Ocean Township man charged with murder
February 26, 2017
Ocean girls end season with a win
March 2, 2017
By Walter J. O’Neill, Jr
Brick hosted the NJSIAA Regional VI Wrestling Champions this past weekend. Several local athletes punched their tickets to the State Championships which are held in Atlantic City.
One wrestler, Jake Benner of Ocean Township, had a great tournament. He won his 100th career match and also took the Region VI title for 138 pounds with a pin over Nick Wagner of Wall Township. Benner became the first
Spartan since 2012 to win a regional championship.
Here is a breakdown by weight classes of the tournament.
106 pounds: Ryan Zimmerman of Long Branch was the seventh seed. He won his first round match with a pin. Round two he upset the second seed with a 4-2 victory. In the semifinals he fell 10-4 to Nico Messina of Freehold Borough.
Jack Nies of Ocean Township was the eighth seed and he lost in by pin in the opening round.
113 pounds: Three local guys were competing. Matt Klemser of Shore Regional was given the ninth seed and won his opening round match 9-7. Round two he lost by pin to the top seed.
John Santos of Ocean Township was the tenth seed. He won his opening round match with a pin. He lost by pin in round two to the second seed.
Rev Guzman of Long Branch had the twelfth seed. He lost his opening round match 10-2.
120 pounds: Carlos Irizarry of Long Branch was the third seed. He had an opening round bye. In round two he lost 6-0 to the sixth seed.
Al DeSantis a freshman at Shore Regional was given the seventh seed. He beat his tenth seed opponent 10-3 in the opening round. He lost to the second seed 5-1 in round two, and finished in fourth place.
Adam Manzo of Ocean Township had the eighth seed. He beat the ninth seed 12-3 in the opening round. In round two he faced the top seed and lost by pin.
126 pounds: Chris Dean of Long Branch had the fifth seed. In round one he beat the twelfth 6-0. In round two he lost 12-2 to the fourth seed.
Alex Poniros of Ocean Township was the sixth seed and had a bye in the opening round. Round two he beat the third seed with a pin. The semifinals he then upset the two seed with a 3-2 victory. He lost in the finals 9-0 to the top seed.
132 pounds: Nicholas Villapiano of Ocean Township had the sixth seed. He had a bye in the opening round. Round two he lost 2-0 to the third seed.
Ethan Byrne of Red Bank Catholic had the seventh seed. He lost 9-1 to the tenth seed in the opening round.
138 pounds: Jake Benner was the top seed. He had a bye in the opening round. Round two he beat the ninth seed with a pin. Semifinals he won 8-3 over the fourth seed. In the finals he pinned his third seed opponent from Wall at 3:15.
Monmouth Regional had Tyler Flynn as the eleventh seed. He had a tough 5-6 loss in the opening round to the sixth seed.
145 pounds: Luke Arnold of Long Branch was the third seed. Opening round he beat the fourteenth seed 9-8. Round two the sixth seed beat him 8-6.
Saif Ali of Ocean had the eleventh seed and lost to the sixth seed by pin in the opening round.
156 Pounds: Jack McCrae of Shore Regional had the fourteenth seed. He lost 11-4 to the third seed in the opening round.
160 pounds: Austin Cannon of Shore Regional was the fifth seed. He had a bye in the opening round. Round two he lost by pin to the fourth seed.
170 pounds: Daniel Santos-Silva of Long Branch was the sixth seed. He beat the eleventh seed 6-4 in the opening round. Round two he lost by pin to the third seed.
Steven Cmielewski of Red Bank Catholic had the twelfth seed. He lost by pin in the opening round to the fifth seed.
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182 pounds: Peter Wersinger of Long Branch was the fourth seed. Round one he had a win by pin over the thirteenth seed. Round two he lost 1-0 on a tie breaker to the fifth seed.
195 pounds: No local wrestlers competed
220 pounds: Hunter Marhan of Long Branch was the two seed. Opening round he won with a pin in 29 seconds over the fifteenth seed. Round two he lost 6-2 to the seventh seed.
Clayton Oates of Ocean Township was the sixth seed. He lost his opening round match by pin to the eleventh seed.
285 pounds: Kevin Cerruti of Long Branch had the fifth seed. Opening round the big guy won by pin over the twelfth seed. Round two he lost by sudden victory 3-1 to the fourth seed.
The top four finishers from each weight division qualify for Atlantic City. Local wrestlers going to the big show are; Benner, Poniros, Zimmerman, DeSantis, Wersinger, Marhan, and Cerrruti.
