Wrapping up all the action from Region 7 high school wrestling tournament

CHERRY HILL – Jacob Zearfoss knew the importance of winning the Region 7 title on Saturday, but in his moment in the spotlight, his thoughts were on some of his former teammates.

The junior became the first boy in the Gloucester City High School wrestling program to win a regional crown after a 4-3 decision over Southern’s Hayden Hochstrasser in the 144-pound title bout.

“Unfortunately, I’m the first,” Zearfoss said. “A couple of guys who came before me should have been the one, but everything happens for a reason.

“It does mean a lot to me. This school would do anything for me, and I’d do anything for them. I got a regional title now, so lets keep this thing rolling."

Gloucester’s girls’ team produced the first two regional champions with Jaclyn McDowell in 2022 and Kloi Tighe last week. Many around town felt Zearfoss would be the one to end the drought on the boys’ side.

“Once he got to high school, we knew he had a really good chance to be the guy,” Gloucester head coach Tom McConnell said. “He could roll out and play any sport and be great at it, he’s that type of an athlete. He’s one of the best running backs in South Jersey and he’s in on every tackle on defense."

More:Live results from Region 7 wrestling tournament at Cherry Hill H.S. East

Zearfoss came close to the crown last winter, losing a 3-2 ultimate-tiebreaker decision to Delran’s Drew Roskos in the region final at 144. Zearfoss quickly regrouped and went on to place sixth in the state.

“It showed me that I could wrestle with the best and that I belonged,” said Zearfoss, who placed third in the 7A state tournament in Georgia as a freshman.

“Last year, I fell into the mistake of wrestling other people’s matches. I learned my lesson. Here it was all gas and all my style.”

Before the individual tournament, Zearfoss dropped down a weight class to 144, which has proven to be a talented minefield, much like 150 where he wrestled throughout the regular season. Zearfoss won three decisions, including a 2-1 decision over Camden Catholic’s Michael Craft in the semifinals.

“He thrives on that competition,” McDonnell said. “He said if he’s going to cut weight, he might as well go where he feels the most comfortable and that’s what he did.”

Now, it’s Zearfoss who is making his opponents feel uncomfortable these days.

Audubon’s big fella

Scott Lynch is one of the premier three-sport stars in South Jersey, including the gridiron where the quarterback holds three school records for passing, which is saying something when former Super Bowl MVP Joe Flacco also walked the same hallways.

With all the accolades, where does Lynch’s Region 7 title rank?

“It’s up there definitely,” said Lynch, who is also is a pitcher and corner infielder for the Green Wave on the baseball diamond. “There are only about six who have ever done it, so it really does mean a lot.”

Lynch became the seventh Green Wave wrestler to stand atop the podium at regions, joining Jim Cooper (twice, 1979-80), Mark Alemi (1985), Rob Petracci (1987), Pete Kappatos (1996), Louis Arensberg (2013) and Jeff Jordan (2021).

After finishing second to eventual state champion Martin Cosgrove in last year’s Region 7 final at 215, Lynch was expected to be the favorite in the weight class this season.

More:Region 7 returns to Cherry Hill East is a smashing success

However, before the tournament, Lynch chose to bump up to heavyweight. Despite weighing 214 pounds, Lynch delivered two pins before a 7-1 decision over top-seeded Anthony Evangelista, of Southern, in the final.

“I haven’t lost at heavyweight (10-0 going into the tournament) this season and I’d wrestled some good heavyweights, so I was comfortable at 285,”  said Lynch, who’s 27 pins is second in South Jersey this season. “When I get in some positions, you can feel the weight. You can’t get under anyone and that’s why I had to change my style a little bit.”

Lynch will try to become Audubon’s first-ever state champ next week. Cooper had the highest place at state with a third in 1979.

Worth the wait

One couldn’t blame Jackson Young for counting down the days for a rematch with Southern’s Conor Collins.

After a 6-3 loss to Collins in the Region 7 finals, Young suffered an even tougher 4-2 SV setback to Collins at states.

“It took 365 days to get here,” Young said. “It’s been in my mind all year. It was a tough loss at state last year, but I knew I was right there. I know I can be the guy. I’ll get another chance to prove myself next week (in Atlantic City).”

Young established the tone with a takedown in the first period and got an escape in the third for a 3-2 victory over the top-seed and defending champ in the 126-title bout. The victory earned the junior the tournament’s Outstanding Wrestler award.

“I had a good game plan and stuck to it,” said Young, who improved to 32-4 and is expected to be among one of the strong contenders for a title in Atlantic City next week.

Young put the finishing touches on a strong tournament by the Irish, who sent six wrestlers to the finals and claimed four titles (Young, Sammy Spaulding at 120, Wayne Rold at 138 and Austin Craft at 157).

“We had a great tournament,” Young said. “We proved to ourselves and a lot of other people that we are one of the best teams in the state.”

News and notes

Southern sent a whopping 10 wrestlers to the finals, claiming a Region 7-record seven titles. The Rams will send 12 wrestlers to Atlantic City.

Camden Catholic fell one title short of its record set in 2000 (Ed Giosa, Bob Stinson, Billy Heverly, Mike Booth and Frank Cornely). The Irish will send nine grapplers to AC.

