Saturday’s South Jersey Roundup: Pitman’s Zane Coles wins 195-pound regional wrestling title, remains unbeaten
The top games and performances from Saturday's slate.
Zane Coles of Pitman won a battle of unbeatens at 195 pounds to highlight the Region 8 wrestling championships Saturday night.
Coles, a junior, beat Oakcrest senior Keevan Berry by a 10-9 score in an overtime bout at Egg Harbor Twp.
“This is the most exhausted I’ve ever been,” said Coles, who improved his record to 39-0.
Berry is 32-1.
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In other action, Penns Grove’s Tyreke Brown won the 220-pound title, Deshon Alexander took the 285-pound crown and St. Augustine’s Mike Misita took the gold at 182 pounds.
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Kingsway’s Finnegan McFadden won the title at 132 pounds and Woodstown’s Jack Prendergast captured the crown at 145 pounds.
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The top four wrestlers in each weight class advanced to the state championships, which run Thursday through Saturday in Atlantic City.
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Northern Burlington had a school-record five athletes qualify for the state championships during the Region 6 tournament. Garrett Totten reached the 106-pound semifinals, Travis Kotelnicki made the 113-pound semifinals and Anthony Giampietro made the 170-pound semifinals. Tommy Hill made the 195-pound finals, where he lost, 5-0, to Middletown North’s Jacob Anderson. Hill became the school’s single-season pins leader during his semfinal victory. Totten, Kotelnicki and Feig won their third-place matches.
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Bordentown’s Jajuan Hays, a three-time district champion, won the Region 6 220-pound title by beating Point Pleasant Boro’s Billy Borowsky in a 12-4 major decision. Hays was the top-seeded wrestler in the bracket.
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In the Region 7 tournament, Collingswood’s Andrew Clark won the 132-pound tournament in a 10-8 decision over Cherokee’s Cooper Pontelandolfo, the top seed in the bracket. Clark came back from an 8-0 deficit after the first period. Clark also won the Most Outstanding Wrestler award.
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The top two seeds in the Region 7 138-pound bracket wrestled for the title, and Howell’s Darby Diedrich earned a 4-3 decision over Camden Catholic’s Anthony Croce.
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Camden Catholic’s Lucas Revano, a Penn commit, won the 145-pound Region 7 title by beating Haddonfield’s Declan Skelly by a 23-8 technical fall. Revano, who won the 132-pound state title last year, won his fourth career regional title.
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West Deptford’s Corey Fischer won his second career regional championship by beating Pemberton’s Joseph Wilson in the 160-pound final by a 2-1 decision.
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TJ Franden had a strong Region 7 tournament, wrestling his way to the 195-pound title as the fifth seed. Franden beat Moorestown’s Robert Damerjian, the third seed, by an 8-2 decision in the final. He became Eastern’s first regional champ in five years. Franden won a 10-5 decision over top-seeded Drew Bowker of Rancocas Valley in the semifinal and earned a 9-0 major-decision victory over Paulsboro’s Anthony Morina in the quarterfinal.
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Cherry Hill West’s Max Sullivan won the Region 7 285-pound title over Gloucester’s Max Cruz in a 2-1 tiebreaker decision.
Boys’ Basketball
Wildwood Catholic won the Cape-Atlantic League title by beating St. Augustine, 64-53. The Crusaders outscored the Hermits 24-14 in the fourth quarter. Taj Thweatt led Wildwood Catholic with 23 points and finished one rebound shy of a double-double.
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Steven Davis turned in a well-rounded performance with 24 points, seven rebounds and seven assists in Gloucester’s 52-41 win over Collingswood.
Girls’ Basketball
Ocean City staged a second-half comeback to defeat Middle Township, 39-33, and win the Cape-Atlantic League Final. The Red Raiders trailed the Panthers by seven points midway through the third quarter, but they outscored Middle Township 20-11 in the second half, including 11-3 in the fourth quarter. Danielle Donoghue led Ocean City with 12 points. Middle Township’s Kira Sides led all scorers with 24 points, including four three-pointers.
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Ten different Bears scored in Delran’s 42-15 win over Camden. Ashley D’Allesandro and Kiersten Kennedy each led Delran with seven points. Makayla Heisler grabbed 10 rebounds, while D’Allesandro had eight rebounds.
Track and Field
St. Augustine’s Rhea Sincere won his second straight 55-meter hurdle title at the Meet of Champions. He won the event in 7.22 seconds to become just the fifth person to win back-to-back 55-meter hurdle races at the Meet of Champions. The senior Penn State commit missed beating the state record by four-hundredths of a second.