CHERRY HILL – It’s been a long day – but in a good way – for Trey Friedman of Lenape.
Junior Lenope returned to Al DiBartolomeo Gymnasium for the 27th district tournament.
At least he did better than his last postseason visit.
“Last year we had regions – I broke his chops before that,” said Lenape coach Chris Islik. “He went 0-1 in the regions and fought for only 23 seconds. This year was different. I am very proud of them. “
Friedman faced Kurt Venus of the Toms River East, who only needed so much time to hold him back on third place and a place in the state tournament.
On Saturday, it was Friedman moving on – after leading the 113-pound pedestal at the NJSIAA 27 Wrestling Championships at Cherry Hill East High School.
Friedman and senior 190-pound Kevin Langley won their weights for the Indians, who moved six wrestlers to the Region 7 tournament this weekend at Murstane High School and finished third in the team standings.
Seven weights were won by Camden Catholic, who took the team championship. The other seven went to the Lenape area. The Indians took two, as did Shawnee, who finished second in the team standings. Three went to Cherokee, who finished fourth.
“I thought we were fine,” Izlik said. “My goal was the fifth. In the end we got two champions and six through. This is a good day for us. And taking third place (in the team standings) – I don’t even know when we did it last time. I am very pleased. “
Under the leadership of Izlik, the Indians have acquired some splendor, thanking them for the work they have prepared.
“Trey worked hard, and it’s only from the beginning of the year until now that his thinking is correct,” Islik said. “It will be dangerous next weekend.”
He certainly was this weekend. Friedman was seeded fourth in the county despite a 20-1 record. He was a champion at the George Mayer Tournament and again at the Burlington County Tournament. He said goodbye in the first round in the 6th district in the 27th district and opened his Jeffrey Corina bowling tournament with Cherry Hill East at 1:50 p.m.
In the semifinals, Friedman repulsed an application for last-minute elimination of Ethan Staples of Shawnee, and himself came out with two, resulting in a 7-4 decision. As it turned out, the first two seedings in parentheses fell by a few minutes when Angela DiPol scored 12-10 over Lucas Lapinsky of Cherokee with a sudden victory.
It was an interesting moment, but Friedman said it didn’t change his outlook at all.
“I didn’t think about it. I was just thinking about my match, reaching the final and trying to win it all, ”he said.
That meant going through DiPol in the championship round, and it wasn’t easy. The Catholic sophomore from Camden threw him in the back in the first period and turned him over for the second time on the way to building a 9-1 lead in the first period.
But Friedman kept the faith. He chose defense in the second period and immediately came out. After that was his fight.
“I knew the baby was throwing,” Friedman said. “Eventually he got two hard heads on me, but I broke away from that. I worked hard. I heard from many coaches that by the second period he would have gas and I knew I had a gas tank so I was just going to go out and try to finish it off. ”
Napolenson brought Friedman two reverse points early in the second period. He took DiPol on his back with a high double and finished the match with a score of 3:22.
“I was just getting my high crotch and I knew he was throwing too,” Friedman said. “He was riding in an elevator and I knew he wasn’t going to get it. When I held him on my back, I knew I had to press him. I wasn’t going to keep it close. I was going to press him. “
Lenope, 157-pound Ty Smith and 165-pound Ricky Snyder, did not make it to the championship round. Freshman Jay Campbell under fourth seed, now 7-10, won 4-2 over Angel Bien of Pensauken in the consolation final to £ 120, and the Indians also advanced to heavyweight Miracu Kumas, who withdrew from the semi-final defeat to Kato. Jonathan Graham with Andrew Naylor’s quick hairpin from Cherry Hill East.
Lenope’s last fight at night was perhaps the greatest triumph. Kevin Langlois defeated William McCleary of Camden Catholic to win the net at a weight of 190 pounds.
McClear seemed to have an advantage in upper body strength, and he did not hesitate to say so, as in the early starts he went for strings and throws.
“I just thought I was going to go up there, keep my distance, hold it in my hands and try to fight my match,” Langlois said. “He throws you a little bit, yes, but I was able to bounce back, roll a little and not give away too many points.”
McClear’s rebound and Langlois reversal accounted for the entire number in the first period. In the second Langlois came out, then got out of McClear’s double and stood behind to come forward. From there, he turned McCleary with Fadzaev and caught him in the middle of nowhere.
“I just got a landing, started working on the basis I was working on in practice, and got the job done,” Langlois said. “It’s great.”
In the breakdown it sounds simple because he looks at it that way.
“He is very methodical. He has always been like that, ”Izlik said. “He’s just a tough kid who goes and goes. Not the fastest pace, but it just keeps moving forward. He never backs down – not from freshman year. Nice to see him (succeeded) after those four years. You could see it as a freshman. You thought this kid was going to be pretty tough. It’s nice to see how it works. “
There are a couple of freshmen who competed on Saturday who already have. Shawn’s Luke Sherlock won the 106-pound weight loss with a technical drop over Burlington County Champion Trevor Young of Palmyra, and Cherokee also won the title from freshman when Jason Brown stopped top-seeded Shawnee Chris Ahrens 3-1 at 138-pounds.
Jake Hastings also became the winner for Shawnee with a score of 11-5 over Ryan Schimp of Cherry Hill West in the final to 132 pounds. Other Cherokee champions were junior Evan Brown, who won his second title in three years – remember that in his second season there were no constituencies – with a major 14-2 decision over Smith, and Thomas Lapinsky, who for the first time in the senior class 150 pounds, who coped with Brandon Dreau, 6-1, in the final.
The top three in each weight class go to the Region 7 tournament, which starts Friday at Murstan High School. The champions will say goodbye in the first round, but will no longer have the first weekend. The regional championships are now held in two days – two rounds on Friday, two Saturdays, plus wrestling.
John A. Lewis is a sports writer for the Burlington County Times, Courier Post and The Daily Journal. Email him at jlewis@thebct.com or follow him on Twitter @ JohnLewis19. Please consider supporting local journalism by subscription.