Excluding the combined South Region in the COVID 2021 season, Paulsboro failed to have a region finalist for the first time since 1968. However, Big Red will send four wrestlers to states.

Cherry Hill West’s Ryan Schimpf and Delran’s Luke Theis each captured their 100^th career wins on Saturday.

Southern’s Dan Roy was named the region’s Coach of the Year while Seneca’s Scott Minuto was the Assistant Coach of the Year.

What's next

The top four place winners at each weight class advance to the state tournament, which begins on March 2 at Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall.

The state seeding meeting will be Tuesday.

The state finals will be Saturday, March 4.

The results

Championship Round

132: Wyatt Stout, Southern, d. Kage Jones, Camden Catholic, 6-4 (SV). 138: Wayne Rold, Camden Catholic, d. Jason Brown, Cherokee, 3-2. 144: Jacob Zearfoss, Gloucester City, d. Hayden Hochstrasser, Southern, 4-3. 150: Matt Henrich, Southern, d. Drew Roskos, Delran, 4-3 (UTB). 157: Austin Craft, Camden Catholic, md. Nicholas DeLorenzo, Toms River East, 14-6. 165: Cole Velardi, Southern, p. Kaleb Wright, Gloucester City, 1:27. 175: Mitch Bivona, Southern, d. Ty Smith, Lenape, 6-4.

190: Collin French, Southern, d. Cole DuBois, West Deptford, 3-2. 215: Riley O'Boyle, Southern, p. James Lynch, Toms River East, 1:43. 285: Scott Lynch, Audubon, d. Anthony Evangelista, Southern, 7-1. 106: Anthony Mason, Southern, d. Lazarus Joyce, Camden Catholic, 8-0. 113: Kurt Wehner, Donovan Catholic, d. Luke Sherlock, Shawnee, 4-2 (SV). 120: Sammy Spaulding, Camden Catholic, d. Dezmond Lenaghan, Donovan Catholic, 6-5. 126: Jackson Young, Camden Catholic, d. Conor Collins, Southern, 3-2.

Third-place consolation

106: Jackson Bauer, Seneca, d. Jordan Segal, Shawnee, 7-5. 113: Hayden Holmes, Paulsboro, d. Dom DiGiacomo, Camden Catholic, 6-4. 120: Scottie Sari, Southern, won by forfeit over Ethan Staples, Shawnee. 126: Sawyer Ostroff, Donovan Catholic, d. Logan Sichelstiel, Paulsboro, 3-1. 132: Chase Bish, Paulsboro, d. Aidan Ott, Lacey Township, 11-4. 138: Ryan Schimpf, Cherry Hill West, d. Richard Davis, Donovan Catholic, 3-1. 144: Michael Craft, Camden Catholic, medical forfeit Renaldo King, Rancocas Valley.

150: Roman Onorato, Paulsboro, p. Jason Chiodi, Gloucester City, 0:19. 157: Nick Bennet, Southern, p. Grady Keebler, Moorestown, 1:01. 165: Luke Theis, Delran, d. Isaiah Ruiz, Cinnaminson, 2-1. 175: John Hangey, Cherokee, p. Andrew Tighe, West Deptford, 3:58. 190: Sam Myers, Audubon, p. Matt Coon, Lacey Township, 3:47. 215: Jonathan Graham, Highland/Triton, d. Cosmo Zaccaro, Central Regional, 10-4. 285: Jackson Harris, Shawnee, p. Sam Rock, Donovan Catholic, 1:51.

Fifth-place consolation

106: Michael Lamb, Haddonfield, md. Bence Bagameri, Haddon Township, 11-3. 113: Anthony Cook, Burlington Township, d. Attila Vigilante, Southern, 6-3. 120: Owen Kulb, Highland/Triton, p. Aundre Hill, Paulsboro, 3:07. 126: Dylan Vallone Cinnaminson, medical forfeit Lucas Lapinski, Cherokee. 132: Kristian Lenny, Cherry Hill West, d. Daniel Bogardus, Seneca, 12-10 (SV). 138: Alex Hurly, Haddonfield, d. Patrick Ghegan, Cinnaminson, 10-4. 144: Matt Gauthier, Lacey Township, d. Thomas Kaliamouris, Maple Shade, 9-1.

150: Josiah Canales, Cherry Hill West, won by forfeit Caden Langan, Toms River South. 157: Kyle Stickel, Seneca, d. Jordan Suiter, Highland/Triton, 7-2. 165: Terry Terch, Camden Catholic, p. Joshua Wilkins, Holy Cross, 1:08. 175: Dante Mortellite, Manchester Township, won by forfeit Maurice Sample, Cherry Hill East. 190: Calvin Spicer, Manchester Township, d. Anthony Horiates, Cherry Hill West, 6-3. 215: Zach Cowchok, Moorestown, d. JoNathan Valentin, Cherry Hill West, 9-3. 285: Michael Justo Bautista, Manchester Township, d. William Taylor, Highland/Triton, 4-2.

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: NJSIAA Region 7 wrestling tournament at Cherry Hill East