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West Deptford Wrestlers Get Tough Seeds in Region 8 Tournament

No Eagles wrestler is seeded higher than No. 3 in the regional tournament.

West Deptford’s wrestlers will have a tough road through regions at Egg Harbor Township, after Monday’s seeding meeting left no Eagle higher than a No. 3 seed, with several having to take an unseeded path through the bracket.

Junior Rory Bonner, the District 29 champion at 182 pounds, scored the highest seed of any West Deptford wrestler, getting locked in at No. 3 in his weight class.

Bonner’s seed is somewhat of a surprise, though, given the two wrestlers ahead of him—Kingsway’s Chris Lail and Hammonton’s David Williams—both have multiple losses, while Bonner has just one loss all season, to Haddon Township’s Steve Nelson, the No. 2 170-pounder in the entire state, according to the Star-Ledger.

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Bonner himself is highly ranked by a number of publications, including No. 5 in the state at 182 pounds by the Ledger and No. 1 in Region 7/8 at 182 pounds by Gannett, making the No. 3 seed a bit of a head-scratcher.

Evan Zuzulock is the next-highest seeded Eagle, coming in at No. 4 at 120 pounds. He’ll have to overcome being in the same side of the bracket as Timber Creek’s Ricky Carter, the No. 1 seed, and, barring an upset that gets him to the finals, could see a consolation-round match against Schalick’s Stewart Richardson or Buena’s Billy Ward, who beat him head-to-head just two weeks ago.

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Gerald Owens, the last of West Deptford’s district champions, gets what’s arguably the toughest seed of any champ, drawing Schalick’s Nick Pustizzi in the quarterfinals at 220 in a 4-5 matchup.

Pustizzi is one of just four wrestlers to get the best of Owens, pinning him at the Arthur Marinelli tournament back in December. Given Owens avenged one of his other losses to win at districts, and the loss to Pustizzi was early in the season, the rematch should be quite a bit closer.

Tyler Kaminski is the final seeded wrestler for West Deptford, at No. 6 at 113, where he’ll wrestle Pennsville’s Jacob Samuels. Kaminski already owns a pin victory over Samuels this season, and a win would put him into a match against No. 3 Dylan LaPalomento of Washington Township.

Three West Deptford wrestlers go into regions unseeded. Steve Alt will have to muster a win over Paulsboro’s Juan Rivera to break into the quarterfinals at 126, Christian Terinoni will have to get by Washington Township’s Matt Salera to move on and Dan Gibson will have to win over Absegami’s Nate Ross to advance.

The complete seeding chart for District 8 is below:

106 pounds
Mike Van Horn (21-10) Washington Township, vs. (8) Patrick Higgins (28-7), Woodstown, winner to meet (1) John Gentile (28-2), Paulsboro; Steven Bergamo (22-12), St. Augustine, vs. (5) Jodeci Robinson (24-6), Clayton; Ross Hicks (18-7), Williamstown, vs. (4) Joseph Rocks (27-2), (Egg Harbor Township); (6) Tom Carney (18-13), Delsea, vs. (3) Patrick D’Arcy (32-1), Holy Spirit; (7) Joshua Pineda (23-7), Vineland, vs. Alex Eastlack (24-6), Gateway, winner to meet (2) John Amato (13-3), Timber Creek.

113 pounds
(8) John Gallo (31-4), Schalick, vs. (1) Tom Gattinella (31-4), St. Augustine; (5) Zach Valcarce (26-8), Lower Cape May, vs. Joey DiMartino (22-11), Timber Creek; Matt Sparks (21-9), Gateway, vs. (4) Anthony Racobaldo (30-3), Williamstown; Jacob Samuels (19-16), Pennsville, vs. (6) Tyler Kaminski (28-6), West Deptford, winner to meet (3) Dylan LaPalomento (30-3), Washington Township; Zachary Nealis (23-7), Vineland, vs. (7) Ronray Harris (18-3), Middle Township, winner to meet (2) Sam Morina (31-5), Paulsboro.

