Central's Hardy Still Golden In Quest For Bronze

When he started his state tournament experience on Friday night, Central Regional junior Kalyph Hardy found himself in a difficult position. His first match in the bracket came against another undefeated wrestler in the form of Jadaen Bernstein.

And while Hardy took his first loss of the year, his performance on Saturday showed that he was not about to let one defeat bring him down. Now he finds himself competing for third place in the entire state to cap off what has already been a memorable season. 

Hardy's morning started out against Ryan Sblendorio of Mahwah. After a competitive first period the Golden Eagle grappler brought his match to an early end. With just over 20 seconds to go in the period Hardy put his opponent on his back for the pin.

That set up a match with JP Christiano of Cranford and while the bout went the distance it was another win for Hardy. This time by a closer score of 4-2.

With a medal now a lock, Hardy proved he would not be satisfied just with standing on with the other winners in the bracket. Taking on Ottis Wright of Montclair the junior had one of his closest matches but still pulled off a 3-2 decision.

Saturday's action drew to a close with a match against James Dugan of Becton-Wallingford. This also proved to be a close, competitive contest for the Golden Eagle grappler. Even still Hardy emerged victorious by the score of 3-1 to advance to the consolation finals. 

His match on Sunday will put him against Steven Nelson of Haddon Township who won the Region 7 title. Nelson is another wrestler not used to losing as he entered the tournament with a 38-0 record.

Check back with patch tomorrow as we will once again have live coverage of all the state final action.