NJ boys put 11 wrestlers in quarterfinals on second day at Fargo Nationals

Gino Schinina of St. Peter’s Prep (top) wrestles Nick Barone of Paramus Catholic during the Non-Public A Quarterfinals match between St. Peter’s Prep and Paramus Catholic in Jersey City on Tuesday, February 7, 2023.

The second day of wrestling in the Junior/16U Boys Freestyle Nationals in Fargo, ND, always separates the wheat from the chaff.

Tuesday’s Day 2 was no exception, as the New Jersey contingent remaining alive in the tournament dwindled from 72 to 19.

Of those, 11 are still alive in the championship bracket, having reached the quarterfinals. Five Junior Division wrestlers remained unbeaten, while six members of the 16U team are still chasing a national title.

In addition, eight other wrestlers, six in the Juniors and two in the 16U, remain alive in wrestle backs with a chance to medal on Wednesday, the final day of the tournament.

New Jersey state champions Cameron Sontz of Delbarton, at 120, and Christian Brothers’ Paul Kenny, at 126, reached the quarterfinals Tuesday, as did Blair’s Vincent Anello at 126, CBA’s Bobby Duffy at 144 and Holmdel’s Alex Reyes at 190.

Gideon Gonzalez (Bergen Catholic) won by major decision over Owen Kulb (Highland Regional/Triton) during a 138-pound prequarterfinal round bout at the boys 2025 NJSIAA Wrestling State Championships, Thursday, March 6, 2025, at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J.

Sontz, ranked No. 2 in the country at 113, picked up a pair of championship bracket wins on Tuesday to advance. He scored a technical fall win over Matthew Quigley of Michigan in the round of 32 and then followed that up with a 7-2 decision over Iowa’s Nico DeSalvo.

Kenny had a pair of tough fights in reaching the quarters. He began the day with a 9-6 win over South Dakota’s Carson Dupill and finished the day with a 5-1 win in the round of 16 over Indiana’s Dominic Brown.

Against Dupill, Kenny broke the match open early with an opening takedown and then followed up with two quick gut wrench turns to take a 6-0 lead.

Also at 126, Anello had an even easier time of it than Kenny, as he used a tech and a fall to move into the quarterfinal round. Anello pinned Iowa’s Jake Knight in 5:40 before dispatching Florida’s Uy’Kwon Wimberly on an 11-0 tech in 2:49.

Duffy was also barely threatened in Tuesday’s action at 144 pounds as he scored a pair of decisive wins to advance. He needed just 34 seconds to tech Oklahoma’s Thomas Verrette and then spent just 20 seconds on the mat before pinning Arizona’s Nick Meza.

Paul Kenny (right) of Christian Brothers wrestles Johnathon McGinty of St. Joseph (Mont.) in the 121 pound final during the Escape the Rock wrestling finals at Council Rock High School South in Holland, Pa on 1/19/25.

Reyes had to battle his way into the quarters at 190, winning twice by decision on Tuesday. In his opener in the Round of 32, Reyes won a 13-6 decision over Cooper Reves of Kansas and then got past Missouri’s Trey Craig 10-6.

Fighting off a hard, six-minute push from the physically powerful Reves, who was the bracket’s 19-seed, Reyes was able to swap takedowns in the first period but was bulldozed for four points to start the second and trailed 6-2.

But Reyes began to control the tempo and wore Reves down, picking up four second-period takedowns to come away with the win.

Against the 30-seeded Craig, Reyes fell behind 6-0 but went on the attack, forcing a pair of step outs and picking up a takedown to close the gap to 6-4 by the end of the first period. He controlled the action on his feet in the final period, picking up two more takedowns for the win.

Paul Kenny (right) of Christian Brothers wrestles Johnathon McGinty of St. Joseph (Mont.) in the 121 pound final during the Escape the Rock wrestling finals at Council Rock High School South in Holland, Pa on 1/19/25.

In the 16U division, Steve Bagocius of Swedesboro scored a pair of wins in the 94-pound championship bracket, picking up a tech fall in just 34 seconds to defeat Ben Kinney of Pennsylvania, then scoring a 12-8 decision over Indiana’s Mikel Anderson in a battle of eight seed versus nine seed.

