Two High School Wrestling State Champions from South Jersey
Another NJSIAA wrestling season has concluded and two wrestlers from the seven-county South Jersey area ended up among the 14 state championships.
Collingswood’s Andy Clark captured the 145-pound title and Camden Catholic sophomore Martin Cosgrove won the championship at 195.
Clark earned an 8-5 decision in the final over Delbarton’s Andrew Troczynski. That came after a grueling 3-1 sudden victory win over Paulsboro’s Gabe Ororat in the semifinals. Ironically, Ororato began his wrestling career at Collingswood and he and Clark have been long-time friends.
Collingswood’s Andy Clark capped his brilliant career by winning the 145-pound championship with an 8-5 decision in the title bout. Martin Cosgrove of Camden Catholic won the 195-pound title.
In addition to the champions, four other wrestlers from the seven-county South Jersey area finished among the top three.
Senior McKenzie Bell of Kingsway finished second at 126 ,Senor Brandon Mooney of Camden Catholic finished third at 152-pounds. Mike Mista of St. Augustine was third at 195. Senior Zane Coles of Pitman was third at 220.
Clark said he was battling a sore shoulder but was able to gut his way to Collingswood’s first state championship since John Koss in 1992.
After his overtime semifinal, the championship was just as tight. Troczynski earned a takedown with 22 seconds left in regulation to the score at 5-5.
At that point Troczynski allowed Clark to escape, surrendering the one point, because the Delbarton wrestler thought he would be able to take Clark down. He had two previous takedowns in the bout.
Instead it was Clark who earned the takedown, for the final 8-5 score.
“It was awesome,” Clark said of the entire experience.
That includes a sizable contingent from Collingswood attending the festivities in Atlantic City.
For Clark, it culminates a career in which he set the Collingswood mark for most wins, 161. Also a starting quarterback and defensive back in football, Clark has accepted a wrestling scholarship at Rutgers.
Camden Catholic’s Cosgrove defeated David Szuba, 9-7, in the championship. With the score tied at 7-7, Cosgrove was awarded a point for Szuba stalling with just three seconds left that proved to be the difference. Cosgrove would also earn an escape for the ninth point.
It’s a tough way for a match to be decided on a stall call, but it shouldn’t take away from what Cosgrove was able to accomplish, especially being a sophomore.
Camden Catholic has long had one of the better programs in South Jersey and Cosgrove’s showing just added to the illustrious wrestling history of the Irish.
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© SouthJersey.com 2020. All rights reserved. This article or parts thereof may not be reprinted or reproduced by any other party without the express written consent of SouthJersey.com. For more information, please call 856-797-9910.
For more Local Sports features, visit our South Jersey Sports page.
Author: Marc Narducci; Photo by Marc Narducci
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