Rare air: Harvey Ludington wins his 4th Region title for Brick Memorial

JACKSON – After Brick Memorial star Harvey Ludington hit a single-leg shot and used a trip to get a match-sealing takedown with 45 seconds left against Howell’s Tanner Hodgins on Saturday, he didn’t feel exhilaration.

“I felt relief,” Ludington said. “I was, ‘Let me get this takedown and secure this, do not let this go any farther.’ It was like a weight off my shoulders.”

His 7-3 victory in the NJSIAA Region 6 final at Jackson Liberty put him in rarefied air in Shore Conference history with four Region titles. It also illustrated how impossibly high the bar has been set for the two-time state champion and three-time state finalist.

The nation’s top-ranked wrestler at 190 grinded out a win against another nationally ranked wrestler in the talented Hodgins (13^th), yet the fact that it was even a close match had Ludington (34-0) dreading looking at his phone afterward. When you’re No. 1 in the nation and you’ve only lost three times in your entire high school career, the assumption is you’re supposed to dominate every match.

It brought back memories of his 9-8 win over Rutgers-bound Cranford star Jordan Chapman in the Group 3 semifinals in the team tournament in mid-February. He was down 8-6 before getting a takedown with 12 seconds left in the match.

“When I had the close match with Chapman, everybody kind of blew it up and talked trash to me,” Ludington said. “I’m kind of sick of the DMs and stuff, and people coming at me. After the Chapman match I had so many people talking trash, telling me I wasn’t going to make it in D1, and I suck. One guy messaged me that I shouldn’t be No. 1 in the country.”

“We talk about it all the time,” Brick Memorial coach Mike Kiley said. “That’s real pressure. You’re expected to perform at the highest level every match. It’s like being the New York Yankees. Everyone’s coming out firing at you, so that’s a lot of pressure for a young kid. I think he deals with it very well. It’s a heavy thing to hold.”

The Iowa recruit is now one of 11 wrestlers in Shore history to win four region titles and the third in the illustrious history of Brick Memorial. St. John Vianney heavyweight Rocco Dellagatta also has four Region titles, but the first three of them came while he was wrestling for St. Joseph’s-Montvale.

Ludington joins Vinnie Santaniello (1990) and Anthony Santaniello (2023) in Mustangs lore with four.

“It’s huge because my freshman year I looked up to Anthony Santaniello, so it means a lot to me,” Ludington said.

Ludington took down Hodgins in the first period and led 3-1 after Hodgins escaped. Hodgins then got out from bottom to start the second period to cut it to 3-2. Ludington escaped to start the third period and was holding on to a 4-2 lead with a stalling warning against him when he sunk in a deep single-leg shot and tripped Hodgins at the edge of the mat for a 7-2 advantage that locked up the win.

“That was a hard-fought, hand-fighting exchange and to get that and put it away, that was a great job by him,” Kiley said.

It was Ludington’s second win over Hodgins this season after beating him by the exact same score in the Shore Conference Tournament final.

“It really just showed me nobody is invincible,” Ludington said. “I still got a lot to work on. There’s going to be tough competition (in Atlantic City), so it’s really helping me prep because I realize I need to work harder, maybe go on some runs, do something extra.”

There’s certainly the chance that Ludington could see Hodgins for a third time next weekend at the NJSIAA Individual Championships in Atlantic City.

“He’s a tough kid,” Ludington said. “I think he’s underestimated. He’s a smart wrestler, and I feel like a lot of people overlook him.”

“(Ludington) was still able to score a couple solid, tough takedowns on him,” Kiley said. “That was a hard match. And that’s what it’s going to be like at the next level. Everybody doesn’t tech fall at the next level. You got to be able to win those close matches, and he’s doing a good job for himself there.”

While Ludington will try to defend his state title next week, he took a moment to savor a rare accomplishment in school and Shore Conference history.

“I’ve had that goal since I’ve got to Jersey to be a four-time (Region champ),” he said. “Every year I’ve had a tough guy in the finals, so it means a lot to me to get four.”

“He just put himself in the category of Vinnie Santaniello and Anthony Santaniello,” Kiley said. “Pretty damn good.”

Scott Stump is a freelance reporter, newsletter writer and editor who first started covering Shore Conference football in 1999 and has covered basketball, wrestling, baseball and seemingly every other Shore Conference sport at some point. 

You can contact him at [email protected]