No dice: South Jersey gets shut out at state wrestling championships in Atlantic City

ATLANTIC CITY – Kage Jones knows he took a big jump this season.

He plans to make another next winter.

And the next leap he takes will have a lofty landing spot on the state wrestling podium at Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall.

The sophomore from Camden Catholic fell just short of the top step and had to settle for state runner-up at 157 pounds, falling to defending champion Matt Henrich, of Southern, in the final.

“I wasn’t ever really disappointed,” Jones said. “I had faith that I would win, it just didn’t happen in the end. You live and learn.

“I have two more years left. I’ve grown a lot over the last year, losing in the blood round to finishing second. That’s a big jump. I’ll take another next year.”

Jones was South Jersey’s lone representative in the finals as the area was denied a state champion for the first time since 1966. It was a rough weekend for most of the area's wrestlers as St. Augustine's Anthony DePaul (138) and Delran's Drew Roskos (150) joined Jones as the lone semifinalists.

The 11 total place winners were the area's lowest total since the tournament began awarding 7th and 8th place in 2003.

In 2001, South Jersey had 12 state finalists (six champs, six runner-ups) and, two years later, the area crowned a record nine state champions.

Despite being a second seed, Jones' journey to the title bout was filled with tough challenges. After a 4-0 decision against Watchung Hills’ Cody Pritzlaff in the pre-quarterfinals, Jones avenged a loss to Delbarton’s Carl Betz over the summer with a first-period pin in the quarterfinals.

Then, he knocked off Bergen Catholic’s Ryan Ford in the semifinals. While Jones pinned Ford in the Beast of the East tournament in December, he was losing at the time of the fall.

Henrich presented a different and difficult matchup for Jones, who is a lighting rod of energy that feeds off his opponents’ attack. That's not how Henrich wrestles.

“I usually score my points when other people shoot on me, (Henrich) doesn’t wrestle like that,” Jones said. “It was kinda hard to get my points.”

The top-seeded Henrich won his previous two bouts by a combined 4-0 score.

“That’s what that kid does,” said Camden Catholic head coach Bill Heverly, who was a two-time state runner-up for the Irish in 1999 and 2000. “He is the master of the 1-0, 2-1, 3-2 scores. He knows how to do it. He’s been wrestling like that ever since he was a little kid.

“He’s long and strong. He knows how to stop you and controls the pace.”

Jones surrendered a reversal in the second period, but got back within 2-1 with an escape. He chose bottom to start the third, setting up what looked like an excellent opportunity to tie the score with another escape.

That escape never happened.

“If he gets out there, it’s 2-2, and maybe we see the fireworks in overtime,” Heverly said. “It just didn’t happen, but I thought KJ did a really nice job.

“He had a great tournament and one of the best things about it was he had the cucumber effect. He stayed cool the entire three days and that’s really important.”

After losing in the blood round at states last season, Jones returned this season and delivered 34 wins, including a dramatic pin when he was losing 8-1 in the Region 8 final against Gateway/Woodbury’s Andres Cortes.

“He’s going to be back,” Heverly said about Jones making a return trip to the final. “We would have liked to seen a guy with a shot at three (state titles), but he’s going to make a run at two now. We got a lot of young guys in that room and they just feed off of each other.”

South Jersey’s other state place winners are:

Third: Lower Cape May’s Chase Hansen (132), Delran’s Drew Roskos (150).

Fourth: Shawnee’s Jordan Segal (106), Camden Catholic’s Sammy Spaulding (126), Gloucester’s Jake Zearfoss (165).

Fifth: St. Augustine’s Anthony DePaul (138).

Seventh: Washington Township’s Colton Hagerty (113), Shawnee’s Luke Sherlock (126), Delsea’s Jamar Dixon Jr. (150).

Eighth: Williamstown’s Jackson Slotnick (132).

Tom McGurk is a regional sports reporter for the Courier-Post, The Daily Journal and Burlington County Times, covering South Jersey sports for over 30 years. If you have a sports story that needs to be told, contact him at (856) 486-2420 or email tmcgurk@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @McGurkSports. Help support local journalism with a digital subscription.