Lacey's Knapp Reaches State Final

Lex Knapp has believed he could wrestle with anyone.

Now, he's left no doubt, as the Lions senior became the first Lacey wrestler to reach the championship round of the NJSIAA Individual Wrestling Championships since 1997.

Knapp defeated Roy Lucas of St. Joseph of Hammonton 2-1 in overtime. He faces Brandon Hull of Phillipsburg, a senior who's 37-3 and the top seed, for the championship on Sunday. If he wins, he will become just the second state champion for Lacey since Russ Witt, who won in 1997.

Ironically, Witt is in Atlantic City this weekend -- as the coach of CBA, which had two wrestlers reach the semifinals.

"It's really cool," Knapp said. "You can be from anywhere in the state and reach the final. Look at (Ken) Theobold and TJ Miller."

Theobold, from Toms River South, pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the tournament, knocking off Miller, a defending state champion who had been the favorite to win 145-pound title.

Knapp, who won District 24 last year but did not place in the Region VI tournament, said he has been focused on one thing during this, his first trip to Atlantic City.

"You can't worry about all the other stuff going on," he said. "You just have to go out there and wrestle."

Knapp scored first, escaping in the second period to take a 1-0 lead. Lucas got an escape of his own, tying the bout at 1-1. A scoreless third period -- which ended with Lucas taking injury time -- led to overtime, and Knapp chose to be on defense, meaning all he had to do was escape to win.

It took him just 10 seconds to secure his trip to the final.

"My club coach said you gotta be like your head's under water, and you're fighting for your life. When you're down, you have to get out," Knapp said.

"I've proved this weekend I can wrestle with anybody," he said. "You just have to keep that mindset."

In other results:

Toms River South's Ken Theobold (145) and BJ Clagon (138) both advanced to the championship round. Theobold beat top-seeded favorite T.J. Miller of Camden Catholic, 7-6, to advance to Sunday's championship bout at 145, where he will face Alexander Richardson of St. Peter's Prep, a senior with 34 wins.

Clagon, who has won most of his matches by major decision or technical fall, earned a 6-1 decision over John Boyle of Rutherford at 138. Clagon will face Tyler Hunt of South Plainfield, a senior who's 43-0, one of four South Plainfield wrestlers in the finals.

Toms River South's Kevin Corrigan (113) will be wrestling for fifth place after falling to Kyle Brady of Bishop Ahr in the consolation semifinals by a 6-0 decision.

Toms River East's Richard Lewis will be facing Manchester's Jesse Meaney in the fifth-place bout at 132. Lewis lost to Jason Estevez of Livingston, 5-3 in the tiebreaker, while Meaney fell to Bergen Catholic's Connor Melde, 3-1.

Central Regional's Jalen Ramos will be wrestling for seventh place after he was pinned in the third round of consolations by Justin Colon of Belleville.

Joe Ghione of Brick Memorial will be wrestling for fifth place at 106 and his teammate, Matt Moore, will wrestle for seventh at 195. Ghione lost to Craig De La Cruz of Bound Brook in the consolation semifinals while Moore fell in the third round of consolations to Bryan Dobzanski of Delsea.