Scotties advance six into regions
By: Sean Moylan Sports Writer
The final results of this past weekend’s District 26 wrestling tournament at Holy Cross High School merely confirmed what the people of Bordentown have known for quite some time.
* Bordentown High senior Thomas Lee is one of finest 189-pound wrestlers in New Jersey.
*Bordentown High’s Joe Sprague is one of the best wrestling coaches in the state.
*The Bordentown High wrestling program just keeps on getting better and better with each passing year.
“We had a great tournament. Thomas Lee won the District 26 championship at 189. We got six of the kids through to Regions and I won Coach of the Year for District 26,” said Sprague, who was humbled by the great honor bestowed upon him.
“That (winning Coach of the Year) was very cool. We put so much work in with the kids and they work hard, too. I give my assistant Larry Larned much of the credit.”
In five years time, Sprague and Larned have managed to turn Bordentown into one of the best small group wrestling teams in Burlington County.
The past few seasons the Scotties have owed much of their success to the grappling of one Thomas Lee, who defeated Moorestown’s Albert Thomas, 5-4, in the finals to win the 189-pound title on Saturday. With the victory, Lee was able to avenge a 3-2 loss to Thomas, which came in the last regular season match.
While Lee’s previous battle against Thomas had ended badly, the Scotties’ senior star made sure to take care of business in this past Saturday’s finals.
“After Thomas (Lee) had lost to Albert Thomas in their first match, he was really disappointed. But it was a blessing in disguise because he needed a wake-up call. The score on Saturday was 5-4, but he (Lee) dominated the match,” said Sprague. “We had been working with him all week long and we told him to go offense, offense, offense. And he did.”
It was Lee’s second District 26 title in a row. Moreover, Lee, who broke Josh Slezak’s all-time Bordentown win record of 108 last week, added a few more triumphs to his school record total this past weekend. But winning the championship was Lee’s primary goal this past weekend. He accomplished that goal through hard work.
The Scotties’ Jason Cassidy dropped a heart-breaking 10-7 decision to Eastern’s Mike Crowley in Saturday’s District 26 135-pound final.
“Jason (Cassidy) was beating him (Crowley) up pretty good, but then Crowley took him (Cassidy) down (for the decisive points),” noted Sprague, who thought Cassidy had the match nearly won.
Even with that tough loss in the finals, Cassidy still advanced into this past Tuesday’s preliminary round of the Region VII tourney.
In Saturday’s battle for third place at 140, the Scotties’ Andrew Davis beat Delran’s Zach DeYoung, 3-1, to advance into the Region VII prelims.
“Andrew Davis wrestled really well. One of his goals this season was to make it to Regions and he did,” said Sprague, who was extremey happy for the hard-working Davis.
At 145, Bordentown’s Khalid Shakir used a first-period takedown to defeat Delran’s Ben Sweeney, 3-2, in another battle for third place.
“Khalid (Shakir) is just a sophomore. For a sophomore to make it to Regions is just great,” added Sprague.
For the Scotties perhaps the most exciting bout of the day came at 152 pounds where Bordentown’s Brett Pedersen won an extremely close decision over Willingboro’s Karlton Burnett to advance to the Region VII prelims.
“Brett Pedersen scored a last-
second takedown (of Burnett) to take third place,” added Sprague, who was thrilled by Pedersen’s performance in the match.
At 160 Scotties’ tough guy Max Bohanan also placed third in the District with a 10-8 win over E.J. Curry of Burlington Township in the consolation finals.
The Scotties nearly got a couple of other wrestlers through to Regions as Chris Nitschmann, who finished the year with well over 20 wins, placed fourth at 103. Matt Bauer, also a 20 plus match winner, took fourth in the 171-pound weight division.
Bordentown’s Ryan Lawrence competed in the 112-pound weight class, one of the toughest in the tourney. At 119 Bordentown’s Brandon Mazur filled in admirably for an injured Drew Pedersen while Sean Gavin (125), Derek Chorba (130), Chris O’Leary (215) and Donald Taylor (heavyweight) also wrestled for Bordenown in the District 26 tourney.
Going into this past Tuesday Region VII night’s action Lee, Cassidy, B. Pedersen, Bohanan and Shakir all already had 30 or more wins. Davis was closing in on 30 wins, which is an amazing stat. It wasn’t too long ago that 20 individual wins was the big number Bordentown grapplers were shooting for.
As a District champ Lee already advances to Friday’s opening round of Region VII. In this past Tuesday’s prelims Cassidy (135) was scheduled to take on Cherokee’s Evan Lipski, Davis (140) was matched up against Haddonfield’s Ray Schlitt, Shakir (145) was set to wrestle Lenape’s Connor Wasson, B. Pedersen (152) was scheduled against Pemberton’s Terrell Barnes and Bohanan (160) was scheduled to wrestle Paul VI’s Vinnie Bianchini.
Regardless of this past Tuesday’s results, it’s already been a great year for the Scotties, who finished the regular season at 24-8.
“District 26 is one of the toughest Districts in the state so just to get six kids out of this District and into Regions is quite an accomplishment. After losing to Robbinsville (30-29) in the Group I semifinals and to Moorestown in our final match, it’s good for us to able to end the season on a high note,” said the 2009 District 26 Coach of the Year.
Sprague would like to have that high note last well into next weekend’s state wrestling tournament at Atlantic City.

