The Mat Pack's primer for the Region 7 wrestling tournament

The NJSIAA individual state tournament has been narrowed down to 1,344 wrestlers with dreams of a state title still alive.

Regional competition will be wrestled at eight sites across the Garden State.

By Saturday night, only 448 wrestlers on the boys' side will qualify for the final leg of the tournament in Atlantic City (March 12-14).

Here's a preview of Region 7:

Region 7

Where: Lacey Township High School

Times: Friday-Pre-quarterfinals at 4 p.m. followed by quarterfinals; Saturday-Semifinals, 9 a.m.; finals approximately at 3:30

Tickets: All tickets must be purchased online at https://www.njsiaa.org/tickets; General admission is $13, students $11 each day.

Teams: Audubon, Barnegat, BCIT-Westampton, Camden Catholic, Camden/Eastside, Central, Cherokee, Cherry Hill East, Cherry Hill West, Cinnaminson, Collingswood, Delran, Donovan Catholic, Gloucester, Gloucester Catholic, Haddon Heights, Haddon Township; Haddonfield, Immaculata, Lacey, Lenape, Manchester, Maple Shade, Moorestown, Palmyra, Paul VI, Pemberton, Pennsauken, Rancocas Valley, Seneca, Shawnee, Sterling, Timber Creek, Toms River East, Toms River North, Toms River South, Washington Township, West Deptford, Willingboro.

Returning region champions: Killian Coluccio, Lacey; Michael Craft, Camden Catholic; Colton Hagerty, Washington Township; Anthony Jackson, Paul VI; Kage Jones, Camden Catholic; Nate Keller, Immaculata; Jaden Simpson, Camden Catholic; Sammy Spaulding, Camden Catholic; Rhett Washleski, Immaculata; Jackson Weller, Delran.

Toughest preliminary bouts

Don’t miss the showdown at 120 where Camden Catholic’s Chase Martino (18-5) and Washington Township’s Colin Hoopes (26-7) will clash. The winner will get District 25 champion Chase Wright, of Collingswood in the quarterfinals.

Also at 120 in the quarterfinals will be top-seeded Ryan McConaghy, of West Deptford, against Moorestown’s Liam Suydam. McConaghy has been lights out all season, but he gets an interesting opponent in Suydam, who raised some eyebrows with a tech fall over Hoopes in the District 27 finals.

At 175, Washington Township’s Landon Stone (18-11) and Pennsauken’s Kameron Hoskins (28-3) will renew acquaintances six days after Stone won an 8-5 decision in overtime in the District 27 semifinals. The winner will wrestle top-seeded Terry Terch, of Camden Catholic, in the quarterfinals.

Also at 175, in the pre-set quarterfinals, Moorestown’s Michael Damerjian (35-4) will tangle with Gloucester’s Harry Ulmer (34-6).

At 126, Cherokee’s Jack Corelli (25-12) and Audubon’s RJ Baumann (28-7) will wrestle for the right to meet defending state champion Sammy Spaulding, of Camden Catholic, in the quarterfinals. Gloucester’s Alexander Ekimoglou (30-9) will meet Willingboro’s Fahad Irshad (35-7) in another interesting pre-quarterfinal bout. Irshad has 26 pins, which ranks among the leaders in South Jersey this season.

In the 138 quarterfinals, a pre-set matchup between district champions has Cinnaminson’s Dominic Marino (41-1) facing off against Haddonfield’s Pierce Hoffman (36-2). A tough top of the bracket that also includes top-seeded Jordan Segal (26-4), Moorestown’s Liam  Williams (31-8) and Seneca’s Jake Bauer (27-14).

Toughest weight classes

How tough is the 132 bracket? Washington Township’s Colton Hagerty, a two-time region champ, a one-time regional runner-up and a fourth-place finisher in the state last winter, is the third seed. Toms River East’s Richard DeLorenzo II is the No. 2 seed thanks to a 7-1 win over Hagerty in the fifth-place bout at December's Beast of the East. Camden Catholic’s Sammy Spaulding, the defending state champion, is the top seed.

At 120, West Deptford’s Ryan McConaghy (38-2) is the favorite as the No.1 seed in the bracket, but the field is extremely deep with Lenape’s Owen Boyle (29-3), Immaculata’s Anthony Lopez (29-6) and Collingswood’s Chase Wright (35-4) filling out the rest of the top four seeds. Throw in Moorestown’s Liam Suydam (33-6), Camden Catholic’s Chase Martino (18-5), Washington Township’s Colin Hoopes (26-7), Seneca’s Avery Padilla (32-8), Haddon Heights’ Cole Denning (33-4) and Toms River East’s Tristan Lenaghan and the battle for the podium will be a difficult one.

At 126, Lacey Township’s Aidan Flynn earned the top seed thanks to a 7-6 decision over Washington Township’s Christian Hoopes in January’s Escape the Rock Tournament. Hoopes (31-4) is the No. 2 seed and a potential showdown with Haddonfield’s Michael Lamb (38-3), the No. 3 seed, will be one of the most anticipated semifinal bouts. And don’t count out Camden Catholic’s Lazarus Joyce (15-7), who is the fourth seed.

