NJSIAA wrestling recap, 165 – quarters: SJM’s Burton moves into semi out of 11-seed
Burton #Burton
You can understand if St. Joseph (Mont.)’s Ryan Burton is a little bit miffed about the work the seeding committee did on the 165 pound weight class this year.
Burton, the 11-seed, had already beaten one higher seed en route to the quarterfinals of the NJSIAA/Rothman Orthopaedics State Wrestling Championships in Atlantic City when he dispatched 8-seed Max Nevlin of St. Peter’s 9-0 in the round of 16 Thursday night.
But Burton went the seeding committee one better in his Friday quarterfinal, looking like a one man wrecking crew as he dismantled 3-seed Cole Velardi of Southern before pinning him in 2:26 to become one of only four wrestlers left in the championship bracket.
“It’s ridiculous,” Burton said of his 11-seed. “You’ve got to look at this stuff. I beat two kids above me in the seeding. But I like my path so I just kept winning.”
Burton took Velardi down before the bout was even 15 seconds old, slapped on a tilt for a two point near fall and then fronted Velardi in the second period and slapped on a cradle while face to face for the reversal to go up 6-0. Moments later, he got the pin to end the match.
“I was grinding,” Burton said of his work on top. “My gas tank’s really good. I can keep riding and turns open up. I got out from bottom and I see a leg right by his head and I thought, ‘I’ve got to grab that.’ I (work out with) people like Mike (Dellagatta, 190) and Rocco (Dellagatta, 175) and they’re impossible to cradle. But it makes you better.
“I felt it. I had it tight, I hooked the leg and I was just waiting for the ref.”
Burton will now face the 3-seed, St. John Vianney’s Jasiah Queen, in a semifinal that will be a rematch of the two wrestlers’ bout at Escape the Rock in January. Queen won that meeting on a late escape, 4-3.
Queen pinned 7-seed Daniel Rella of Paramus Catholic in his quarterfinal, but not before some second period turbulence. Queen was cruising with an 8-2 lead after one but Rella hit him for a four point takedown and near fall to make Queen’s lead only 10-8 after two. But Queen rallied in the third with an escape and a takedown, followed by the pin that moved him into the semis against Burton.
“It’s gonna’ be fun,” Queen said of the rematch with Burton. “I like this. It’s a great matchup for me. It’s a great matchup for him.”
The 4-seed, Michael Murphy of Westfield had defeated 5-seed Garrett Tettemer of Delaware Valley 5-3 in the final of the Region 4 Tournament last weekend and he made it two in a row when he got a pair of takedowns to defeat Tettemer 7-3.
After getting the initial takedown, Tettemer was able to knot the score up at 3-3 before the end of the first period when he got a takedown of his own. But Murphy would take Tettemer down in the second period and padded his scoring with a pair of escapes and a penalty point.
“I had a little mental lapse on that second takedown,” Murphy said. “I just zoned out for a second, so I had to battle back. I kept trying to fake, to keep him on his toes. The more he was guessing, the less he would be on his offense and I was hoping something would open up.
“I think it was good (that I wrestled Tettemer again) because I knew what to expect. And I got the win last time so I had some momentum coming into this match. He knew some of my attacks were coming. He was good on bottom last time so I had to adjust my top game a little bit, just more forward pressure because he was sitting out. So I put the weight on his hands.”
Murphy’s semifinal bout will be against the top seed, Delbarton’s Louis Cerchio, who cruised to an 8-0 major decision over 8-seed Jake Slotnick of St. Augustine in their quarterfinal.
“He’s a great wrestler,” Murphy said of Cerchio. “But, you know, it’s states. Anyone can be beaten. I wrestled him over the summer and we had a close match. So I’m just hoping I can put my best performance out there and I can get the win.”
The N.J. High School Sports newsletter now appearing in mailboxes 5 days a week. Sign up now and be among the first to get all the boys and girls sports you care about, straight to your inbox each weekday. To add your name, click here.
Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a subscription.
©2023 Advance Local Media LLC. Visit nj.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Jasiah Queen of Saint John Vianney recorded 21-4 technical fall to defeat Malik Reid of Franklin in their 165-pound preliminary round bout at historic Boardwalk Hall on Thursday, March 2, 2023 in Atlantic City, N.J.
© Andrew Mills/nj.com/TNS