OCEAN CITY — The Ocean City High School wrestling team was perfect in its second quad meet of the year, earning wins against Gateway, Williamstown and Eastern at home on Jan. 13.
In the first match of the day, the Raiders defeated Gateway Regional High School 41-26. It was close halfway through the match, when Ocean City was up only 20-17, but two victories via pin secured the first victory of the day.
Raider head coach Dan Calhoun was not happy with his team’s performance in the opening match.
“We yelled at the kids in the locker room. They did not perform the way they needed to, so hopefully with this next one they pick it up a little bit,” Calhoun said. “The kids are wrestling well but they need to wake up.”
The next matchup was against Williamstown High School, and it seemed like the Raiders received Calhoun’s message loud and clear. They dominated the second match with a 64-14 victory. Aside from a major decision by Talon Fischer in the 165-pund bout, the Raiders’ wins all were decided by pin or forfeit.
Ocean City had another dominant performance as they ended the day with a 51-22 victory over Eastern Regional High School. The Raiders built an impressive lead by getting eight victories via pin in the match.
Multiple Raiders went undefeated in their individual matches.
Graham Tolson, Aiden Leypoldt and Tommy Grimley all went 3-0 on the day. Nick Layton and Clifford Dirkes also went undefeated, but each won a match by forfeit.
After the sweep, the Raiders moved to 7-1 on the season with their only loss being 8-1 West Deptford High School a week prior. Their next meet is scheduled for Jan. 17 on the road versus St. Augustine Prep. The match starts at 6 p.m.
On Jan. 20, the Raiders will compete in another quad meet at Cherry Hill West. They will face off against the hosts along with Haddonfield and Highland. The day full of wrestling starts at 10 a.m.
In the first match versus Gateway, the Raiders had won two more bouts than their opponents, but the score was only 20-17. Two pins and a technical fall by Gateway put them within striking distance of the Raiders. A pin by Grimley in the 155-pound bout got the Raiders some breathing room and Layton at 175 pounds secured a 50-second pin to put the Raiders up 32-20 with three matches to go.
A clutch victory by pin for Brandon Bourdon of Gateway put all the pressure on Jacob Chapman to hold onto the lead. He won via a 3-1 decision to clinch the victory and give the Raiders some momentum heading into the rest of the day.
Layton has been a menace for Ocean City all year long. Out of his eight matches this season, he has drawn an immediate forfeit four times. He mostly competed at 175 pounds but has competed twice this year at 190 pounds. When he is allowed to wrestle, he is undefeated with three pins and one decision. His victory against Egg Harbor was a 17-second pin.
“Nick (Layton) is doing a great job,” Calhoun said. “He’s getting up early and meeting us at the gym. He meets me at 5:30 a.m. on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and 6 on Tuesday and Thursday to work out and wrestle. He is putting in the work necessary to get where he wants to be.”
Williamstown could not stop Ocean City’s power as the final eight matches were won by the Raiders via forfeit or pin.
Wyatt and Graham Tolson opened with two pins, with Wyatt winning in 11 seconds and Graham winning in 31 seconds. They both competed at 120 pounds in the event.
Eastern at one point was down 39-7 thanks to near one-minute victories by Jace Watson (150 pounds) and Grimley (157 pounds). Jacob Melini ended Ocean City’s Day with a pin at 113 pounds to extend the lead and finish the only match of the day with no forfeits.
Last season Ocean City beat all three of these teams but by a much smaller margin. The Raiders collectively beat them 117-98 last season. This year they won 156-62.
Almost halfway through the season, Ocean City has put a strong team together. Tougher challenges are on the horizon for this team and the year is still young.
By WILLIAM TRUITT/For the Sentinel