Anthony Bencivengo locks up in a match against Trenton High.  Photo by Amanda “The Homeowner” Ruch

By Rich Fisher
Fish4scores.com

Jan. 18: When Steinert’s wrestling team fell to 1-4 after a loss to Robbinsville on Jan. 4, the last conversation anyone ever expected to hear this season was the one coach Adam “The Postmaster General” Jankos had with senior 220-pounder Angelo Falvo the other day.

“I have Falvo in my class, he’s like ‘So what’s our record?”,” said Jankos, after the Spartans 42-33 win over Princeton Wednesday provided their sixth straight victory. “He’s writing all the teams on the board that we beat, all the teams that we lost to, and I took a picture of the state tournament (power point) rankings for Central Jersey III and put it on our Instagram. The next thing I know they’re all like ‘Hey, we got a shot? We can do this?’ I said ‘Hey, it’s up to you guys if we can do this or not.

“They’re pretty excited about it, they’re starting to catch on.”

The Spartans improved to 7-4 after their thrilling victory over Princeton. Steinert trailed 33-30 going into the final two weight classes before Falvo and Anthony “T-Bird” Bencivengo posted first-period pins to pull out the victory.

Bencivengo said he was going for a pin even though a decision would clinch it. Falvo took a slightly different approach.

“I’m thinking just go out there and give it 100 percent,” the sophomore said. “If I can pin him, pin him. If not, get the win. I just take the opportunities when I’m out there. If I see something open up, I take the opportunity and give it 100 percent.”

Steinert began the match trailing 24-3 after two forfeit losses and two Princeton pins. Jordan Zenquis grinded out a 5-4 overtime decision at 138 to start the comeback, as Reinaldo Zephirin was hit with a stalling point with 14 seconds left in OT.

Doug Hollo followed with a pin and Princeton forfeited at 152. Steinert was pinned at 160 before Keon Cooper pinned at 170 and Jordan Goodarz won by forfeit to tie the score at 30-30.

Nick Pasqua then dropped a hard-fought, 4-2 decision to Ethan Guerra.

“Pasqua wrestled a really nice match,” Jankos said. “He lost a tough one, the kid’s really good. I wasn’t sure who to give that match to. Nick pinned the last match, he won a close one before that, and I’m kind of unsure because he likes to do some crazy things. I’m kind of unsure what to expect when he goes out there but he’s been doing a nice job for us.”

That meant the final two bouts came down to Falvo and Bencivengo, which was just fine with Jankos.

“I was pretty confident going into the last two weight classes,” he said. “When I was doing the match-ups I had us favored there.”

Both wrestlers made quick work of their opponents with Falvo pinning in 0:29 and Bencivengo planting his man in 1:10.

Anthony Bencivengo works the mat in a match against Lawrence High. Photo by Amanda Ruch.

Falvo’s victory put his record at 11-3, while Bencivengo moved to 9-4.

“He’s having an awesome season,” Jankos said. “Benci didn’t even wrestle last year. All of a sudden he comes out and he’s winning every match. Thinking a kid will have nine wins at this point in the season when you didn’t even have him last year, you’re not thinking about that. So that’s always nice.

“Falvo being a sophomore, we’ve got plenty of time to work with him. We’re hoping he can do some good things. He’s a 95 pounder, he weighs 200. Benci weighs in under 220, but we lost our heavyweight for the season so they’re both wrestling up.”

Nonetheless, the Spartans are thriving in the upper weights, and Bencivengo feels that pulling out the win over Princeton was huge.

“This can lead us to a very successful season,” the T-Bird said. “We’ll keep winning. The momentum is going our way so we’ll see how it plays out. But if we keep wrestling like we’ve been, I think we’ll be pretty successful this season.”

Despite the fact Princeton is 1-11, Jankos felt it was a nice win. He has no grand illusions about Steinert’s winning streak, admitting it has come against some lesser competition. But the Little Tigers brought their full complement of wrestlers to Steinert (they had been forfeiting five and six weight classes in some matches) and the Spartans fought hard and continued to wrestle well.

“We’ve been phenomenal up top,” he said. “This was a good win, and our guys have been doing a good job. I’m happy with all the wins. I didn’t know who was going to show up tonight or who to prepare for until weigh-ins, and our guys came through.”