Menu
44 °F Ocean City, US
January 30, 2025

Red Raider wrestlers fall to tough Prep team

With 12-3 record, Ocean City still poised for solid sectionals seeding

OCEAN CITY – The Ocean City High School wrestlers were forced to pump the brakes on their impressive 11-1 start to the season after a tough matchup against St. Augustine Prep.

The St. Augustine Hermits had a near clean sweep of the lighter weight classes and cruised to a 50-21 victory over the Red Raiders Jan. 22. 

St. Augustine started strong and had a 39-0 lead after the first eight bouts with all but one ending in either a pin or technical fall. 

Hermit Chase Sudano, at 106 pounds, defeated Sawyer Gayeski via 16-0 technical fall. JD Christman, at 113, beat Raider Sean Hoag via 17-1 technical fall. Hermit Carter Pack, at 126, took down Graham Tolson in a 15-0 technical fall. Hermit Adrian Arbelo added one more technical fall to the list with a 17-2 win over Raider Luke Finnegan at 138 pounds. 

Hermit Richie Wootten pinned Bryce Hanin in 1:11 at 120 while Anthony DePaul took slightly longer with his pin of Raider Dominic Schultz in 1:13 at 144. 

In the middle of the St. Augustine win streak, Raider Wyatt Tolson came close to breaking it up in his 132-pound match against Dante DePaul. Tolson was taken down twice in the first two rounds but flipped DePaul around and gained the upper hand. DePaul managed to break out at the end and get a 10-1 major decision.

One of the closest matches of the day came at 150 pounds between Raider Luke Bennett and Hermit Johnny Chirico. Bennett and Chirico were locked into each other and walked around the whole mat trying to gain the upper hand. The first round ended in a 0-0 tie after nearly an entire round of neutral. Chirico took down Bennett to start the second round and never relinquished his advantage for a 4-2 decision. 

Ocean City got its first points on board in the 157-pound match as Raider Jace Watson pinned Luke Ward 2:31. Watson took a commanding 7-0 lead after the first round, but he did not want to leave it up to decision and pinned Ward early in the second round.

With the Raiders down 39-6 they continued to wrestle through and picked up another win by Tommy Grimley.

Grimley improved his season record to 15-0 for Ocean City after he won via 11-5 decision over Hermit Xavier Harvey at 165. Grimley scored two takedowns on Harvey throughout the three rounds, but Harvey broke free out of disadvantage and avoided a pin or technical fall.

Dennis Monzo, at 175, broke the short Ocean City winning streak with a 3:38 pin of Clarence Smith. Smith took down Monzo twice, but the Hermit turned the tables in the second round and took him down, then pinned Smith in one fell swoop. 

Hermit Ron Kraus, at 190, was aggressive for his entire match and won with an 18-2 technical fall over David Schultz in 3:15.

Two of Ocean City’s best wrestlers finished off the day with a couple of impressive wins.

Sophomore Jacob Chapman (215 pounds) pinned Kenneth Taylor in 56 seconds. Champman got Taylor off balance immediately after the whistle and swiftly took care of business. 

Star Ocean City wrestler Clifford Dirkes also improved to 15-0 this season with a thrilling battle with Hermit Braden Shields at 285 pounds. The two wrestlers were locked into neutral for the first two rounds as each refused to be taken to the ground. Twenty seconds into the third round, however, Dirkes showed off his strength and lifted Shields off the ground before slamming him onto the mat. Dirkes pinned Shields in 4:29 after his powerful takedown.

The Raiders split their next two meets with a 35-34 win over Kingsway High School and a 42-33 loss to West Deptford High School Jan. 25. The Raiders are still in a great position for a top seed in the postseason with a 12-3 record, but have some more teams to square up against.

They get the week started with a trip to Paramus Catholic High School (4-7) at noon Feb. 1. A day before a long-awaited rematch, the Raiders will travel to Vineland High School (2-12) on Feb 4. The match is set to begin at 6 p.m.

The Raiders’ final meet of the regular season will be a special one as they travel to perennial powerhouse Delsea High School on Feb. 5. It is a rematch of the South Jersey Group III championship from a season ago that saw Ocean City lose 54-12 to Delsea. Delsea went on to win the Group III state championship and started this season 14-1.

– STORY by WILLIAM TRUITT/For the Sentinel

– PHOTOS by DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff

Related articles

Mainland Regional boys volleyball, in first season, on cusp of playoffs

LINWOOD — Coach Torie Rich and a group of Mainland Regional High School boys inaugurated a new varsity volleyball team this spring and have posted a respectable 8-8 record through the end of last week that put them in second place in the National Division. Give them a little time, though, Rich said, and they’ll […]

New Junior Miss Ocean City has ‘grit’

SCROLL DOWN FOR A FULL GALLERY Makenna Fleming didn’t get the crown in previous attempts, but her determination won out By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff OCEAN CITY – The new Junior Miss Ocean City 2022 has grit. Makenna Fleming competed in Ocean City pageants for half a dozen years, but she didn’t let the fact she […]

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *