By DAVE O’SULLIVAN Publisher Collective groans rumble through disappointed high school wrestling crowds in stuffy gymnasiums on dreary winter nights with regularity, as anticipated matchups between stud grapplers never materialize. Coaches routinely “bump” the best wrestlers away from each other, instead settling for a forfeit or sending out some kid who has no business being on the mat with such accomplished wrestlers. It’s a tactic used to maximize team points to try to set their squads up for regular-season team wins. Hard to fault the coaches, they are trying to do whatever they can to win a match. It’s the catch-22 of wrestling, a sport that is both a team and individual sport. Better not to suffer a loss, even if it’s to a high-caliber wrestler, and risk having that loss hurt a wrestler’s seeding for districts. Such are the nuances of high school wrestling, and fans are continuously left to wonder how a great bout they didn’t get to see might have turned out. 
Egg Harbor Township’s James Ingersoll works a move on Atlantic City’s Joe Cutugno during Ingersoll’s 5-4, triple-overtime victory on Wednesday night in a thrilling 160-pound bout. (Glory Days Magazine photos/Dave O’Sullivan) Fans at Egg Harbor Township High School on Wednesday night didn’t have to wonder. They would get to see the most anticipated bout of the night, and were salivating for the 160-pound matchup even before the 106-pounders got started. Undefeated Joe Cutugno vs. nemesis James Ingersoll of the host Eagles. In the latest rankings by Press of Atlantic City wrestling guru John O’Kane, Cutugno (21-0) was No. 1 at 160 while Ingersoll (19-2) was No. 3 at 171. They would both be wrestling at 160 as Vikings coach Tim Mancuso and Eagles coach Mike Caiazza figured, what the heck, let’s let them have at it, give the fans a treat. And what a treat it was. The duo sized each other up through a scoreless first period, Cutugno heeding the advice of coaches and not getting too aggressive with his shots. Ingersoll was patient, content with trying to let Cutugno get frustrated and make a mistake. “It helps me prepare for districts and regions. I just kept cool and just reacted and it worked. I knew what I had to do,” Ingersoll said. Cutugno scored a takedown in the second period after trailing 2-0 on a penalty point and escape by Ingersoll, who chose the down position. Ingersoll scored an escape after being taken down, taking a 3-2 lead into the third period. At the end of regulation it was 3-3. Ingersoll chose down in the first overtime and escaped. Cutugno matched that in the second overtime, and in the waning seconds nearly scored a takedown as the crowd and both coaching staffs were erupting, trying to sway the call in their wrestler’s favor. No dice. The referee didn’t award the takedown and the clock hit zeroes. 
Cutugno rallied from a 3-2 deficit to force overtime, but was unable to hang on in the third overtime, the first defeat of his remarkable senior season. That led to a winner-take-all third overtime with Ingersoll in the down position. He escapes, he wins. Cutugno controls him and rides him out, he wins. Simple as that. Thirty seconds. About 10 seconds in Ingersoll was able to writhe free of Cutugno’s grip and score the 5-4 victory. Both wrestlers were spent after perhaps their toughest bout of the season. “There were a couple of times when (Ingersoll) had the opportunity to score and didn’t, there were a couple times when (Cutugno) had the opportunity to score and didn’t. That’s how close it was,” Caiazza said. Ingersoll said he was glad fans got to see a great bout during a regular-season match. “I think they really like it because it shows you are ready to wrestle. That’s how I am, I’m ready to wrestle no matter who it is,” Ingersoll said. “It was a good match for the fans, not good for my heart. It’s a match that could have gone either way, it was that close. Joe wrestled a really good match. If they wrestled 10 times I think they would probably split five and five,” Caiazza said. “It’s really cool to have something like that going on. They are two kids who work very hard and it’s paying off for them.” Caiazza said when it got down to the 160-pound bout he was a little worried about the outcome of the team score because Atlantic City had wrestled so well up to that point. “I give them a lot of credit, they wrestled really well, really tough,” Caiazza said. “They did what they needed to do, and at that point we were starting to second guess whether we wanted to wrestle (Ingersoll) there because we needed team points. “But we wanted to see that happen. It’s great for these younger kids to look up to a kid like Jamie and say ‘that’s where I want to be someday. I want to be like that.’ And they can. He was no different than them as a freshman. He worked very hard to get where he is.” Ingersoll isn’t the type of kid to get overly excited, and tried to avoid the question when asked if it felt different than a normal regular-season bout. After some prodding, and with the hint of a smile, he confided, “It was a little more exciting.” These two may just be on a collision course in the district tournament, if Ingersoll goes 160. What a treat that would be. Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sully@acglorydays.com; on Twitter @GDsullysays
EHT’s Ingersoll, A.C.’s Cutugno treat fans to epic regular-season wrestling match
