This past Sunday was the 10th annual New Jersey All-Star Invitational, an exhibition held to benefit the state wrestling coaches' association scholarship funds. Brick Memorial is the annual host of the event, which had more than 2,000 in attendance to watch some of the Garden State's best battle it out.
Two of the bouts featured a pair of nationally-ranked wrestlers doing battle. At 171 pounds, state runner-up Ryan Callahan (Walkill Valley) defeated defending state champion Nick Visicaro (Long Branch) 5-3. Visicaro, ranked sixth at 160 pounds, bumped up one weight to meet the seventh ranked wrestler in the nation at 171 pounds. Both these wrestlers could easily find themselves on top of the podium in Atlantic City come March. The other matchup came at 189 pounds, one that could serve as a state finals preview this coming year -- as third-ranked Andrew Campolattano (Bound Brook) defeated 13th ranked Billy George (Long Branch), 6-2. Campolattano is seeking a third state title in this his junior season.
The four other nationally-ranked wrestlers competing in this exhibition showcase split their matches. Tyler Fraley (Colts Neck) -- ranked second at 103 -- bumped up to 112 pounds and suffered a 15-3 defeat against Dante Porazzo (DePaul Catholic). Likewise, Vinny Fava (Elmwood Park) -- ranked seventh nationally -- suffered a 5-4 setback against BJ Young (Jackson Memorial) at 135 pounds. Ryan Dunphy (Passaic Valley) -- ranked 14th at 140 -- wrestled in the 145-pound weight class, winning an 8-4 decision over Connor Brennan (Brick Memorial). Jimmy Lawson (Manchester), ranked second nationally, won a 10-2 major decision against Brandon DiDonato (Robbinsville).
The remaining match results were as follows:
103 -- Kyle McNulty (Toms River North) dec. Kevin Corrigan (Toms River South) 3-1
125 -- Zach DiPini (Walkill Valley) major dec. DJ Santos (Brick Memorial) 16-6
125 -- Connor Melde (Bergen Catholic) dec. Heriberto Quintana (Perth Amboy) 5-3
130 -- Tyler Scotton (Willingboro) dec. Johnny Short (Matawan) 3-2
140 -- James Green (Willingboro) dec. Scott Festejo (Long Branch) 11-9
152 -- Devin Biscaha (Jackson Memorial) dec. CJ Cobb (Williamstown) 4-2
160 -- Eric Torres (Elmwood Park) dec. Dallas Winston (Jackson Memorial) 5-2
215 -- AJ Mott (DePaul Catholic) dec. Mike Case (Southern Regional) 10-3
Roseburg establishes Oregon supremacy
With a championship at the Resers Tournament of Champions -- the best high school tournament within the state of Oregon -- Roseburg established itself as the best team in the state. Ranked 23rd by AWN, the squad was dominant with eight wrestlers finishing inside the top three. Dan Faas (112), Drew Van Anrooy (125), and Seth Thomas (145) were weight class champions; Sam Meacham (140), as well as Dylan (160) and Devan Fors (189) took second; and two other wrestlers took third place. The Indians scored 223-1/2 points to secure a margin of victory of almost 50 points.
Second place went to 34th ranked Hermiston, who scored 176-1/2 points with three champions and two wrestlers taking third place. Champions for Hermiston were Joey Delgado (119), Abraham Rodriguez (135), and Bryce McMahon (189). Right behind in third place was Newberg with 162-1/2 points, and the same total of three champions with two others taking third place. Champions for Newberg were Tommy Siciliano (130), Joey Chandler (160), and Rory Oliver (189).
Rounding out the weight class champions were McKennan Buckner (103) from Crook County, Alex Elder (140) and Scott Kryskalla (189) from West Salem, Brandon Griffin (171) from Sprague, and Robert Ross (285) from North Medford.
Three-peat on the Shore
For a third consecutive year -- Long Branch, NJ came home with the Shore Conference Tournament championship this past Saturday at Southern Regional high School. The tournament format had the top four seeds hosting four teams in dual meet competition on Wednesday evening with the champion from each group (semifinal and final match) meeting in the semifinal round Saturday afternoon.
Advancing out of competition Wednesday evening were the four host teams -- Long Branch NJ, Jackson Memorial, NJ; Howell, NJ; and Southern Regional NJ. Of the eight dual meets that the top seeds wrestled on Wednesday, only one was truly close. That was the matchup placing fourth-seed Southern Regional against fifth-seed Brick Memorial, NJ; a match that Southern Regional won 27-22.
The top-seed Long Branch, ranked 36th by Amateur Wrestling News defeated Southern Regional 38-19 in the semifinal round by taking nine of fourteen matches. Likewise, 40th ranked Jackson Memorial upended Howell 33-18 by taking nine of fourteen. Key to the Jaguars semifinal victory was wins in six of the seven matches decided by two points or less, including both matches that went to the tiebreaker.
It all started in the opening bout of the afternoon at 171 pounds, when Dallas Winston got Jackson Memorial on the board with a 3-1 victory over Jesse Holzhauer. After a 9-2 decision from Joe Melon for Howell tied the match at 3-3 - Drew Murphy won 5-3 at 215 pounds, and Joe Nolan won 2-1 in the tiebreaker at 285 to give the Jaguars a 9-3 lead heading to the turn. Also winning narrow victories for Jackson Memorial were Mike Shupin at 112, Devin Biscaha at 140, and James Kelly at 152; Spencer Young lost a 3-1 decision at 119 pounds.
