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Sports

Four Ocean City Wrestlers Still Alive in Quest to Reach State Championships

Dan Pettit, Coley O'Brien, Lucas Pearson and Anthony DeSantis are competing in the Region 8 Wrestling Tournament.

Dan Pettit doesn't mind wrestling Williamstown's C.J. Cobb, but he rather wait until the finals.

It's the main reason why the Ocean City High School senior didn't mind being the No. 7 seed in Friday night's Region 8 Wrestling Tournament quarterfinals at Egg Harbor Township.

The Red Raiders senior completely controlled his 145-pound match to defeat No. 2 seed George Skibinski of Pennsville, 9-4, to advance to Saturday's semifinals.

"To the people it did (seem like an upset), but in my head I knew I had that match," Pettit said. "But I guess to the people it was an upset."

Pettit is one of three Red Raiders to advance to the semifinals, which begin at 10 a.m. on Saturday, joining Coley O'Brien (125) and Lucas Pearson (215). Anthony DeSantis (160) lost his match, but can still finish third.

The top three finishers in each of the 14 weight classes advance to the NJSIAA State Wrestling Championships, which begin on March 4 in Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall

Pettit admits to taking a realist's approach to regions, and being in the lower bracket, away from Cobb will only aid him reaching his goal of states.

"When the bracket came out (Thursday) and I saw it, it probably was the happiest part of my day," Pettit said. "I didn't care what seed I was in that lower bracket, second, third, sixth or seventh, I just wanted to be down there.

"The first seed kid is pound-for-pound one of the best kids in the state by far. It is my best shot to be in the finals (to be in lower half of the bracket)."

O'Brien, who was making his first appearance at regions in three years, had a challenging match. Like his district finals win, the Red Raiders senior won in overtime. This time, the No. 2 seed topped No. 7 seed Donte Scott of Paulsboro, 8-3.

O'Brien trailed in the second period, but registered a takedown to take a 3-2 lead. In the third period, O'Brien was called for stalling twice to tie the score at 3-3. In overtime, he registered a takedown with 15 seconds and recorded three backpoints for the five-point win.

"It feels pretty good," O'Brien said. "He is a tough wrestler. I did what I had to do. It was a really good match to get me ready for the rest of the tournament."

O'Brien, who missed the last two regions because of a weight issue and injury, doesn't mind the close result.


"My mindset is usually the same in every match. I try to do whatever I can," O'Brien said. "During the season I try to get six points to help the team as much as I can, and now if I can get a pin, I will go for a pin, but when you get at this level you are not always going to do stuff like that. I just try to wrestle as tough as I can. You have to work for everything."

Pearson, the No. 4 seed, faced and beat No. 5 seed Noah Repko of Buena for the third time in less than two weeks.

The Ocean City senior pinned Repko the last two times, but the third meeting was tied 4-4. Pearson got the best of Repko late and was going for another pin when the buzzer sounded, giving him a 9-4 victory.

"It's hard. Every time you have to wrestle someone again it's even harder to beat them," Pearson said. "It's something I easily noticed. I knew it was going to be one of the tougher matches, not just because it's Repko, but because I wrestled him so many times. It's an awesome feeling to win again."

DeSantis, a No. 6 seed, lost 3-0 to No. 3 seed Robert Elliot of Cumberland. DeSantis will wrestle in the wrestlebacks, which begin at 10 a.m., and still has a chance to wrestle for third-place and a trip to states.

"It's a wide open weight class," Ocean City coach Dave Castellini said. "Anthony is fired up, and wants to make states."

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