120 pounds
Alex Moncher (18-9), Clearview, vs. (8) Garrett Paolone (27-7), Holy Spirit, winner to meet (1) Ricky Carter, Timber Creek; (5) Edmond Ongoro (19-7), Lindenwold, vs. Darrian Brooks (24-12), Penns Grove, winner to meet (4) Evan Zuzulock (29-2), West Deptford; John Rizzo (11-12), Vineland, vs. (6) Gabe Zamot (23-5), Egg Harbor Township, vs. (3) Newt Richardson (33-1), Schalick; (7) Brian Ceaser (22-6) vs. Cory Jacobs (28-5), Clayton, winner to meet (2) Billy Ward (32-3), Buena.

126 pounds
John Pierson (14-14), Delsea, vs. (5) Edward Donahue (23-13), St. Augustine, winner to meet (1) John VanBrill (27-1), Clearview; (5) John Ecret (22-9), Pennsville, vs. Mike Jacobs (21-8), Hammonton; Steven Alt (24-10), West Deptford, vs. (4) Juan Rivera (30-6), Paulsboro; (3) William Elliott (28-3), Cumberland, vs. (6) Robert McNeill (37-0), Winslow Township; (7) Brandon Bower (11-8), Egg Harbor Township vs. Brandon Virgilio (25-7), Timber Creek, winner to meet (2) Mike Jiampetti (27-7), Absegami.

132 pounds
Bill Millward (23-12), Clayton, vs. (8) Jason Cohen (24-5), Egg Harbor Township, winner to meet (1) Brandon Keller (29-5), Timber Creek; (5) Eric Hanusewicz (10-2), Cedar Creek, vs. Jonathon Rodriguez (20-10), Vineland, winner to meet (4) John Willette (21-13), Absegami; Christian Terinoni (25-7), West Deptford, vs. (3) Matt Salera (3-2), Washington Township; Justin Fucetola (17-14), Hammonton, vs. (6) Connor Bestwick (32-5), Woodstown; (7) Cody Croce (24-12), Paulsboro, vs. (2) John Hennelly (30-4), Delsea.

138 pounds
(8) Adrian Feliciano (23-7), Pennsville, vs. (1) Dillan Berghof (30-4), Buena; Dylan Weiss (23-13), Woodstown, vs. (4) Nick Knauer (27-9), Paulsboro, winner to meet (5) Mike Graham (26-6), Williamstown; Shawn Bryant (22-8), Egg Harbor Township, vs. (6) Ryan Wade (7-1), Highland, winner to meet (3) Edward Lenkowski (25-0), Clearview; (7) Isaiah DeGuzman (20-11), Timber Creek, vs. Michael Morris (23-9), Kingsway; Aaron Kolmetsky (25-7), Deptford, vs. (2) Joe Esposito, St. Augustine (31-4).

145 pounds
James Ingersol (15-14), Egg Harbor Township, vs. Niko Savaiinaea (20-12), Paulsboro, winner to meet (1) Antonio Mancella (30-1), Oakcrest; (5) Monty Krough (30-5), Pennsville, vs. Eric Lands (23-11), Mainland; Josh Ferentz (17-12), Clayton, vs. (4) Patrick McCurdy (34-3), Woodstown; (3) Dom Ruggiero (23-7), Timber Creek, vs. (6) Dan Cornew (20-4), Clearview; (7) Kellen Whitney (27-8), Hammonton, vs. Sheldon Morris (15-13), Highland, winner to meet (2) Curt Delia (33-1), Delsea.

152 pounds
Ed Shockley (27-6) Millville vs. (8) Billy Williams (28-8) Woodstown, winner to meet (1) Mark Patterson (34-1) St. Augustine; Anthony Irwin (12-8) Triton vs. (4) Justin Pierotti (28-6) Buena, winner to meet (5) Colton Newsome (18-2) Pennsville; (3) Nate Ross (29-5) Absegami vs. Daniel Gibson (17-16) West Deptford, winner to meet (6) George Skibinski (27-0) Clearview; (7) Stimento Rowe-Akins (31-3) Clayton vs. Jordan Djahi (18-14) Overbrook, winner to meet (2) Bryce Shade (29-5) Timber Creek.

