He was winning the entire match. Even rode out Ludington for the entire 2nd period. Was up 8-4 and Ludington took over. Hell of a performance. Cranford should be able to win the dual and advance to the state finals.
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Did Chapman bump up just to face Harvey or is he gaining weight? We've been expecting him at 174.
Correction. After Ludington winning, Brick closed the dual with tech, tech, pin, pin and won the dual on criteria.
Chapman weighed in at 175 and is likely going 165 at states.
Did Cranford get unsportsmanlike -1 during or after match because score shows 36-35 BM…wondering if Cranford would have won if not for unsportsmanlike
Match ended 35-35. Procedurally BM got the point for holding the tiebreaker criteria to make it 36-35.
IDK how they usually do it for criteria but nj.com showed unsportsmanlike -1 against Cranford.
I didn’t catch this but apparently there was an unnecessary roughness call on a takedown earlier in the match. I’d have to see it but sounds kind of weak, apparently the Cranford kid at 138 drove his shoulder into the BM kid on a takedown that resulted in a tech fall. Not only is it a team point, but also gave BM the tiebreaker.
The match ended 36-35 not 35-35 brick won outright and if it went to criteria brick would have won anyway because they had the most pins , unsportsmanlike was weak but didn’t have any effect on final result
I’m not sure how this plays out in regards to being eligible for weight for states, but if I’m reading things correctly Chapman weighed in as a 175 pounder but stepped on the scale with the 190 pounders, so he wouldn’t have been able to wrestle 175 in this dual.
I think he’s still eligible for 165 but one of the NJ wrestling media members says he expects to see Ludington vs Chapman 3 in the state finals. I’m not entirely sure where he’s getting that from though because I don’t think Chapman going 190 or Ludington going 175 is plausible.
I think he’s still eligible for 165 but one of the NJ wrestling media members says he expects to see Ludington vs Chapman 3 in the state finals. I’m not entirely sure where he’s getting that from though because I don’t think Chapman going 190 or Ludington going 175 is plausible.
The weight decent rule permits 1.5% per week, so if he weighed 178.1, as reported, then he's not eligible to cut to 167 for Districts on 2/22. He's probably going 177, unless he decides to bump up to 192.
Correct he cannot go 167 for districts. He is either going 177 or 192..my guess is 192. He will make finals at either weight, and has better chance against Ludington.
I hope he goes 190 because him vs Ludington would be a tremendous finale to the state tournament but I think he’d be better suited overall at 175.
DeGeorge is obviously good but he’s not the same caliber wrestler as Ludington right now. Not to mention Ludington is the stronger of the two 15 pounds up. Also, the road to the 190 finals Chapman would likely see Lavalle in the semi’s who is a stud in his own right.
I think the time to upset Ludington was yesterday and it barely slipped away. Ludington mentally will be sharper after realizing how close he was to losing as opposed to going into the match having just majored Chapman not too long ago.
On what basis is Burton not the same caliber as Ludington? Burton has been to every huge tournament this year and won the Powerade tourn, won the Escape the Rock Tourn and lost in Beast finals to Henkel from Blair.
While I agree, last night was the time to upset Ludington, I think he knows that it is his best chance to win a title is up rather than at 175
In my opinion, 1.Knox, 2.Burton, and Ludington and Perrentin are pretty even for 3rd best in NJ.
FYI-MatScouts has Burton 12th in his top 20 pound for pound wrestlers in the country(Ludington not in top 20)
I got my Ryan’s mixed up. Confusing Ryan DeGeorge who is a sophomore at 132 with Ryan Burton who is a senior at 175. My fault.
Chapman weighed in about 15 pounds less than Ludington and doesn’t look like he’s giving up much size. Ludington also locked on for the final 9 seconds of the match in the standing position and probably should have gotten another stall (and Chapman a point) but ref probably didn’t have the guts to call it.
