Wall High Wrestlers Head South For Tournament

While Wall’s most high-profile wrestler will not be participating in this weekend’s NJSIAA Region VI Tournament, the Crimson Knights will still have three wrestlers in action looking to punch their ticket to the Individual Championships down in Atlantic City.

Senior 189-pounder Colin Egan, who is coming off his second straight District 23 title, is the No. 2 seed in his weight class, senior Peter Kinsella is the sixth seed at 160, and senior Mark Vinges is the eighth seed at 152.

Conspicuously absent from the individual tournament is senior Andrew Marr, the defending Region VI champion at 215, who suffered a concussion in practice last week that ended his season in heartbreaking fashion. Marr was expected to make it to the state final and possibly give Bound Brook star Andrew Campolattano, a three-time state champion, a good battle.

The Region VI Tournament kicks off on Friday night at the Poland Spring Arena in Toms River with the quarterfinals, with the semifinals and finals being held on Saturday. The finals begin at 3:30 p.m., and even if wrestlers lose on Friday night, they will have the chance to wrestle back to get third place in the consolation bracket on Saturday

The top three place-winners from each weight class advance to the Individual Championships at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City next weekend.

Egan (29-6) is the Crimson Knights’ main hope to bring home a title, but if he is able to advance to the final, he will most likely have to deal with top-seeded Dallas Winston of Jackson Memorial. Winston (34-2) is the younger brother of Rutgers star Scott Winston and has already beaten Egan once this season.

First Egan will have to get by seventh-seeded Andrew Matter of Point Boro in the quarterfinals on Friday night. Egan pinned Matter in a previous meeting this season.

“(Egan) has grown and matured so much mentally, physically and ability-wise with this sport,’’ said Wall head coach Brian Fischer. “He’s kind of come into his own after winning another district title this year. He’s started believing in what he can do.’’

Egan also spent a good part of the season drilling with Marr in practice, but now does not have a natural workout partner on the team with Marr out of action. That leaves the coaching staff as his main practice partners in order to get ready for this weekend.

As for Kinsella, he is also coming off a District 23 title and will wrestle Jackson Liberty’s Nicholas Zak in the quarterfinals. Zak decisioned Kinsella 2-1 during the regular season in a bout in which Kinsella weighed in at 152 and bumped up to face Zak at 160.

“This is a weight class where I think there is no clear-cut 1-2-3,’’ Fischer said. “You could take any three of those eight guys and tell me those are the three place-winners. Pete is in a great mental place right now, so he has as good a chance as any, and he is on a mission.’’

The Crimson Knights wrestler with the stiffest challenge on Friday night is Vinges, who will try to find a way to upset top-seeded Conor Brennan (28-1) of Brick. Vinges is only 16-15 on the season, but fought his way to a third-place finish in District 23 and then edged Matawan’s Chris Hartigan 7-6 on Tuesday night in the Region VI pre-quarterfinals to give himself a chance on Friday night.

Even if Vinges falls short against Brennan, he still will have a chance to make a darkhorse run in the consolation bracket.

“I think the things he needs to do are starting to click for him,’’ Fischer said. “I would love to see him give (Brennan) a good match, and if it doesn’t work out for him, I am anxious to see how Mark will do in the wrestlebacks.’’