Ocean City wrestler dreamed of winning regional title
WILLIAMSTOWN — The field for the 2025 state wrestling championships in Atlantic City is set after a weekend full of intense action during the Region 8 tournament at Williamstown High School.
Ocean City’s Tommy Grimley punched his ticket to the state championships after a dominant run throughout the competition earned him his first regional title. The senior cruised through the 165-pound weight class at both the district and regional tournaments as the number one seed with a season record of 37-1.
“It’s a really special feeling going from my junior year being at the bottom of the podium to now standing on top of the Region podium,” Grimley said. “Being a Region champion was one of my main goals coming into high school. Ever since I was a freshman, I would come to the Region tournament, and I would just idolize all the guys who would win the brackets at the top and now I am that person standing on top of the podium. It’s amazing.”
Grimley reached the top with a perfect 3-0 record in the tournament, winning all three matches by pin or technical fall. His opponent in the final round was a rematch against Camden Catholic’s Terry Terch, whom Grimley defeated via pin to win the district championship a week prior.
Grimley left no room for doubt as he jumped out to a 12-1 lead with four takedowns in the first two rounds.
“Being the top seed coming in the tournament, I had the confidence I was going to win the tournament,” Grimley said. “I have been thinking about it all week and been working toward it for the past year.”
Lower Cape May Regional’s Chase Hansen continued to prove he is one of the best in the state. At 138 pounds, the junior picked up his third regional title in as many years.
Hansen faced off against Delsea Regional’s Zavier Stokes in the final round after two straight wins via pin in less than 2 minutes. Hansen kept attacking Stokes’ arms and rendered his opponent’s mobility useless. He stayed in complete control for the entire match and won via 13-2 major decision.
With the win, Hansen is now a three-time district champion and three-time regional champion. He boasts an undefeated record of 38-0 this season and will look to have a high seed in the state tournament with a career record of 129-3.
Hansen has now made it to the state tournament in all three of his seasons and has improved in each visit to Atlantic City.
In his freshman season, he took home seventh place. Last year as a sophomore he fought back from a loss in the quarterfinals and rattled off four straight wins to reach the podium and earn third place.
Joining Hansen and Grimley in Atlantic City will be a few of their teammates, such as finalist Clifford Dirkes from Ocean City. Dirkes entered the tournament as the defending champion and number one seed in the 285-pound bracket and made short work of his first three opponents.
The senior finished his title defense run in second place after suffering a 10-0 major decision loss to Mateo Vinciguerra of Woodstown in the finals. Dirkes will make his second appearance in the state championships and hopes to get a strong seed with a season record of 33-2 and a second-place finish in regionals.
Due to the quantity of matches, there was a nearly six-hour gap between the semifinals and finals for the finalists in each weight class.
Asked about the gap, Grimley said, “It was like nothing else I’ve had to do in my high school career. But it gave me an opportunity to watch my teammates compete and helped me recuperate and lock in on my final match.”
During the break, the matches got more intense as two more tickets to the state tournament were up for grabs in the wrestle-back bracket. Wrestlers who lost in the main bracket had one more chance to reach the top four with one more loss meaning their season was over.
Mainland Regional’s Vincent Hoag went on a deep run through the 175-pound wrestle-back bracket and was part of three matches that went to tiebreaker rounds. The 11th-seeded Hoag dropped into the lower bracket after a 4-3 tiebreaker loss to Woodstown’s Greyson Hyland.
Hoag took over late in his first wrestle-back match against Lower’s David Douglas after he flipped Douglas around while under him for a burst in scoring in the tiebreaker round. Hoag moved on to his most important match of the day in the wrestle-back semifinals, where the winner is guaranteed to keep their season alive for another week.
The most important match proved to be his most impressive as Hoag cruised to a win after repeatedly scoring takedowns on Clinton Bobo of Penns Grove. He broke out from under Bobo twice and dominated the neutral game to secure his spot in Atlantic City.
In the third-place bout, Hoag met with Hyland once again in a thrilling match. Down by three points with 15 seconds in the third round, Hoag made a move and spun Hyland around for a takedown to force more rounds. The two wrestlers traded points after standing up at round start until the fourth tiebreaker round, in which Hyland stood up one more time to give him a 7-6 ultimate tiebreaker win and third place. Hoag took home a fourth-place finish in the tournament.
At 120-pounds, Bryce Paley of Lower Cape May made his own run in the wrestle-back and took down Chase Martino of Camden Catholic via 4-2 decision. Paley and Martino met a week prior in the district finals when Martino narrowly edged out Paley with a sudden victory. With last week’s loss avenged, Paley moved forward in the bracket.
Paley won his semifinal match via forfeit, which punched his ticket to Atlantic City before he took on Richie Wootten of St. Augustine Prep in the third-place match. Despite a late surge in energy by Paley, he fell to Wootten and settled for fourth.
The NJSIAA state championships begin March 6 for the preliminary rounds and will last until March 8 for the finals. All three days of the event will take place at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.
– STORY and PHOTOS by WILLIAM TRUITT/For the Sentinel
