Central's Ramos Named Outstanding Wrestler at Hawk Classic

Jalen Ramos is on a mission.

The Central Regional senior finished fourth in the Region VI tournament last season and just missed making the trip to Atlantic City for the NJSIAA Wrestling Championships.

Ramos, voted the Outstanding Wrestler at the Hawk Classic at on Wednesday, doesn’t intend to let that happen this season.

“I came up a little short of states last year,” Ramos said after receiving the Corp. Nicholas Ott Most Outstanding Wrestler Award at the tournament. “I am pushing to get out of Region VI and to states this year.”

His performance at the Hawk Classic may be a step in the right direction.

Ramos won the 132-pound title in dominant fashion, recording a technical fall over Gordon DeMenna of Haddon Heights at 4:50 in the quarterfinals and pinning Long Branch’s Luke Balina at 5:32 of their semifinal bout.

Ramos finished it off by pinning Jason Bohal of Raritan, who placed fourth in Region VI last season, just before the end of the second period in the final.

Ramos wrestled Bohal aggressively from the get-go, but his aggressive shots got him into trouble: twice Bohal reversed Ramos on his attempts and gained control, nearly pinning Ramos.

But the Central wrestler didn’t let it rattle him completely.

“I got a little nervous,” Ramos said, “but you have to just wrestle.” And he did, taking the moment that presented itself to use a whipover and a double boot to control Bohal and pin him.

Ramos was one of three Central wrestlers who reached the finals as Central finished sixth at the tournament. Jon Buhagiar lost a 3-1 decision to Jake George of Long Branch at 152, and Jeff Paton (220) fell to Ryan Thompson of Haddon Heights, 5-3.

Raritan won the tournament, with eight medalists including champions Matt Lindo (113) and Nick Liguori (126) helping the Rockets rack up 120 points.

Brick, second with 116 points, had five Dragons in the finals with three of them winning titles. Long Branch was third.

“Manchester did a great job with this tournament,” Long Branch coach Dan George said. “There’s a good mix of teams from the Shore and outside the Shore.”

Brick’s Connor Mulligan (106), Dan Wojtaszek (160) and Dan Watson (182) all took home gold medals, Brian Matthews (126) and Steve Cimmino (138) placing second.

Kyle Wojtaszek (113) took home bronze for Brick, while Dean Sherry (120) finished fourth.

“We have a lot of young wrestlers we’re trying to develop,” Brick coach Matt Opacity said. “I thought we did well.”

Mulligan was in control from the outset against Toms River North’s Walter Orellana before pinning him in 1:43. Dan Wojtaszek had a similar result, pinning Alberto Plaza of Long Branch in 1:45.

The toughest bout was Dan Watson, who beat New Egypt’s Tyler Miller 5-4. Watson, a junior, was leading 3-1 when Miller put Watson to his back to take a 4-3 lead, but Watson managed to avoid the pin. On a restart from the neutral position with less than 30 seconds left, Watson and Miller circled and with 10 seconds left, Watson took his last shot and got Miller in a single-leg takedown and the victory.

Matthews, a sophomore who was third in District 23 last season, lost an 8-3 decision to Raritan’s Nick Liguori, who was fourth in the state last season. Cimmino lost a 4-2 decision to Manchester’s Jesse Meaney.

For Long Branch, the result was a mixed bag, George said.

“We have a lot of young guys who never wrestled before, especially at the upper weights because of the new weight classes,” he said. “We had some nice surprises, but we had some disappointing performances, too.”

Gavin Pejakovich at 145 and Jake George at 152 took titles, while Alberto Plaza was pinned in his final at 160. Nick Menkin (126), Luke Balina (132) and Nick George (138) all took bronze.

“We had some tough semifinals, but we came back and did a good job in the consolations,” George said.

Central, which finished sixth, also had Jon Buhagiar (152) and Jeff Paton (220) reach the finals, but both received silver after losing by close decisions. Heavyweight Atanacio Carrillo finished fourth in double overtime.