Bagocius ran up a 9-0 lead over the first minute of the bout against Anderson and managed to close out the first period up 11-3. Try as he might, Anderson could never overcome the early lead against the quick and agile Bagocius.

Shiloh Joyce of CBA wasn’t seriously tested in his Tuesday matches, as he swept to a trio of wins at 100 pounds. He opened with a technical fall over Jaxon Morales of New Mexico and then pinned Arkansas’ Camden Runnels in 49 seconds, before winning by tech over Minnesota’s Gavin Hoeft.

Sean Kenny of CBA, one of only two returning place winners from last year’s 16U Freestyle Tournament, had a pair of contrasting wins on Tuesday to advance to the quarters.

Kenny teched Virginia’s Hayden Black in the Round of 32 but had a war on his hands with Pennsylvania’s Chase Karenbauer in the round of 16, sneaking by with a 3-3 win on criteria.

Delbarton’s Tommy Marchetti had no such close calls in the 126 bracket on Tuesday, as he scored a pair of technical falls to advance.

Marchetti defeated Virginia’s Caleb Thompson in his opening match before dispatching Ohio’s Oliver Lester to move on to the quarterfinals.

Also at 126, Jack Cole of Lebanon put together a pair of wins to remain in the championship bracket. He battled California’s Julian Holguin to a 15-12 victory before winning by tech fall over Lukas Foster of Illinois.

In a spirited, back and forth match, Cole trailed Holguin 12-7 with just 50 seconds left to wrestle. But a takedown by Cole and three quick turns off a gut wrench settled the match.

Bergen Catholic’s Gideon Gonzalez didn’t need any dramatic comebacks in his advance into the quarters at 144. Gonzalez secured a pair of technical falls, defeating Missouri’s Jackson Paulsen and Oregon’s Isaac Conner to advance.

Six Junior Division wrestlers remain alive in wrestle backs. Delran’s Chase Dubuque and Blair’s Edward George are still in the medal hunt at 106 after clashing in the championship bracket.

In the Round of 32, George defeated Dubuque, an eighth place finisher at 100 pounds last summer at Fargo, by technical fall. George would join Dubuque in the consolation bracket one round later when he lost his round of 16 match to Oregon’s Michael Salas-Sanchez by tech.

Dubuqe scored three straight wins to stay alive, pinning Jack Gogel of Iowa and then scoring tech falls over Jackson Soney of Illinois and RJ Phelan of Florida.

George rebounded with a 17-6 tech fall over Aiden Morris of Massachusetts in 2:35. Both George and Dubuque are two wins away from securing a guaranteed place.

St. Joe Montvale’s Charles Esposito, the 17-seed, was knocked into the consolation bracket by an 8-5 loss to top seeded Loc Webber of Ohio. He rebounded with a 9-6 wrestle back win over Arizona’s Carson Miles.

At 138, St. Peter’s Prep’s Gino Schinina continued his battle through the consolation rounds after being knocked out of the championship bracket in the Round of 128. Schinina has already won six times through the consolations, picking up three technical falls on Tuesday.

Like Schinina, Don Bosco’s Santino Rodriguez is facing a long fight back through consolations after losing in the round of 64. Rodriguez has now won five straight matches in wrestle backs and has had a fight on his hands most of the way.

In addition to a tech fall and a forfeit, Rodriguez scored a 15-12 win over Wisconsin’s Haiden Carlson, a 5-3 decision over Missouri’s Tristan Waters and an 8-5 win over Arizona’s Ronald Robinson.

New Jersey state champion Blase Mele of Princeton was knocked out of the championship bracket in the Round of 16 by Idaho’s Matthew Martino on a tech fall, but bounced back with a wrestle back win over Arizona’s Gabriel Gallardo by tech fall.

The two wrestlers still alive in consolations in 16U are Paulsboro’s William Cruz at 106 and Delbarton’s Nick Schwartz at 157.

Cruz was knocked out in the Round of 32 and posted three consolation wins. He defeated Iowa’s Crain Crossan, 16-8, Florida’s Jake Margolis, 11-4, and Team New Jersey teammate Anthony Curlo, 10-6.

Schwartz was knocked out of the Round of 16 via a 7-2 loss to top seed Camryn Howard of New York. He rebounded in wrestle backs with a tech fall over California’s David Daniels.

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