Evan Tallmadge of Brick Memorial wrestling has swagger back, leads 8 Shore state finalists
ATLANTIC CITY - It is strange for a returning state champion to say he was not totally confident in himself much of the season.
But, that's what Brick Memorial senior 120-pounder Evan Tallmadge said Friday night after he advanced to the 120-pound championship match of the NJSIAA Individual Championships at Boardwalk Hall with a 7-2 win over Christian Brothers Academy's Ale Nini.
"This is my opinion on it,'' Tallmadge said. "Last year, we had Ant and Vin (Anthony Santaniello and Vincent Santaniello. Both of whom also won state championships and were Tallmadge's workout partners). Ant would always beat me. I would beat Vin and Vin would beat Ant. It was like a triangle. Vin would beat me, but after a while, I would start beating him and my confidence went insane.
"I guess this year, I just get beat by Ant (Santaniello) every day. I don't have anyone to beat, For me not scoring a lot in practice affected me. I just need to wrestle my match.''
Tallmadge, the 113-pound champion last season, is one of eight Shore Conference wrestlers who will wrestle for a state championship Saturday at 2 p.m.
Related: Live results from the NJ state wrestling championships in Atlantic City
Related: Complete list of guaranteed medalists at the 2022 NJ state wrestling championships
Related: Complete coverage of the state wrestling championships in Atlantic City
Joining Tallmadge in the finals are teammates Anthony Santaniello (132) and freshman Harvey Ludington (175), St. John Vianney freshmen Patrick O'Keefe (106) and Anthony Knox (113), CBA senior Garrett Totten (126) and CBA junior Julian George (138) and Howell's returning state champion Hunter Mays (165).
Tallmadge, who was defeated 4-3 by Nini in tiebreaker period No. 1 in the Region 6 final and defeated Nini 2-1 in tiebreaker period No. 1 on Jan. 8, was tired of wrestling the same way against Nini.
"I knew I was better than all these kids. I knew I was better than Nini even though he is a great opponent,'' Tallmadge said. "I wrestled his match last week. Even when I beat him, I wrestled his match. (Friday night), I wrestled my match.
"My match is pushing my pace, my offense, hand fighting well, not getting tired, keep going, keep moving forward.''
Tallmadge, who had only one takedown in the first two bouts against Nini, had three in the last half of the bout Friday night.
"I just needed that mental switch. I know I'm better than everybody in this bracket,'' Tallmadge said. "I need to be a two-time state champ. That's like a huge goal of mine. I'm just way older than these kids, bigger and stronger. I just couldn't lose to them. I needed to get myself together, get my mind right. Mentally, I did it when it really mattered.''
Tallmadge (35-3) will wrestle Roxbury's unbeaten junior Luke Stanich in the final. Stanich, a two-time state medal winner, defeated top seed Conor Collins of Southern 1-0 on a first period stalling point. Collins had defeated Tallmadge 3-2 on Jan. 6 after losing 8-7 in tiebreaker period No. 1 in last year's state final.
Luddington not just happy to be here
The thought was Ludington was going to be a state champion eventually.
The time may be now after Ludington, a Super 32 champion last fall, defeated St. Joseph (Montvale's) two-time top four finisher Michael Dellagatta 8-5. In the quarterfinal, Ludington (36-1) defeated returning state runner-up Sabino Portella of Red Bank Catholic 2-0 on a second period reversal.
"I'm here for a reason and I grinded to get here,'' Ludington said.
In the semifinal, Ludington almost got put on his back after a quick takedown by Dellagatta.
"After that I knew not leave my leg up and my rear end up,'' Ludington said.
Ludington then had a takedown in the first period, one late in the second period that gave him the lead for good at 6-4 and a final one with 25 seconds remaining to put the bout away.
"He needed it, I wanted it,'' Ludington said repeating the sentence Santaniello said after the Region 6 final.
The No. 7 seed, Ludington will wrestle No. 5 seed Jared Schoppe of Delsea in the final. Schoppe defeated No. 1 seed Shay Addison of Rumson-Fair Haven 8-3. It was his second win of the season over Addison.
"I came to win it, not just to be in the finals,'' Ludington said.
Anthony Knox wants to entertain
Knox, ranked No. 2 in the nation at 113 pounds by flowrestling.org, has one mindset during his bouts.
"Score, score, score,'' Knox said after he defeated No. 1 seed and last year's 106-pound champion Daniel Jones 5-1. "I want to score points.''
Knox knew how he wanted to wrestle Jones.
"I wrestled him a million times in middle school. We wrestled for a state title a couple of times,'' Knox said. "I just knew I needed to stay low, get to my offense and let's go win a state title.''
Knox said there is a noticeable difference between this tournament and the ones he wrestled in before he got into high school.
