DeLade Continues March Toward State Title

The wrestling team came into Tuesday's Region 3 Tournament at Union High School with two wrestlers competing for a regional title.

At the end of the first night, only Chatham wrestler was left as senior heavyweight Greg DeLade was the lone Cougar to come out of his Region 3 preliminary round match with a win.
 
DeLade, who recorded his first ever win in the regional tournament on Tuesday, stopped Mountain Lakes' Will Carlson with a 3-2 decision.

“I feel very, very good,” an exhausted DeLade said after his match. “I started [wrestling] my sophomore year, and to make it this far feels great. It shows all of the hard work that I put in and all of the dedication. I thank my coaches so much for working out for me and I appreciate everything they’ve done for me.”

“Greg has wrestled that kid a bunch of times and he seems to get tougher every time, but it’s good that he got out with the win,” Chatham head coach Brian Cassera said. “Now he’s got at least two more matches on Friday so hopefully he’ll get some more wins.”

Chatham’s other Region 3 participant, sophomore 112-pounder Justin Engel, fell to Hanover Park’s Anthony Canfora in the first period. Tuesday’s preliminary round match was also Engel’s first Region 3 experience.

“It would have been nice for both of them to advance, but [Engel] had a tough match,” Cassera explained. “He wrestled pretty well but he got caught in a close match, early. He’s only a sophomore though and he had 20 wins, a good season.”

DeLade will continue his quest toward wrestling in Atlantic City in Friday’s quarterfinal round at Union High.