Districts aren’t finished but looking like this will be the final numbers:
11 district champs from CBA
11 district champs from St Peter’s (a 12th injury defaulted)
11 district champs from St Joes Montvale
12 district champs from St John Vianney
14 district champs from Delbarton
This has gotten completely out of hand and there is absolutely no energy in any of these buildings because everyone knows what’s going to happen. At some point they need to separate the private and public schools until later in the state tournament. Have something like 24 kids qualify from public and 8 from private. Nobody gains anything watching Delbarton steamroll Lyndhurst, Orange, and Mendham high schools
11 district champs from CBA
11 district champs from St Peter’s (a 12th injury defaulted)
11 district champs from St Joes Montvale
12 district champs from St John Vianney
14 district champs from Delbarton
This has gotten completely out of hand and there is absolutely no energy in any of these buildings because everyone knows what’s going to happen. At some point they need to separate the private and public schools until later in the state tournament. Have something like 24 kids qualify from public and 8 from private. Nobody gains anything watching Delbarton steamroll Lyndhurst, Orange, and Mendham high schools
Wrestling is an individual sport, why does it matter what school is in your district? Just beat the kid in front of you. I remember watching Ashnault’s South Plainfield team beat Bergen Catholic at Bergen and Bergen had 4 state champs on the team.
If you want to start talking about splitting parochials and publics we should start talking about not wrestling to a single state champ.
My bigger issue is how many top wrestlers are red shirted. Harvey Ludington will be 20 in September and he’s wrestling high school kids. That to me is more egregious than having a parochial in your district.
It’s awful for the sport when one team comes in and completely cleans up at the district level. If it happens naturally through public schooling, that’s life and there’s nothing you can do about it. But these parochial schools build super teams composed of kids from all over the state and sometimes beyond those borders. I watched 14 district finals matches that were complete duds tonight. They were predetermined months ago when the district and region align came out. Absolutely no excitement in the crowd.
For a sport that continuously shoots itself in the foot and is watching itself die slowly, this is an easy fix. Take all the private schools, divide them into 2 regions, north and south Jersey. They don’t have to participate in districts. Top 4 move on. The public schools then make up the remaining 6 regions and they are wrestled normally. Let the private schools and public schools wrestle down to 1 champ in AC. You’d end up with a similar state field anyway, but in this case you can spread the title of district and region champ across the state. This grows the sport.
Everyone is tired of watching private schools run away with every district they’re in. Competitive team races are good for the sport. Getting district champs from 4, 5, 6 different schools within the same district is great for the sport. Watching Delbarton pin and tech fall to 14 district champs and 12-14 region champs is awful.
Individual but with a team component. The school may be in the district, but the wrestlers are compiled from several districts, counties and even states to compete in that single district. How simple to steamroll to team district and county titles with an all star team. It's far more egregious to cherry pick individual studs from all over, stomp your way to 14 individual titles versus may of the teams you pilfered from, and thump chests proclaiming how spectacular your team is.
If this is about getting kids to AC, how much more can it be watered down? When I was in high school you had to get through a district, a region and a super region to get to AC. Now they take the top 4 kids from the region to AC, how much more can the NJSIAA do to get kids to AC? If you told us in the 90s that 32 kids in each weight would go to AC in the future….no one would’ve believed it.
You are a knowledgeable poster SCNJ, what’s your thought on redshirting? Ludington will be almost 20 when he goes for this 3rd title…that to me is insane. I graduated high school at 17, I didn’t turn 20 till junior year of college.
If all these elite kids want to wrestle together, like it's a club team, and claim to want to wrestle the best kids, then move those teams to the prep league and see how they fare wrestling Blair, Sem, LHP, Malvern, etc. in the prep tournament every year. Some will be fine, but others won't. They no longer belong in NJSIAA. Same for other states and their
Certain schools have gotten out of hand. St. Joe’s won a team title with a senior transfer from SPP that is committed to OK, a kid from PA that has apparently transferred in and out twice already and will have to transfer out a third time before senior year because he ages out, a kid from NY, and a kid that has been at 3 schools in 4 years. And I’m sure there are other instances. In contrast, Delbarton as a whole rarely accepts transfers and a high percentage of the kids are from a few counties (Morris, Bergen, Somerset, Essex) not to mention the admissions process is not a lay-up. It’s the transfer rules that need a complete overhaul. Not only that but rumor is that Dellagatta, a senior transfer at SJV, takes online classes because he lives in Northern NJ. How does that make sense from a high school team sport perspective?
