State wrestling tourney features longtime S.J. rivals

Anthony Baldosaro and Taylor Walsh embody all that New Jersey wrestling fans hope to see this weekend in the final installment of a three-week state tournament: skill, strength and smarts.

Baldosaro, a two-time state champion from Eastern, and Walsh, a Camden Catholic state champ, are seeded No. 1 in the top and bottom brackets, respectively, at 145 pounds in the NJSIAA tournament. It is scheduled to start Friday and end Sunday at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.

Second- and third-place finishers in each of eight regions must wrestle in a preliminary round while the regional champions sit with a bye.

Baldosaro and Walsh are 1-1 against each other this season, and they could meet for a third time.

Baldosaro (29-2) narrowly defeated Walsh, 5-4, Saturday night to take his fourth regional crown in a controversial ending.

The score was thought to be 5-5. However, a huddle by officials led to a revision in Baldosaro's favor.

The Eastern senior led, 5-2, in the last 10 seconds, and there was a scramble in which Baldosaro ended up on his belly and Walsh circled as the buzzer sounded. The Camden Catholic senior thought he had been awarded three points, one for an escape and two for a reverse, to tie at 5-5.

Walsh said he wanted Baldosaro to get up and face him so he could go for a takedown and win.

However, the Eastern ace intentionally stayed on his belly, the buzzer sounded, and after the huddle officials ruled that Walsh (32-3) had gotten only a reversal. So a point was deducted, and Baldosaro's hand was raised in victory.

In the end, it was all about strategy.

"Absolutely, I could meet him again," Baldosaro said. "Taylor is a great wrestler. So why not?"

Walsh said he didn't wrestle that well against Baldosaro from the beginning, because he had beaten him earlier in the season.

"Now I really want to wrestle him," Walsh said. "I can definitely break him. He gets tired, and as long as I wrestle good I should beat him by five, six points."

Another third meeting could occur at 140 pounds between Eastern senior Hank Stinson and Willingboro junior James Green (30-1), who suffered his first loss of the season to Stinson (31-3) in the Region 7 final.

Stinson is seeded first in the top bracket. Green is the third seed in the bottom.

Eastern junior Rob Deutsch (33-2) and his teammate, four-time regional champion Preston Keiffer (34-1), are also top seeds at 119 and 160, respectively. Deutsch is in the top bracket; Keiffer, the bottom.

Paulsboro's Joe Duca, a four-time regional champion with a 38-0 record this season, is No. 1 in the top bracket at 125. Duca has 151 career victories, the most in South Jersey history. He has lost 14.

Other local top seeds are Burlington Township's Kevin Devoy, a sophomore with a 31-0 record, at 112; Willingboro junior Tyler Scotton (36-0) at 130; Delsea's Eric Reger (30-3) at 152; and Paulsboro's Zach Greenwald (37-1) at 215.