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Bergen Catholic’s Benjamin Shue didn’t get a lot of attention last year but it wasn’t because he wasn’t wrestling the best competition he could find every day. That’s because Shue was the backup to state finalist Dominick Brogna, now a football player at Delaware.
In fact, he lost twice to Brogna, by a single point and then in overtime in wrestle offs last season. And while he was only the 19-seed, the BC sophomore knew he would be a force to be contended with at heavyweight in this year’s NJSIAA/ Rothman Orthopaedic State Wrestling Championsbips in Atlantic City.
He proved that in the round of 16 Thursday evening when he knocked the tournament’s 3-seed, Lorenzo Portella of Red Bank Catholic, out of the championship bracket with an 8-6 win.
It wasn’t like Shue had been hiding. He was 27-7 coming into the tournament with four of his losses coming against Jim Mullen of St. Joe’s Montvale, Max Acciardi of Paramus Catholic and Blair Acadamey’s Carter Neves, all nationally ranked.
Shue looked like a ranked wrestler himself as he began his assault on Portella, jumping out to a 5-0 lead. A takedown and two point near fall in the first period, followed by a second period escape seemed to put Shue in the driver’s seat as time wound down in the second period.
But Portella rallied, picking up a takedown with 25 seconds left in the second and then reversing Shue right away in the third. Shue would escape to go up 6-4 but Portella got a takedown with 50 seconds left to wrestle, coming all the way back to tie the match 6-6.
But the two wrestlers became involved in a wild scramble as time was running out and Shue managed to come out on top for the reversal and an 8-6 victory.
“I felt comfortable,” Shue said of being in the late match scramble. “I didn’t know if it was the greatest position. But I always know in the back of my head, the person who has the higher position is always going to win. So I knew I wanted to keep getting higher and higher and I would end up reversing him.”
Shue will now face 6-seed Rocco Bennett of Delsea, who pinned 11-seed Christian Quandt of Hillsborough in his round of 16 bout. If Shue can prevail against Bennett he would then possibly face 2-seed Acciardi.
While he didn’t get as much consideration in seeding as the bigger name heavyweights, Shue was not discouraged by his 19-seed.
“I wish I would have been higher,” he said. “But I didn’t mind my draw, because I wouldn’t have to see Max (Acciardi) or Jimmy (Mullen), who I know are two of the best in the state. I didn’t have to see them early. I didn’t like the seeding, but I knew I was in a good path.”
Another high seed had to struggle, but unlike Portella, managed to make his way to the quarterfinals. Jackson Memorial’s 5-seed Ryan Fischer was up only by a single point, 3-2 over 12-seed Hunter Seubert of Watchung Hills in the third period but Fischer was able to navigate the difficulty, getting an escape and takedown to go up by four before ending the match with a pin in 5:55.
“You know, that’s what happens in AC,” Fischer said of the win. “I had no clue who that kid was, coming in here. I try not to look at who I’m wrestling too much anyway. But I didn’t know what he hit, I didn’t know what he did. You have no clue what’s happening when you go into the match. He was tough.”
Fischer will now face 4-seed Daniel Elyash of Paramus, who pinned High Point’s 20-seed Arik Hums in 3:45.
“It’s exciting,” Fischer said of the prospect of squaring off against the biggest names in a talented 285 pound field. “I’ve been training for this all year. This is like the big X on the calendar. You’ve got to keep it going and you’ve got to keep winning and, hopefully, get on that podium. That’s my goal.”
In other quarterfinal matchups, 1-seed Mullen pinned Connor Martin of Delbarton in 1:17 and will face Phillipsburg’s 8-seed John Wargo, who was a 3-1 winner over 9-seed Anthony Evangelista of Southern.
Also, after pinning 15-seed Kei’sun Sanders of Wall, 2-seed Acciardi will face 7-seed Scott Lynch of Audubon, who pinned 10-seed Jake Tulli of St. Joe’s Metuchen.
There is a ton of talent at heavyweight at this year’s NJSIAA/Rothman Orthopaedic State Wrestling Championships and all of the big names made it through the first round without incident, including returning champion Jim Mullen of St. Joseph (Mont.) and Paramus Catholic’s Max Accardi, the two top seeds who remain on a collision course for the finals.
But several other favored wrestlers were not as fortunate, as High Point’s Arik Hums, Bergen Catholic’s Benjamin Shue and Delbarton’s Connor Martin all pulled off wins over higher seeded wrestlers.
It was Hums who had the biggest upset of the round when he pinned Millville’s Edison Andino in the first period of their preliminary bout. Hums, the 20-seed, took about a minute to get down to business before taking down 13-seed Andino and putting him to his back, picking up the pin in 1:26.
The 17-seed Shue also scored an upset with a first period pin as he dispatched Gateway’s 14-seed Ike Sholders in 1:52. Shue plowed through the match, picking up a takedown and then adding a pair of near falls before finally lowering the boom on the higher seeded Sholders.
While it was the mildest upset of the round, Delbarton’s 17-seed Martin used some very un-heavyweight like moves to pin Shawnee’s 16-seed Jackson Harris in 2:29.
Martin carried a 1-0 lead into what would be a very short but active second period, thanks to a first period penalty point. Harris would quickly reverse Martin to go ahead 2-1 but that lead would last just nine seconds as Martin reversed Harris himself. He then stacked Harris up with a bar arm and got the pin just 29 seconds into the second period.
Hunter Seubert of Watchung Hills, the 12-seed, managed to advance to the round of 16 but only after a tough test from 21-seed Joshua Cordoba. Seubert would defeat Cordoba 3-2 in a marathon struggle that was constantly being stopped for blood.
In the end, it would be a first period penalty point for unnecessary roughness against Cordoba that would spell the difference in the match. Seubert would add an escape and another penalty point in the second period to go up 3-0 but Cordoba would battle back in the third, escaping to make the score 3-1 and then picking up a stalling point with three seconds left to wrestle. But it was too little too late as Seubert got the win and held his seed.
