Final 2019 Centennial Conference Championship Brackets

KINGS POINT, NY – Johns Hopkins senior Ricky Cavallo won the 133-pound title and two other Blue Jays finished as runners-up at the 2019 Centennial Conference Wrestling Championships at the United States Merchant Marine Academy on Saturday.  Cavallo was named the Most Outstanding Wrestler at the Championship, while Johns Hopkins totaled 43.5 points to place sixth in the final team standings.
 
Stevens claimed the overall team title with 83.0 points, while Washington & Lee (61.5 points), host Merchant Marine (59.0), Muhlenberg (58.0) and Gettysburg (51.0) rounded out the top five in the team standings.
 
Cavallo Claims First Conference Crowns
The top-seeded Cavallo needed just 62 seconds to pin Alex Shaffer of Gettysburg in his first match and then pinned Kimo Dial in overtime in the semifinals to move into the title bout.  There, he edged Stevens' Yoseph Borai, 5-3, to claim the first Centennial Conference title of his career.  He is the second Johns Hopkins wrestler to earn Most Outstanding Wrestler ohnors at the CC Championships (Jared Forman – 2016), the 24^th Centennial champion in program history and his title is the third for the Blue Jays at 133 pounds (Paul Marcello, 2010, 2011).  Cavallo improves to 26-2 on the year with his three wins today and his title gives Johns Hopkins at least one CC champion in nine of the last 10 years.
 
Reyes, Morales Claim Silver
Sophomore Dominck Reyes (157) and senior Isaac Morales (184) finished second in their respective weight classes from their spot as the number two seeds.  Both lost in overtime in the championship match.

Reyes pinned McDaniel's Wade Bishop in 3:28 in the quarterfinals and added a 64-second pin of Brian Jamison of Muhlenberg in the semifinals to move into the title match.  In the finals, he drew top-seeded Dylan Van Sickell of Stevens and led for a majority of the match before Van Sickell scored a late third-period takedown to tie the match (8-8) and force overtime.  There, he scored an early takedown to edge Reyes 10-8.
 
Morales, who surrendered a total of just four points in his three matches, topped Ronnie Wuest of McDaniel, 5-0, in the quarterfinals and Anthony Cutrufello of Ursinus, 7-1, in the semifinals to advance to the finals.  He and top-seeded Josh Glantzman of Merchant Marine battled to a 1-1 tie through regulation and the first three overtime periods before Glantzman scored a takedown in the second sudden-death overtime period to claim the title with a 3-1 victory.
 
Five Others Score
In addition to Cavallo, Reyes and Morales, Johns Hopkins got one victory from five of its other six entries in the tournament.

• Junior Nathan Wertheimer (174) topped W&L's Alex Horne, 1-0, in the quarterfinals before falling 6-5 to eventual champion Jimmy Fratantoni of Muhlenberg in the semifinals.  He then dropped a 7-0 decision to top-seeded Colin Kowalski of Gettysburg in the consolation semifinals.
 
• Senior Miles Gilliam (197) scored a 12-0 major decision over W&L's Brad Basham in the quarterfinals before falling to eventual champion Gennaro Cerminara in the semifinals.  He then fell to eventual third-place finisher Michael Iodice of Gettysburg, 5-2, in the consolation semifinals.
 
• Senior Dane Morgan (165), sophomore Jeremy Berger (125) and freshman Joe Paul (149) all dropped their opening matches but bounced back with a win in the consolation bracket before being eliminated.  Berger's win was a bonus-point 12-4 major decision of Matthew Ferrante of Muhlenberg.
 
Up Next
The Blue Jays will return to action on February 22-23 when they compete in the NCAA Southeast Regional Championships at Lycoming.  The top three finishers in each weight class at the regional championships qualify for the NCAA Championships.