At 113, two-time defending regional champion Killian Coluccio, of Lacey Township, is the heavy favorite in this bracket, but the rest of the spots destined for Atlantic City will be hard fought. Delran's Chase Dubuque (37-4), Camden Catholic's Christopher Amato (27-4), Paul VI's Iyon Townsend (23-2) and Washington Township's Dylan Hetzel (31-6) are some of the local wrestlers fighting for a spot on the podium. Dubuque knocked off Hetzel, 3-2, in the District 27 final while Amato topped Townsend in one of District 25's best finals.

The big fellas might have the most interesting race for the podium. Lenape’s Quinton Richardson-Wright (26-2) is the top seed and has been on a major roll since a first-minute pin of Camden Catholic’s Lars Stegner on Jan. 28. Stegner is the No. 2 seed, but he draws a tough bout in the quarters with Pemberton’s Ja’Zeer Oliver. Don't overlook Audubon’s Jonah Jordan (31-3), the No. 3 seed who could work his way to the top step on the podium. Cherry Hill East’s Dominic Canzano (28-4), Collingswood’s Tim Rambo (34-4), Pennsauken’s Ronell Muns Grullon (29-6), Sterling’s Desi Mullen (23-8) and Gloucester’s Trevor Butler (14-7) are also in running for a trip to Atlantic City. Keep an eye on Seneca’s Cayden McCormick-Giletto. The junior is 15-3 in limited action this season but got the nod when preseason favorite Patrick Degnan went down with a serious knee injury a few weeks ago.

Best potential finals

Don’t miss the 150 final where Delran’s Jackson Weller (39-3) and Camden Catholic’s Michael Craft (32-5), two of the region’s best pound-for-pound wrestlers are destined to meet. Both are defending region champs (Craft won in Region 8 last winter). Weller knocked off Craft with a 3-1 decision for third place in the state last season.

At 215, Paul VI’s Anthony Jackson (31-3) is the top seed and favorite to defend his Region 7 title. Lenape’s Jackson Wheeler (33-1) will look to avenge his only loss of the season, a 9-0 major decision to Jackson on Valentine’s Day.

At 106, Camden Catholic’s Stephen Bagocius (33-6) and Immaculata’s Forest Rose (30-7) are the top two seeds in the bracket and appear a lock for a showdown in the final. Bagocius earned a 7-4 decision over Rose on Feb. 19 in the state Non-Public B semifinal of the team tournament.

Fast Facts

83: Regional titles (49 individual champions) for Camden Catholic wrestlers – second highest total in South Jersey history (120 titles for 81 wrestlers).

5: Regional champions for Camden Catholic in a single tournament. The Irish have accomplished the mark twice in 2000 and 2025.

24: Four-time regional champions in South Jersey history. Camden Catholic boasts six of those wrestlers with Mike Booth, Ed Giosa, Mark McCormick, TJ Miller, Lucas Revano and Bobby Stinson. Sammy Spaulding will attempt to join the list this weekend.

1: Three-time regional champ for Washington Township. Colton Hagerty will try to become the second in hopes of joining Township assistant coach Chalie Huff.

5: Multi-title regional champions for Paul VI. Anthony Jackson will attempt to become No. 6, joining Mike Ahern, Tim Curry, Ken Herishen, Luigi Micela and Mike Waltz.

6: Years since Moorestown’s last regional champion when Robert Damerjian won the 220-pound title. Michael Damerjian is the fifth seed at 175 pounds. The Quakers had three district champions on Saturday (Damerjian, Logan Zimmer and Liam Suydam). The last time Moorestown crowned two regional champions in the same year was 2006 with Doug Gaul and Mike Darling.

7: Multi-title regional champions for Delran. Jackson Weller will look to join the club, which consists of Bill Duff, Dan Hughes, Josh Lashley, Brett Matter, Kyle Milanese, Drew Roskos and Jake Sweezy. The Bears haven’t had two regional champions in the same season since 2007 when Dan Hughes and Sweezy reached the top of the podium.

29: Pins for Haddonfield’s Michael Lamb this season. Lamb won the 126-pound title and Outstanding Wrestler award at District 25 last Saturday. He became a four-time district champion, tying the mark his father Mike accomplished at Highland. They are the first father-son combination in South Jersey history to win eight district titles. The Ward father-son combo won seven district titles at St. Augustine and Buena, respectively.

23: Technical falls for Cinnaminson’s Davi Guimaraes. It’s the highest total in the state for this season.

Tom McGurk is a regional sports editor for the Courier-Post, The Daily Journal and Burlington County Times, covering South Jersey sports for over 35 years. If you have a sports story that needs to be told, contact him by email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @McGurkSports. Help support local journalism with a digital subscription.

This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Get ready for the Region 7 wrestling tournament with our primer