160 pounds
Trevor Mathais (26-9) Penns Grove vs. (8) Zach Rahl (27-8) Schalick, winner to meet (1) Phil Bakcukas (25-0) Hammonton; (5) Mike Silvestro (25-11) Paulsboro vs. Riley Outten (10-19) Washington Township, winner to face (4) Tyler Sentman (29-6) St. Augustine; Jake Pennington (20-11) Gateway vs. Cesar Balmadeca (19-4) Atlantic City vs. (3) Dylan Dobzanski (29-4) Delsea; (7) Christian LaFragola (25-10) Holy Spirit vs. Emmanuel Mitchell (24-12) Winslow, winner to meet (2) Connor Donahue (27-1) Clearview.

170 pounds
(1) Alex Gong (30-4) Absegami vs. (8) Kyle McMahon (20-3) Clearview; (5) Cooper Gallagher (23-6) Ocean City vs. Josh McCouch (27-11) Overbrook, winner to meet Ahmir Walker (19-10) Deptford vs. Nick Elmer (35-1) Penns Grove; Billy Leone (24-8) Kingway vs. (6) Tommy Mitchell (25-5) Lindenwold, winner to meet (3) Steffen Rodriguez (25-4) Vineland; (7) James Bennett (26-9) St. Augustine vs. Mike McKenney (23-5) Gloucester, winner to meet (2) Robert Shade (31-3) Timber Creek.

182 pounds
Marshall Brooks (12-6) Delsea vs. (8) Trevant McCloud (26-4) Lindenwold, winner to meet (1) Chris Lail (31-2) Kingsway; Mark Camma (21-10) Pitman vs. (4) John Benard (26-5) Oakcrest, winner to meet (5) James Mooers (21-6) Middle Townhip; Dustin Baionno (30-6) Woodstown vs. (6) James Hall (27-7) Lower Cape May, winner to meet (3) Rory Bonner (32-1) West Deptford; (7) Michael Robinson (27-3) Clayton vs. Jordan Warren (16-11) Highland, winner to meet (2) David Williams (33-3) Hammonton.

195 pounds
Gabe Sastre (19-11), Clayton, vs. (8) Tiawahn Cosby (26-5), Vineland, winner to meet (1) Bryan Dobzanski (30-1), Delsea; Hunter Joseph (14-15), Clearview, vs. (4) Michael Anderson (24-5), Mainland, winner to meet (5) Kahlil McCollough-Bey (10-1), Williamstown; Matt Kountz (15-14), Timber Creek, vs. (6) Stephen Andrescavage (25-2), Hammonton, winner to meet (3) William Cioffi (30-3), Pitman; (7) Patrick Wexler (26-6), Kingsway, vs. Joe Johnston (22-7), Middle Township, winner to meet (2) Cory Damiana (28-6), Lower Cape May.

220 pounds
Schalor Blackshear (19-7), Timber Creek, vs. (8) Sean Redden (24-6), Delsea, winner to meet (1) Roy Lucas (33-1), St. Joseph; (5) Gerald Owens (26-4), vs. (4) Nick Pustizzi (31-2), Schalick; Cylas Dorety (29-6), Woodstown, vs. (6) Nigel Toussaint (20-8), Egg Harbor Township, winner to meet (3) Brandon Belger (26-5), Middle Township; (7) Noah Repko (27-5), Buena, vs. Neil Kuntz (24-8), Clayton; Christian Ruggeri (10-5), Pitman, vs. (2) Brian Beebe (31-5), Hammonton.

Heavyweight
Samuel Harvey (23-5), Penns Grove, vs. (8) Cody Dooley (20-15), Pennsville, winner to meet (1) Tom Rementer (33-0), Clayton; (5) Josh Johnson (20-6), Ocean City vs. Mike Ottaviano (27-7), Absegami, winner to meet (4) Dom LaFragola (31-3), Holy Spirit; (3) Tre Porch (29-5), Delsea, vs. (6) Martel Harrison (24-8), Highland; (7) Robert Frederico (21-9) vs. Seth Tinsley (21-8), Triton; Allan Westenberger (24-10), Gloucester, vs. Curtis Nealer (29-5), Pitman.


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