"A lot of people care a lot more,'' Knox said. "They all care a lot about wrestling. It's a great environment. New Jersey is a great state to wrestle in. It makes me feel like I need to care a lot more because they care a lot more.''
Knox (35-1) will wrestle two-time medal winner and No. 3 seed Jared Brunner of Eastern in the final.
George feels all systems are ready
George dodged a bullet in the quarterfinal when he defeated St. Peter's Prep's Felix Lettini 4-3 in tiebreaker period No. 1.
He then advanced to the final with a solid 5-2 win over West Essex's Mike Pescatore in the semifinal.
"You've just got to survive and advance all the way through to the top,'' George said. "It (the quarterfinal scare) felt to me like a buildup to the finals.''
George, who along with Totten are CBA's first finalists since current Rutgers University 141-pounder Sebastian Rivera won at 113 pounds in 2016, will have a rubber match with Bergen Catholic's three-time top three finisher Joseph Cangro in the final.
Cangro defeated George 5-3 in sudden victory on Jan. 21. George won 5-4 on Feb. 13 when Bergen Catholic defeated CBA in the NJSIAA Non-Public A championship match.
"I'm real excited for it,'' George said. "Going into this tournament, I wanted this match. I said to myself, 'Even though he's my only loss in New Jersey, I want that one. I want to prove to people I'm the better wrestler. He's a great opponent. It's a lot of fun to wrestle against him. He's pretty funky.''
Payback for Totten
Totten avenged a prior defeat to St. Peter's Prep's freshman Cadeyn Ricciardi with a 6-1 win. He took command of the bout with a five-point move.
"I wanted that revenge,'' Totten said. "He's a tough kid and big for the weight. I knew it was going to be a super fun bout.''
Totten said he was able to throw Ricciardi to his back after Ricciardi tried a double leg takedown.
"I chucked his right arm and put him right to his back,'' Totten said.
Totten (39-5) will wrestle No. 1 seed and two-time state finalist Evan Mougalian of Kinnelon in the final. Mougalian pinned Middletown South's Jack Zaleski in the semifinal.
Mougalian split bouts with Santaniello the previous two seasons. He won 3-1 at 106 in 2020 and was defeated 4-2 at 120.
Totten, a two-time seventh-place finisher, will likely be the underdog.
"I have one more match in my high school career and I'm going to make it count,'' Totten said. "Being in the state finals has been my goal since I was a little kid. If I had to pick a year to be in the state finals, it would definitely be this year.''
The Shore's other finalists
Santaniello majored Cinnaminson's Samuel Kotch 12-0. He will meet Delbarton's Tyler Vazquez in the final in a rematch of the Beast of the East final Dec. 19 that Vazquez won 6-5.
Mays defeated Delbarton's Louis Cerchio 6-5. He will meet Bergen Catholic senior and Wyoming Seminary (Pa.) transfer Nicholas Fea in the final.
O'Keefe defeated North Hunterdon's returning state runner-up Logan Wadle 4-0 with three back points in the third period. It was O'Keefe's second win of the season over Wadle. He will meet No. 1 seed and freshman Adrian DeJesus of St. Peter's Prep in the final. DeJesus defeated O'Keefe 3-2 Jan. 16 in an Escape The Rock wrestleback semifinal.
Brick Memorial, which had four champions last year, has had 10 finalists in the last three state tournaments.
22 medals for Shore wrestlers
Fourteen Shore Conference wrestlers are still alive in the wrestleback portions, which will conclude Saturday at 10 a.m. with the semifinals and then the third, fifth and seventh place bouts.
The Shore's other medalists are: Kurt Wehner (Donovan Catholic, 106); Nini and Collins (120); Zaleski (126); St. John Vianney's Nico Diaz (132); Southern's Matt Henrich (138); CBA's Tyler Barrett and Southern's Cole Velardi (150); St. John Vianney's Jasiah Queen, CBA's Zander Silva and Ocean's Shane Cartagena-Walsh (157); Sabino Portella and Addison (190) and Red Bank Catholic's Lorenzo Portella (heavyweight).
Nini, Collins, Zaleski, Diaz, Barrett, Velardi, Queen, Silva, Cartagena-Walsh, Sabino Portella and Addison can all finish as high as third and no worse than sixth.
Sabino Portella and Addison, Barrett and Velardi and Silva and Cartagena-Walsh will all wrestle each other in wrestleback semifinals.
Wehner, who is just the second placewinner in Donovan Catholic's history and the first since Jeremy DeNardo, was fifth at 215 in 1995, Henrich and Lorenzo Portella will all wrestle for seventh.
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: NJ state wrestling tournament: Evan Tallmadge leads 8 Shore finalists
