Rolling up the mats for South Jersey high school wrestling's 2022-23 season
Some years, there's some debate on which team is crowned South Jersey’s No. 1 team.
This wasn’t one of those years.
The Delsea Regional High School wrestling team took up residency in the penthouse of the Mean 15 rankings in the preseason and never left, going wire-to-wire as the area’s best squad.
The Crusaders will receive the John Vogeding Memorial Victory Cup as the area’s No. 1 team at the Region 7 and 8 banquet on April 6.
Under head coach Greg Sawyer, Delsea finished with a 26-1 en route to a second consecutive state Group 3 title and a school record for wins in a season. It’s the third final No. 1 finish for the Crusaders in their history and the first since 2016.
More:Meet the All-South Jersey wrestling team for the 2022-23 season
The lone blemish on the record was a 64-6 loss to state powerhouse Delbarton in the finals of the Jack Welch Duals.
In the individual tournament, Delsea sent all 14 wrestlers to the finals at District 31, earning 10 titles. Nine Crusaders would advance to the state tournament with three – Jamar Dixon Jr. (seventh), Jared Schoppe (third) and Rocco Bennett (eighth) – earning a place on the podium.
Coach of the Year
Eric Hamrick wanted to take the Haddonfield program to the next level when he took over four years ago.
After falling short in consecutive sectional finals, the Haddons ended the drought and captured their first South Jersey title in their history with a 33-28 win over West Deptford in the Group 2 meet.
Haddonfield finished its season with an 18-5 record, finishing second behind Paulsboro in the Colonial Conference Liberty Division race.
“We had a great offseason and that really set everything up,” Hamrick said. “Guys were showing up, getting their lifting in, getting bigger and stronger. But the big thing was that you could tell they were really coming together as a team.”
Hamrick was a standout wrestlers at Collingswood, where he was a three-time district champion and a Region 7 titleist in 2011. Switching over to a rival program wasn’t easy, but Hamrick has grown to be a Haddon.
“I truly enjoy coaching at Haddonfield,” Hamrick said. “They welcomed me, they’ve welcome my father (Ron, who works with the middle school program). There are tough times, but when you see a kid get his arm raised, it’s always satisfying for a coach.”
Save of the Year
Egg Harbor Township athletic trainers Jennifer Zepp and Kyu Lee were ready to provide treatment for strained ligaments and bloody noses when the Region 8 tournament came to EHT in late February.
Fortunately, they were also prepared for something even more serious.
When a spectator went into cardiac arrest during the tournament, Zepp and Lee went to work and saved his life, providing CPR and a shock from an AED.
Lee told the NJSIAA, “I had never had to perform CPR or use an AED,” but he was a former instructor for CPR. Athletic trainers must be recertified in CPR/AED every two years.
Zepp is currently a CPR instructor who told the NJSIAA, “We just prepare for the worst and hope it does not happen.”
Best Comeback of the Year
Individually, Brady Conlin returned to South Jersey, enrolled at St. Augustine Prep, and wrestled his way to the state final at 150. During his three years wrestling in South Jersey, Conlin earned region titles and was a state place winner for three different programs – Williamstown, Washington Township and St. Augustine.
On the venue side, Cherry Hill East hosted the Region 7 tournament. There’s just something about that gym. Hope the tournament remains there for years to come.
Surprise Team of the Year
Audubon. The Green Wave captured the Colonial Conference Patriot Division title – the program’s first-ever. Under head coach John Walsh, Audubon went 17-11, including a first-round playoff win and sent two wrestlers to states. Walsh won Coach of the Year honors for District 28. Senior Scott Lynch, who weighed 214 pounds, bumped up to heavyweight for the individual tournament, capturing district and region titles before placing third in the state, tying the highest finish for an Audubon wrestler with Jim Cooper (1979).
Incredible Feat of the Year
It’s tough for a team to forfeit two weights and still win a dual meet. It’s even rougher to accomplish the feat in a state final. Camden Catholic managed to give up a free 12 points and deliver a 33-29 upset win over heavy favorite St. John Vianney to win the state Non-Public B title.
Freshman Terry Terch, a 165-pounder, bumped up to wrestle 190 and scored a pivotal 4-3 win. Tyler Byrd, a transfer from Williamstown, notched a key pin at 285, Jackson Young knocked off Jake Zaltsman at 126, freshman Kage Jones majored Patrick O’Keefe at 132 and Wayne Rold clinched the title with a 9-1 major at 138.
Final Mean 15 rankings
Delsea (26-1)
Kingsway (16-9)
Camden Catholic (14-5)
St. Augustine (12-10)
Washington Twp. (25-2)
Paulsboro (20-4)
Seneca (23-2)
Shawnee (21-5)
Haddonfield (18-5)
Gloucester (20-8)
West Deptford (16-12)
Cherry Hill West (21-11)
Highland/Triton (26-7)
Woodstown (20-7)
Audubon (17-11)
Tom McGurk is a regional sports editor for the Courier-Post, The Daily Journal and Burlington County Times, covering South Jersey sports for over 30 years. If you have a sports story that needs to be told, contact him at (856) 486-2420 or email tmcgurk@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @McGurkSports. Help support local journalism with a digital subscription.
This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: South Jersey high school wrestling's Season in Review for 2022-23