The population of the state has gone up by 1.5 million people since the 90s. There are more kids in school now than there were then, and I’m not certain but there are probably more schools with wrestling programs and more wrestlers on them overall than when we were kids. I don’t mind expanding the field. The goal isn’t to water things down and again, I don’t think my proposal waters things down at all. The purpose is to allow let the public school kids and their schools to compete for postseason accolades without having to deal with the private schools that have the unfair advantage of recruiting. In an individual sport, it doesn’t matter who you face in the end, I agree. But the path to the end, in this case AC, should be filled with kids from all over the state. That grows the sport. Nearly 15% of district champs yesterday came from 1 of 5 schools. That doesn’t sit well with me.
As far as redshirting and gap years, I’m not in favor of it but the state does have a cutoff date depending on when the kid turns 19. I was 17 when I graduated high school as well so I understand your point. The rule isn’t in place for the purpose of redshirting but people will always find ways to game the system for their personal advantage.
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I laugh every time I hear the age cut-off is 19 especially when parents are holding their kids back in kindergarten and then reclassing in 8th grade = 19 year old seniors. The latest nonsense is prep schools like Lawrenceville lax recruiting sophomores and then having them reclass mid-HS to repeat sophomore year. This is the next wave of BS you wait and see especially if the private schools can somehow manage it administratively.
FWIW, all of this age nonsense is a joke - if you look at the Flo top 25 P4P wrestlers from a few years ago and where are they now = plenty of complete duds. Personally, if I’m a college coach one of the first things I’m looking at is age especially in relation to weight-class.
Harvey was born in October FYI. If you're gonna call kids out for being old at least have your facts straight. Do I like that kids are 20 the 1st year they compete in college no I don't. But it's happening all over and in all sports. I'm 50 myself and didn't turn 18 until October my freshman year in college. With NIL opportunities this is only gonna get worse in the future. As we get older things that happen seem ridiculous to us but are normal in society. I still think it's ridiculous that kids don't play tackle football on the playground🤷
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I was
I was off on his birthday by a month, it’s still insane the kid is 19.5 and likely wrestled 14 year olds this season. With that said, I guess it is the times, and redshirting will become the new norm amongst high school athletes.
I don’t think the overall population growth has a positive effect on wrestling. Attached articles points to the significant decline in participants in the most recent 5 years. Even in proud programs like Pausboro. I know of many high school programs that closed in the mid-90s to 2000’s.
As tournament opens, our shocking study shows N.J. HS team wrestling is in trouble
NJ.com's examination of 2,469 dual matches and 34,047 bouts reveals eye-opening wrestling data
A famed N.J. wrestling program is fighting to survive. Its town is no better off.
Wrestling defines blue-collar Paulsboro, even amid plummeting participation, school enrollment declines and steady crime.
Brawl at state tourney. Knox father arrested.
www.nj.com
Father of 3-time state wrestling champ led away in handcuffs after brawl at state tourney
Two people were arrested following a brawl at a state wrestling tournament
If Knox jr got involved he can’t wrestle in state tourney as he’d be suspended. What could’ve possibly happened to make Knox Sr. react like that? Though I’ve been around high school wrestling for 40 years and I’ve never seen a dad where a tank top to a NJ wrestling tournament in February….so anything is possible these days.Brawl at state tourney. Knox father arrested.
Father of 3-time state wrestling champ led away in handcuffs after brawl at state tourney
Two people were arrested following a brawl at a state wrestling tournament
Was reading a wrestling forum and it sounded like he took offense to the crowd celebrating their first win. It was a blowout dominated by SJV. Don’t know the guy but who wears a tank top to a wrestling match in 20 degree weather?
Parents in general don’t behave themselves at sporting events. It’s worse when their team loses. It’s even worse when it’s a private school.
Imagine having the most talented wrestler in the state as your son and then making a district tournament about you.
Wow….if he was taken away in cuffs and can’t wrestle in the state tourney that’d be horrible.
Not as horrible as possibly pissing away a Cornell education and a spot in a really good wrestling program.
For what it’s worth, Mineo is saying that West Deptford was taunting Knox and Vianney the entire day. Another reason to split up the districts. Domination by one team creates villains and people can’t control themselves when it comes to youth sports.
They were detained but not arrested from what I understand. Probably some discipline from SJV but will wrestle next week
