VIDEO: Rivalry renewed – Lower to battle Middle for South Jersey wrestling supremacy

Posted: February 11th 2025

The Lower Cape May Regional High School wrestling team will attempt to win its second straight South Jersey Group II title this week.

By BRIAN CUNNIFF

CapeAtlanticLive.com

An extremely rare occurrence is about to happen sometime this week.

Two Cape May County teams will face one another for a South Jersey championship.

Thanks to Lower Cape May holding serve and performing as expected and to surging Middle Township for scoring a pair of seed upsets, the Caper Tiger and Panther wrestling teams will face one another for the South Jersey Group II championship. The match is scheduled for Wednesday at 7 p.m., although the snowstorm expected to hit the area Tuesday evening into Wednesday morning could push the match to Thursday.

The match will mark the first time in 17 years two Cape May County schools will compete against one another in a South Jersey title matchup in any sport. Back in 2008, Ocean City beat Lower Cape May in the South Jersey Group III girls basketball title game.

SECOND-SEEDED TIGERS DOMINATE AT HOME

Lower Cape May entered the tournament as the No. 2 seed and earned the right to host the quarterfinal and semifinal matches on its side of the bracket.

In the quarterfinal, the Tigers overwhelmed No. 8 Sterling, 66-9, before posting another comfortable win over No. 3 Gloucester in the semifinal by 47-23.

Despite recording nine wins by fall against Sterling, Lower coach Billy Damiana wasn’t completely pleased with his team’s effort.

“I thought we came into this tonight having wrestled very well lately but I wasn’t all that happy with our performance against Sterling because I thought we were a little flat,” he said. “But the guys definitely picked it up against Gloucester and wrestled tough. It was on par with what I thought the final score would be there.”

The wins place Lower into the South Jersey Group II title match for the second straight year. The Tigers won their first sectional championship in 42 years last winter when they edged West Deptford in the title match.

Now, they’ll have an opportunity to repeat.

“It’s obviously always the goal for any program to get to this level and compete at the highest level,” Damiana said. “We want to compete for championships, get kids to the state tournament (individually) and get kids to wrestle in college, so I’m happy with where we are right now. But I also believe this team is a year ahead of schedule. But now that we have the opportunity, we need to capitalize on it.”

Chase Hansen led the way for Lower in the two victories. The undefeated junior wrestled for a total of just 44 seconds in picking up a pair of wins by fall, winning at 144 pounds against Sterling and 138 pounds against Gloucester. His pin against the Lions came in just seven seconds.

“We’ve never done this before, so this is just another step,” Hansen said. “We need to keep on repeating what we’ve done in the past and getting better and keep building the program up.”

Shane Morrell (165), David Douglass (175) and John Hearon (215) also recorded two pins apiece for the Caper Tigers.

Other double winners for Lower included Bryce Paley (113), Conor Barikian (126), Dom Marrero (138, 144), Danny Byrne (150) and Dennis Serra (190).

Cade Heacock (120), Billy Whitney (132) and Gabe Tosto (157) each won one match apiece.

MIDDLE PULLS TWO SEED UPSETS TO LAND IN FINAL

Middle Township may have been seeded No. 5 in the tournament, but the Panthers wrestled like one of the favorites.

Middle took out No. 4 Collingswood, 40-33, in a match that was nowhere near as close as the final score and then proceeded to upset top-seeded host West Deptford, 46-25.

The results place Middle in a sectional title match for the first time in program history. This after the team secured its first-ever playoff win just last season.

“The day before the seedings came out, we kind of said we didn’t care where we were (seeded), we just had to believe we’re the best team and show up and wrestle and they really bought into that,” Middle coach Matt Wolf said.

Middle rushed out to a 40-15 lead over No. 4 Collingswood in the quarterfinal. With the team result decided, Middle elected to save the energy of its remaining wrestlers and forfeited the final three bouts.

The semifinal match with West Deptford began at 106 pounds. With Middle extremely strong at the upper weights, the Panthers simply had to hold their own early in the match. They did more than that.

Middle trailed by just three at 25-22 heading into the 175-pound match. Noah Nagle gave Middle the lead for good with a win by injury default, before pins were recorded by Max Adelizzi (190), Shaun Watkins (215) and Maurice Matthews (Hwt.) to secure the 21-point victory.

“We won a couple toss-up matches early, which helped, but West Deptford won a couple toss-ups, too,” Wolf said. “But we thought we’d be in good shape if we were close once we got up top and those guys rolled right through them.”

Matthews, Calvin Parke (106), R.J. Garden (138), Tyler King (144, 150) and Nagle (who won at 165 vs. Collingswood) each won two bouts on the evening for Middle. Adelizzi, Watkins, Benjamin Banks (113), Cameron Parke (120), Dontae Kelly (126) and Connor Rowlands (150) each won one.

“I was going to be proud of them regardless of the outcome because this group has worked as hard as any group of kids could be expected to work,” Wolf said. “Every single kid we have wrestling, they’ve been with us for at least three years, whether it’s with us or with the middle school team. They’ve all worked hard together to earn this great opportunity.”

The victory over West Deptford was Middle’s 19th of the season, a program record.

LOWER VS. MIDDLE FOR THE TITLE

Wednesday’s sectional title match between second-seeded host Lower Cape May (20-4) and No. 5 Middle Township (19-3) brings together teams very familiar with one another.

Lower Cape May defeated Middle in a South Jersey semifinal match last season and also posted a narrow 37-32 victory over the Panthers during the regular season this year.

While both teams have their strengths in certain areas, the result most likely will come down to how each team’s wrestlers perform in the toss-up bouts.

“It’ll go down to the wire,” Damiana said. It’ll be a war.”

Said Wolf: “The kids are really excited about the opportunity, especially against the school they’re going to be going against. They’ll be ready to go.”

Middle Township High School's wrestling team will compete for a South Jersey championship for the first time in program history when it faces county rival Lower Cape May this week.