By Ted Waddell
MONTICELLO — February 15, 2008 — The Monticello Panthers defeated the visiting Ellenville Blue Devils, 39-33, on Monday night in a non-league wrestling dual meet.
With the victory, Monticello improved its overall record to 3-2. Ellenville is now 7-3 on the season.
“It was a close match, it really got down to the 112-pounders and the 135-pound match” said Monticello Coach Ed Kaufmann, referring to the bouts between Monticello’s Jerry Taggart and Ellenville’s Jason Wallace at 112 and Monticello’s Bowens and Ellenville’s Jacob Coutant at 135. “If he [Bowens] got pinned, we lost the match.”
But Bowens pinned Coutant at 3:32 to help the Monties score the victory.
In the 112-pound bout, Taggart pinned Wallace at 1:08.
The match wrapped up with an exciting bout between Monticello’s Vinny Brugaletta and Ellenville’s Donald Exner.
Brugaletta defeated Exner in their 145-pound match by a slim 11-10 decision.
Of the exciting bout between Brugaletta and Exner, Kaufmann said, “He [Brugaletta] was a little tired at the end, but at the end of the season they all get tired.
“We have a little bit of a rest now, and then we go into the sectionals on February 18 at Monroe Woodbury,” Kaufmann added.
“It was a very good match, both teams were very competitive,” Ellenville Coach Merrill Conner said.
Brugaletta is a 17-year-old senior and his Monday night victory was the 98th of his varsity career.
“I didn’t do the best I could have, coming back from an injury, but it felt good to win,” he said.
Prior to the match, Monticello’s six seniors – Artur Atanov, Bowens, Brugaletta, Nefthaly Leon, Jordan Papacharalambous and Cory Waichman – were recognized during a brief ceremony.
The results of the match were as follows:
96 pounds – Guy Meyer (Ellenville) pinned Danny Sze at 3:29; 103 – no contest; 112 – Jerry Taggart (Monticello) pinned Jason Wallace at 1:08; 119 – Rob Delmarter (Ellenville) pinned William Lattimer at 3:56; 125 – Craig Diaz (Ellenville) pinned James Michel at :37; 130 – Mike Wernick (Ellenville) defeated Jordan Papacharalambus, 12-6; 135 – John Bowens (Monticello) pinned Jacob Coutant at 3:32; 140 – no contest; 145 – Vinny Brugaletta (Monticello) defeated Donald Exner, 11-10; 152 – Kyle Bennett (Monticello) pinned Carlos Gonzalez at 2:37; 160 – Anthony D’Abbraccio (Monticello) won by forfeit; 171 – Nefthaly Leon (Monticello) pinned Amiel Maerling at 1:06; 189 – Eric Thayer (Ellenville) pinned Rich Graham at 1:38; 215 – Artur Atanov (Monticello) pinned Ed Lewis at 1:16; 275 – Frank Casamento (Ellenville) pinned Cory Weichman at 3:13.