same stuff,” he said. “If you just put it in perspective and say, it’s just one match, six minutes of wrestling, I wrestle an hour a day of practice live. After that, it really doesn’t seem that bad.”

Also locking up a Region 3 championship was fellow junior Jorge Lopez (130 pounds), after he defeated South Plainfield’s Tyler Hunt with a 4-2 decision.

Two Delbarton wrestlers were beaten in the finals as Dean Sullivan, along with Jeff Canfora, each finished in second place.

Taking the trip to AC with Delbarton’s four finalists are its three third place finishers, Christian Innarella (103 pounds), Max Rogers (112) and Nick Anderson (119).