DeSantis Receives Top Seed in District 32 Wrestling Tournament

Ocean City High School senior Anthony DeSantis earned the top seed at 160 pounds for this weekend's District 32 Wrestling Tournament at Absegami High School.

The preliminary round is slated for 5:30 on Friday night with the quarterfinals to follow. The semifinals will be held Saturday morning followed by the consolation round and the finals.

The top three wrestlers in each weight class advance to the Region 8 Tournament, hosted by Egg Harbor Township High School.

DeSantis, who is 30-1, will take on the winner of No. 9 Mainland's Matt DeSalle (7-14) and No. 8 Middle Township's Tom Fellenbaum (11-3).

Undefeated 125-pounder Coley O'Brien, a two-time district winner, received a No. 2 seed. The top seed went to St. Augustine's Joe Espositio (26-3). O'Brien (29-0) will meet the winner of No. 10 Lower's Michael Harkin (3-2) and No. 7 Middle Township's Brandon Tighe (17-9) in the quarterfinals.

Ocean City's Dan Pettit (145 pounds) and Lucas Pearson (215) also received No. 2 seeds.

Pettitt (25-3) faces the winner of No. 7 Atlantic City's Kevin Perez (14-6) and No. 10 Oakcrest's Kyle Kauffman (1-8). Pearson (22-5) will wait to face the winner of No. 10 St. Augustine's Ray Ellis (3-17) or No. 7 Egg Harbor Township's Kevin Solt (1-6), in the quarterfinals.

The Red Raiders' Jake Terry (171) and Josh Johnson (285) earned No. 4 seeds in their respective brackets. Terry (23-6) is scheduled to face No. 5 Buena's Sergio Cortez (15-12) in the quartefinals. Terry pinned Cortes in Tuesday night's dual meet. The winner will most likely face top seed Alex Gong of Absegami (26-5).

Johnson (18-5) will meet No. 5 Atlantic City's Anthony Mazza (8-10) with the winner taking on top-ranked Steve Schwartz of Absegami (26-4).

Ocean City's Sean Creedon (20-12) is the No. 5 seed at 135 pounds and will face No. 4 Mainland's Eric Lands (18-10), and Cooper Gallagher is No. 5 at 152 and will take on No. 12 Cedar Creek's James Bridel (1-15) in a prelimenary match. The winner takes on No. 4 Oakcrest's John Husta (9-4) in the quarterfinals.

Kevin Day (12-16) is No. 6 at 189 and will meet No. 3 Middle's Brandon Belger (13-12) in the quarterfinals. Marc Demore (12-7) is No. 7 at 140 and will face No. 10 Mainland's Woodney Exanus (1-15) with the winner taking on No. 3 St. Augustine's Joe Devone (23-6) in the quarterfinals.

At 119, Austin Stroh is the No. 9 seed and will wrestle No. 8 Lower's Noah Gormersall (7-9) in the opening round. The winner takes on top seed Billy Ward of Buena (30-2).

Ocean City's Angelo Tridente (4-18), who is No. 11 at 103, matches up with No. 6 Oakcrest's ShaQuan Harrell-Huffin (16-10) in the opening round. The winner takes on No. 3 Holy Spirit's David Waugh (27-1) win the quarterfinals.

The Red Raiders' 112-pounder Grimardi Reyes (2-8) is also No. 11 and will face No. 6 Absegami's Brandon Goldberg (17-11) in the opening round. No. 3 Buena's Conner Palmieri (23-10) waits for the winner.