However, the finals match with Long Branch got off to an unfavorable start as Max Sunder lost a 2-1 decision at 189 pounds to Paul Tracey from Long Branch. This was one of four matches decided by two points or less in the dual meet, all of which went in favor of the Wave. After a 13-4 major decision from Billy George -- ranked 13th nationally at 189 pounds -- Jackson Memorial won four consecutive matches to open up a 15-7 lead.
With each team getting wins by major decision at 125 and 130 pounds -- Andrew Cornell for Long Branch at 125, and BJ Young at 130 for Jackson Memorial -- the dual meet score was 19-11. Consecutive two-point wins for Long Branch would narrow the deficit to 19-17. Absolutely huge was the latter of those two wins by Scott Festejo at 140 pounds. Trailing 3-0 late in the third period against Devin Biscaha, Festejo hit a five-point move to secure the victory.
James Kelly came up with the last Jaguar win of the day, a 10-2 major decision over Nick George at 145 pounds to extend the lead to 23-17 heading to 152 pounds. In that bout, Doug Cornell defeated Doug Hamann 4-3, given Long Branch the significant advantage heading into the last two matches -- where it would have state champion Nick Visicaro and state placer Omar Akel taking to the mats. After a first period fall by Visicaro, Akel would seal the 29-23 victory with an 8-1 decision over Dallas Winston at 171 pounds.
The time is coming but not yet
There has been a major buzz in both the Illinois and national wrestling community this year about a fledgling, young squad from the west suburbs of Chicago. That noise you hear is coming from Marmion Academy, the parochial school which freshman sensation Ben Whitford -- currently ranked eighth nationally at 119 pounds -- enrolled after leaving the state of Michigan. In addition the squad features dynamic young talent in sophomores Eddie Greco (112) and Angelo Silvestro (130), who are both ranked third in their division (Class 2A) by Illinois’ Best Weekly. Multiple elite wrestlers are also expected to enroll next fall as freshmen.
Also making the buzz occur has been their performance this year, which started with a win at the season opening Conant Invitational. They followed that up with dual meet victories over No. 7 Plainfield Central, 32-27; No. 5 Mount Carmel, 38-22; and No. 1 Minooka, 27-24. Those rankings are from Illinois’ Best Weekly for teams in Class 3A.
All of this came to a head this past Saturday at the Suburban Christian Conference Duals hosted by Montini Catholic. The Broncos are ranked first in Class 2A in the state of Illinois, and are considered by most to be the best team regardless of classification in the state of Illinois for a third consecutive year. The team of the present would do battle with the team of the future.
The dual meet was the second of five matches for each team on Saturday, and the random draw dictated that the meet would start at 130 pounds. For Montini that mean senior Colton Rasche, ranked 20th nationally, would take to the mat against the sophomore Silvestro. In this opening match, it was the senior Rasche taking it to Silvestro in a 10-2 major decision to catalyze the Broncos into their lineup’s strong point -- middleweights.
The Broncos would take the next five matches as well from the Cadets to open up an insurmountable lead. Eric Powell won by decision at 135 pounds, Stephen Robertson came up with a first period fall at 140 pounds, Frank Baer defeated Pat Greco in overtime at 145 pounds, Brandon McBride came through at 152 pounds, and Dimitri Willis closed out the run with victory at 160 pounds.
Marmion would counter with victories in the next three matches -- a 9-3 decision by senior Nico Jimenez at 171, followed by wins from David Niels and Connor English at 189 and 215 pounds respectively. However, Montini came through with wins in the next three matches prior to the appearance of Ben Whitford into the fray.
Presuming the two teams advance into the dual meet state series through performance in the individual regional, and advance through team sectional, they would meet in the state quarterfinals.
A new national No. 1? Let the debate begin!
Graham, OH defeated Blair Academy, NJ by a 36-21 score to establish significant controversy at the top of the national team rankings. Blair was the defending national champions and consensus number one team after titles at the Ironman and Beast of the East earlier in the season. However, they traveled to St. Paris, OH and lost nine of the 14 contested matches on Saturday night.
Also with a significant argument will be Apple Valley, MN -- the team that was considered second in the nation (Blair first and Graham third) through the course of the season. The Eagles have titles at the Minnesota Christmas Tournament, Cheesehead, and The Clash National Duals to their credit.
There will be more to come on that discussion next week.
This week ahead …
*Friday evening (2-5): No. 8 Wadsworth, OH travels to No. 3 Graham, OH for a dual meet.
*Saturday (2-6): No. 10 St Edward, OH and No. 5 Wyoming Seminary, PA travel to No. 1 Blair Academy, NJ for dual meet competition. InterMat staff writer Bill Hupp will be providing coverage of that event.
*District Dual Meet Championships across Pennsylvania. Throughout the week, each of the districts in the Keystone State will be holding competitions to determine which teams qualify for the State Dual Championships next weekend in Hershey, PA. Some teams will also have to compete in play-in matches earlier in that week.
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