By Tim Mastro

SMYRNA — Cape Henlopen High has won a team wrestling state championship before.

But not in a dual meet format.

So while the Vikings went down in history as the 2021 Division I team champions thanks to their point total in the individual state championship meet, there was a little talk of what would have happened if a dual meet championship was held.

Cape Henlopen proved what they could do on Saturday.

The Vikings captured their first dual meet state tournament win and their second all-time title with a 43-26 victory over Caesar Rodney in the Division I title match at Smyrna High. It was their first time even making the final round of the dual meet tournament.

“A lot people asked last year, ‘Would you have won it?’” Cape coach Chris Mattioni said. “I really think we would have won it even though we lost some dual meets along the way, I think we would have won it last year because we were peaking at the right time and wrestling our best at the end of the season. So yes this adds to it. It says yes, it wasn’t a fluke and we are at the top.”

It was the first time dual meet states were contested since 2020 as they were canceled last season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Caravel Academy earned the Division II championship with a 52-15 win over Delaware Military. It is the third consecutive Division II title for the Buccaneers who also won the team title at individual states last season and won the most recent dual meet championship in 2020.

The Buccaneers have won 30 dual meets in a row over the past three seasons and were led by seven pins in the finals by Luke Poore (126 pounds), Mike Kling (138), Jordan Miller (145), Alex Poore (160), Nick Hall (170), Brock Rhoades (195) and Eddie Radecki (113).

Caravel’s closest match this season was a 52-25 victory over Cape Henlopen on Dec. 22.

“We always focused on the match ahead of us,” said Buccaneers coach Mike Welch. “We weren’t sure what the scores would be. After the fact we would be like, ‘Wow that was actually a pretty convincing win.’ I don’t think we ever got too confident. We focused on winning positions and getting better.”

Cape Henlopen took control of its finals match with a run of five straight wins from 145-182 pounds.

Alex Taylor capped off the run with a comeback victory in the 182-pound bout. He trailed by five points early in the match but fought back to earn a pin and the full six points, much to the delight of the Cape Henlopen support section who Taylor flexed toward and motioned to make some more noise.

“I usually don’t celebrate like that,” Taylor said. “But there’s moments like that where you got to love the sport of wrestling where you can be down 10 or 15 points but still come back and win.”

Mikey Frederick earned a tech-fall, and the 100th victory of his career, in the 152-pound match. C.J. Fritchman recorded a pin at 160 while Carson Kammerer also had a tech-fall at 170. Lucas Ruppert (285) and Holt Baker (120) each added pins while Josh Wright won via decision in the finals’ opener at 126.

The Vikings only surrendered one pin from CR, at 195 pounds by Shamar Nelson.

“Josh Wright got us going, that was huge and set the tone,” Mattioni said. “Then Josh Alvares (132) and Brady Cole (138), not getting pinned was huge. Then Andrew Schaen came up big before our hammers — the consistent guys Mikey Frederick, Carson and C.J. plus Alex Taylor who could have easily folded in that match but he kept his composure. Really a total team effort.”

Cape Henlopen needed to defeat Smyrna in the semifinals earlier in the day, 33-31. It marked the first time Smyrna did not reach the Division I finals since the 2011 championship round between Caesar Rodney and St. Mark’s.