SBHS junior picks up a win at NJSIAA state wrestling tournament
By Rich Fisher, Sports Editor
Brendan Vercammen made his first visit to the NJSIAA state wrestling tournament a memorable one, in that he picked up some knowledge about what to do next time, and also picked up a win in the process.
The victory came in the first round of wrestlebacks, and guaranteed one thing for the South Brunswick High junior.
”It’s good knowing that I’m not the worst kid there,” Vercammen said.
Being the worst in that group is no shame, as witnessed by Vercammen’s first-round opponent. Long Branch’s Omar Akel was 37-0 with nine pins when he took the mat for Friday’s pre-quarterfinal round and didn’t finish in the top three.
Akel emerged with a 4-1 victory en route to a sixth-place finish.
”He was pretty strong,” Vercammen said. “But he didn’t wrestle a lot. He was real defensive, not really aggressive.”
Vercammen tried forcing the issue with the match’s first shot, but that played into Akel’s hands.
”It didn’t really work,” Vercammen said. “He countered it and took me down”
Akel added to his lead with a reverse and Vercammen got his lone point on an escape.
”I didn’t even worry about his record,” Brendan said. “It was a pretty close match. I tried to do some stuff and I almost had a few things. I just couldn’t lock it down.”
Despite the first-round loss, Vercammen did not suffer a letdown and was anxious for his first-round wrestleback against Montville’s Greg Barnish.
”I was all right, I knew the kid was good,” Vercammen said of Akel. “I felt all right going into the next match. I was just glad to be there. I wasn’t really scared of losing. It would have been nice to win, but I just went out there to wrestle.”
Against Barnish (35-6), Vercammen used a five-point move to take the lead, then held on for a 5-4 victory.
That set up a second-round wrestleback with South Plainfield’s Mike Wagner, whom Vercammen had lost to twice already this year. Wagner (41-5) made it three times with a pin in 3:48, and went on to a fourth-place finish.
He’s a lot taller than me, so it’s really hard to wrestle him,” said Vercammen, who finished the year at 35-9. “Our styles don’t match up.”
But in the end, it was not a bad performance by Vercammen, considering both his losses came to state place-winners. He had encouragement from Viking coach Joe Dougherty, who won a state title back in the days of Madison Central High School.
”He just said not to be worried about it, just go out there and don’t be scared of the kids,” Vercammen said. “He reminded me I’ve already accomplish a lot.”
He hopes to accomplish even more after getting a firsthand look at the event.
”It was pretty much what I expected, everyone was good,” Vercammen said. “It was cool seeing all the people there in the stands. The biggest tournament I’d been to before was probably the counties.
”Now I know what it’s like at the states. I know how good the kids are, how good I need to be. I need to get ready.”
He will do so by entering several tournaments this summer, and is thinking about joining a club in New Jersey while continuing his strength training. Part of Vercammen’s mission will be to go after his opponent more.
”I want to try to open things up and wrestle a lot more aggressive,” he said. “I want to be on the attack.”
If he goes about that the way he attacked this season, Vercammen should be in pretty good shape.

