Cape crowns three champions in Battle at the Beach wrestling tournament
The 14th annual Battle at the Beach wrestling tournament contested Dec. 27-28 at Indian River High School welcomed 17 teams to the double-elimination invitational event.
West Chester Henderson won the team championship with 206 points followed by Milford with 193, Middletown with 155, Oakland Mills, Md., with 136, Sussex Central with 132, Sussex Tech with 127, Indian River with 122, Cape Henlopen with 121, Moorestown, N.J., with 98.5 and Delcastle with 84.
Placing 11th through 17th were Woodbridge, Lake Forest, Allentown, Pa.’s Central Catholic, Charter School of Wilmington, Delmar, Newark Charter and Conrad School of Science.
The tournament ended with an electric thud in the 285-pound weight class, when Jamie Schirmer of Sussex Tech pinned Aaron Smith of Oakland Mills for the bracket championship and the 100th win of his career. Banners were unfurled in the Ravens’ section of the bleachers as “Bubba” raised his arms into the air.
“They’ll be partying in the 684 tonight,” Schirmer said.
Another feel-good story was Cape’s Andre Currie coming off the injured list to win the 152-pound title with a 9-8 victory over Luke Phayre of West Chester Henderson. Currie got a two-point takedown in the final 30 seconds, then hung on for the win.
“Phayre was a state placer in Pennsylvania last year, so that was a huge win for Andre,” Cape coach Chris Mattioni said.
Cape also crowned champions at 132 pounds, where Anthony Caruso defeated Will Carl of Middletown 2-1, and in the 182-pound class with Chris Handlin winning the title with a 10-3 win over Bevensky Augustin of Milford.
The Henlopen Conference won nine of the 14 weight classes contested. Henlopen champions by weight class included the following: 106 pounds, Corey Messick of Milford over Billy Wilson, Henderson, fall at 3:27; 126, TaJon Knight of Indian River over Sindey Ndi of Middletown, 3-2; 145, Seth Fleming of Lake Forest over Brandon Greenlee of Sussex Central, 5-3; 195, Michael Wright of Sussex Central over Eric Bennett of Milford, 5-2; 220, Anthony Diaz, Milford, over Andrew Hawkins, Sussex Tech, 3-2; 285: Schirmer, Sussex Tech over Smith, Oakland Mills, fall at 3:28.
Other Delaware winners were Liam O’Conner of Delcastle in the 160-pound class over Gaij Copes of Milford, 10-3, and Brian Schneider of Middletown in the 170-pound division over Tret Hatfield of Sussex Tech, fall 3:21.
From out of state, 113-pound champion Sam McMonagle of West Chester Henderson won by fall at 3:24 over Cassidy Chas of Middletown.
A big gasp inside the Indian River gym occurred in the 120-pound bout when Killian Delaney of West Chester Henderson pinned Will Rayne of Indian River at 2:23. Rayne had pinned his previous three opponents in the bracket, all in under 42 seconds.
Attikos Clifford of Allentown Central Catholic secured the 138-pound title with a 5-2 win over Tommy Blanch of Moorestown.
Other place results for Cape include Jackson Handlin, fourth at 152; Billy Ott, fourth at 195; and Finbar Rishko, seventh at 138.
Cape was the only school with three champions, while Milford and Henderson each had two.
Cape will take to the road Friday-Saturday, Jan. 4-5, for the Iron Horse Duals at C. Milton Wright High School of Maryland.
Sussex Tech comes off vacation with a big match at Smyrna Thursday, Jan. 3. Sussex Central travels to Dover Wednesday, Jan. 2.
