ATLANTIC CITY — Ocean City High School wrestlers Cliff Dirkes (285), Tommy Grimley (157), Nick Layton and Jace Watson (150) all rebounded from opening-round losses to win bouts in the wrestleback rounds of the NJSIAA State Individual Wrestling Tournament, held Feb. 29 through March 2 at Atlantic City’s Jim Whalen Boardwalk Hall.
The best wrestlers in the state competed before crowds of more than 10,000 fans for titles in 14 weight classes.
Dirkes (seeded 24) lost to Conner Reynolds (9) of St. Peter’s Prep in the opening round 7-0. He then pinned Hunter Matthews of Rancocas Valley (25) in 2:23. Next he won an 11-3 major decision over Josie Cordoba of Plainfield. Then he won a 3-2 decision from Chris Oliver (15) of Ridge. He was pinned in 2:50 by Dan Elash of Paramus to end his tournament.
Grimley (seeded 25) lost to Max Nevid (8) of St. Peters Prep in the opening round via a 10-0 major decision. He then won two wrestleback bouts. First, he won 6-0 over Jake Bartletta (24) of Rancocas Valley and then took an upset 8-7 win over Andres Cortez (10) of Gateway. His tournament ended with a 5-2 loss to Cody Pritzlaff (15) of Wachtung Hills.
Layton (seeded 4) was upset 7-2 by Grady Keebler (19) of Moorestown in the opening round. He then pinned Manville’s Luke Velano (30) in 1:15. He was in turn pinned by Ed Terrern (4) of Paramus Catholic in 1:25 to end his tournament.
Watson (seeded 29) was pinned by Camden Catholic’s Austin Graft (4) in the opening round. He came back with an upset 14-8 win over Matt Eduardo (13) of Bridgewater-Raritan, but ended his tournament with a 4-3 loss to Chase Bush (19) of Paulsboro.
The state wrestling champions for 2024 are: Cameron Sontz (106) of Delbarton, Tyeler Hagensen (118) of Mt. Olive, Tony Knox (120) of St. John Vianney, Ryan DeGeorge (126) of Delbarton, Adrian DeJesus (132) of St. Joseph of Montvale, Cadyn Ricciardi (138) of St. Peter’s Prep, Sonny Amato (144) of Rumson-Fair Haven, Zach Ballante (150) of St. Joseph of Montvale, Matt Henrich (157) of Southern Regional, Alessio Perentin (165) of Delbarton, Ryan Burton (175) of St. Joseph of Montvale, Harvey Livingston (190) of Brick Memorial, Vince Lore (215) of Delbarton and Rocco Dellagatta (185) of St. Joseph of Montvale.
It was a great year for Red Raider wrestling, highlighted by a 17-4 record against top competition. They won their first district championship in 36 years.
OCHS had a South Jersey Group II finalist and nine individual medalists at districts: Graham Tolson (Gold 120), Jace Watson (Gold 150), Tommy Grimley (Gold 157), Nick Layton (Gold 175), Cliff Dirkes (Gold 285), Wyatt Tolson (Silver 126), Jake Melini (Silver 113), Aiden Leypoldt (Silver 132) and Talon Fischer (Bronze 165).
The team had five individual medalists at regionals: Dirkes (Gold 285), Watson (Bronze 150), Layton (Bronze 175), Grimley (fourth at 157) and Olivia Guy (Silver at 114).
By R.E. HEINLY/Special to the Sentinel