Toms River North was seventh. The Mariners’ only finalist, Walter Orellana, was pinned by Brick’s Connor Mulligan, but North had three wrestlers reach the consolation final, with Dan DaSilva (145) and Kyle Lake (152) taking home bronze, while Nick Tardibuono finished fourth.

Barnegat was eighth, with Ed Santiago taking silver in a 6-3 decision that went to Long Branch’s Gavin Pejakovich at (145). Matt Schofield took bronze with a 5-2 decision over Victor Iannello of Raritan at 195.

Manchester finished with a gold medal at 138, when Jesse Meaney earned a 4-2 decision over Brick’s Steve Cimmino, and heavyweight Ken Johnson took home bronze with his double overtime win over Central’s Atanacio Carrillo. Chris Stafford was fourth at 132.

--  Manchester announced the Most Outstanding Wrestler award has been renamed in honor of Marine Corp. Nicholas Ott. Ott, a 2002 graduate of Manchester who was a wrestler, was killed in action in August 2011. Ott’s sister presented the award to Central’s Ramos on Wednesday.

RESULTS

Team scores: 1. Raritan 120; 2. Brick 116; 3. Long Branch 107; 4. New Egypt 83.5; 5. Haddon Heights 72; 6. Central 60; 7. TR North 58.5; 8. Barnegat 50; 9. Hawthorne 40; 10. Manchester 37; 11. Marlboro 27; 12. Midd. North 17; 13. Allentown 11.

Finals

106: Connor Mulligan (Brick) p. Walter Orellana (TR North), 1:43

113: Matt Lindo (Raritan) p. Matt Carr (New Egypt), 3:33.

120: Dan Saraiva (Marlboro) d. Ryan Molokie (New Egypt), 6-4 OT.

126: Nick Liguori (Raritan) d. Brian Matthews (Brick), 8-3.

132: Jalen Ramos (Central) p. Jason Bohal (Raritan), 3:58.

138: Jesse Meaney (Manchester) d. Steve Cimmino (Brick), 4-2.

145: Gavin Pejakovich (Long Branch) d. Ed Santiago (Barnegat), 6-3.

152: Jake George (Long Branch) d. Jon Buhagiar (Central), 3-1

160: Dan Wojtaszek (Brick) p. Alberto Plaza (Long Branch), 1:45

170: Ethan Ramos (Hawthorne) d. Brad Schwarze (New Egypt), 16-10.

182: Dan Watson (Brick) d. Tyler Miller (New Egypt), 5-4.

195: Evan Ramos (Hawthorne) d. Padric Lynch (Haddon Heights), 7-2.

220: Ryan Thompson (Haddon Heights) d. Jeff Paton (Central), 5-3.

285:  Alex Thompson (Haddon Heights) p. George Wolyn (New Egypt), 2:30

Third-place finals

106: Dylan Seidenberg (Raritan) d. Dan Bennett (Midd. North), 3-0.

113: Kyle Wojtaszek (Brick) p. Matt Winz (Midd North), 4:36

120: Anthony Scarcella (Raritan) d. Dean Sherry (Brick), 6-3.

126: Nick Menkin (Long Branch) d. Nick Tardibuono (Toms River North), 2-0 OT.

132: Luke Balina (Long Branch) d. Chris Stafford (Manchester), 7-2.

138: Nick George (Long Branch) d. Devin Holmes (Raritan), 4-0.

145: Dan DaSilva (Toms River North) d. Kyle Hendrickson (New Egypt), 3-1.

152: Kyle Lake (Toms River North) p. Scott Hagenbucher (Haddon Heights), 2:45.

160: Tyler Driver (Haddon Heights) d. Kyle Lynch (Raritan), 6-1.

170: Phillip Azzari (Haddon Heights) p. Arturo Rios (Long Branch), 4:14.

182: Connor Sheehan (Raritan) d. Jake Koch (Allentown), 4-2 OT.

195: Matt Schofield (Barnegat) d. Victor Iannello (Raritan), 5-2.

220: Nick Rice (Raritan) p. Owen Rowley (New Egypt), 3:44

285: Ken Johnson (Manchester) d. Atanacio Carrillo (Central), 2-1, tb.