Sports
Crushing Elimination for Eagles Wrestling
West Deptford was eliminated from the playoffs by a single point.
It was a long bus ride home from Barnegat for the West Deptford High School wrestling team Monday night.
The No. 5 Eagles went toe-to-toe with No. 4 Barnegat in the opening round of the NJSIAA South Jersey Group 2 Tournament, winning eight of the 14 bouts. Unfortunately, West Deptford scored just two pins and suffered a heart-breaking 31-30 loss.
The final blow came when freshman Cameron Shields was hit with a disqualification with just 11 seconds left in the final match of the night. The ruling turned a three-point decision into a six-point verdict, which altered the course of the playoffs.
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First-year head coach Christian Scannell said the younger wrestlers must use the bad experience as a learning tool going forward.
“It’s devastating for the kids and myself,” Scannell said. “That’s a tough way to end the season. Still, I am proud of our guys. They are young dudes who really stepped up as the season went on. We really saw a lot of improvement during the season. They had a real loud crowd there and the kids weren’t affected by it.
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"I hope it becomes the real big building moment. We won eight matches but didn’t get any bonus points except for the two pins. Sometimes getting that bonus point can make the difference as we saw. It was a one-point match and in several cases we didn’t get that bonus point we needed.”
Seniors Rory Bonner and Tyler Kaminski recorded the pins for the Eagles, who will turn their attention to the individual portion of the season. Barnegat advances to take on No. 1 Delsea.
“You hate to lose a match like that; it’s a tough way to go down,” Scannell said. “We will bounce back, we always do.”
Scannell is hopeful that his wrestlers will use the tough defeat as motivation to work even harder in the practice room the next two weeks in anticipation for districts.
“Big fires are lit with small matches sometimes,” he said. “We will be motivated and will be ready. A lot of these guys have high goals and we hope they get to achieve them.”
LOCAL ACTION: No. 3 Highland took down No. 6 Gateway in the other Group 2 quarterfinal. Meanwhile, in Group 1, No.4 Collingswood advanced to the Group 2 semifinals, while No. 3 Haddon Township was upset by No. 6 Woodstown.
