On the verge of history, Anthony Knox leads group of 7 boys, 4 girls into wrestling state finals

Bob Badders|March 8, 2025|Last Updated March 8, 2025

ATLANTIC CITY — Anthony Knox has had his arm raised 143 times during his high school career. One more time and he’ll become a legend.

Knox moved within one victory of completing the greatest career in the history of Shore Conference wrestling and arguably going down as the best wrestler in state history when he won by 11-1 major decision over Washington Township’s Colton Hagerty in the NJSIAA 126-pound state semifinals on Friday night at Boardwalk Hall.

The St. John Vianney senior is now one win away from becoming the first wrestler in Shore Conference history to win four state titles and just the fifth in New Jersey history to win four. His final opponent will be Bergen Catholic’s Nathan Braun during Saturday’s state finals, which are scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m.

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After winning by technical fall in both of his victories during Thursday’s rounds, Knox began Friday with a 14-6 major decision over New Milford’s Devin Ryan in the quarterfinals. Knox opened a 9-1 lead after the first period but had to take injury time during the second period when it appeared he was dealing with a lower body injury. He was even taken down with 12 seconds left on the edge of the circle, but the bout was well in hand at that point.

In the semifinals, Knox built a 6-1 first-period lead over Hagerty and added five more in the second for a 10-point advantage. Hagerty rode out Knox the entire third period but never put him in danger. It was Knox’s fourth straight win by bonus points in the tournament. In 19 career bouts at the state tournament, he has won by bonus points in 16 of them.

Knox declined to speak with reporters after his match.

The Cornell signee is already among a select group of Shore Conference stars who have won three state championships, standing alongside Hall of Famers Luke Skove (Long Branch), Glenn Pritzlaff (Middletown South), Mark Worthy (Central), Damion Hahn (Lakewood), Frank Molinaro (Southern), Scott Winston (Jackson Memorial), and Jimmy Lawson (Manchester). He can enter a stratosphere all his own with one more win on the single, center mat he has made his personal playground the past three seasons.

Statewide, they’ll have to make room for one more on New Jersey’s wrestling Mount Rushmore as Knox is poised to join Andrew Campolattano (Bound Brook), Anthony Ashnault (South Plainfield), Nick Suriano (Bergen Catholic), and Knox’s future college head coach, Delbarton’s Mike Grey, who was New Jersey’s first four-time state champ in 2006.

It’s all set up to be a historic day inside Boardwalk Hall.

Knox leads a Shore Conference group of seven boys and four girls who advanced to the NJSIAA state finals during Friday’s semifinal rounds. Joining him are Lacey’s Killian Coluccio at 106 pounds, Christian Brothers Academy’s Paul Kenny at 120, Southern Regional’s Wyatt Stout at 157, CBA’s AJ Falcone at 165, Brick Memorial’s Harvey Ludington at 190, and St. John Vianney’s Rocco Dellagatta at heavyweight.

On the girls side, Jackson Memorial’s Madison Rucci at 100, Howell’s Kylie Gudewitz at 114, Middletown South’s Thea Rowland at 152, and Central Regional’s Jade Hahn at 185 all reached the state finals.

Falcone wins with late takedown

CBA senior AJ Falcone entered this weekend simply hoping to secure an elusive state medal. He didn’t qualify for the state tournament as a freshman. As a sophomore, he finished one win shy. Last year, he was bounced in the second round of the wrestlebacks.

Now, he’s a state finalist.

Falcone scored a takedown with seven seconds left in regulation to defeat Point Boro’s Jake Clayton, 4-1, in a dramatic 165-pound state semifinal bout. Earlier in the day in the quarterfinals, he outlasted St. Joseph Metuchen’s Tyler Whitford 3-2 in ultimate tiebreaker.

“I’ve been working four years for this, four years,” Falcone said. “It’s been tough coming here senior year not even medaling the year before. Now I’m a state finalist. This was the dream.”

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Falcone had defeated Clayton in ultimate tiebreaker to win the Region 7 championship last weekend. He knew the rematch with the returning state medalist would once again be about who didn’t make a mistake and who capitalized on an opportunity.

The opening Falcone was waiting for came with under 15 seconds remaining in regulation.

“I faked a high crotch and snapped him down,” Falcone explained. “He had this arm (pointing to his arm) caught the whole time so I knew to pull it out and come back to the chase. He squared up and I came back the other way. If I didn’t drop down to the ankle he probably would have gotten out.”

“Not a lot of shots were taken but I thought I put a good pace on him the entire match. And I finally found that one opening that I needed. That’s what happens when you don’t stop wrestling.”

CBA’s last state champion was Sebastian Rivera in 2016. Before that it was Pete Black in 1969. If Falcone is going become the third (or fourth depending on when the finals start and/or what teammate Paul Kenny does in the 120-pound final). He’ll have to defeat one of the nation’s top 165-pounders, Delbarton two-time state champion Alessio Perentin. The Cornell-bound senior is usually a technical fall machine, but had to hold off Don Bosco Prep’s Santino Rodriguez, 6-5, to reach his third straight state final.

“Honestly, I came into today really nervous from the get-go,” Falcone said. “I guess the mindset for the whole day was just to go out there and wrestle and that’s what I did and the results showed it. Now I’m in the state finals, so who cares who it’s against. It’s just about going out and wrestling.”

Why not Wyatt?

The 157-pound weight class has been viewed as one of the more wide-open weights since the district tournaments began three weeks ago. Entering the state championships, Southern Regional senior Wyatt Stout knew if he wrestled to his potential he could win it all. Now he’s one win away from doing exactly that.

After falling behind 6-1 in the first period to Camden Catholic junior Kage Jones, Stout rallied for a thrilling 13-9 victory in the 157-pound state semifinals by scoring the final 12 offensive points of the match. Jones took him down twice in the first period but Stout clawed back with an escape at the 37-second mark of the second period and closed the gap to 6-5 on a takedown with 12 seconds left.

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In the third after Jones was granted a free release to take a 7-5 lead, Stout took him down again to go up 8-7. Wanting the bout to stay at neutral, Stout cut Jones free to tie the bout 8-8 before taking him down once more and adding two nearfall points in the final 16 seconds to seal a four-point victory and a spot in Saturday’s championship final.

“I just knew I had to find a way,” Stout said. “When he was on top of me I felt he was breathing heavy so that’s when I started putting my foot on the gas. When you’re down like that you can’t think about how much you’re down, you just have to think about the next score.”

Stout and Jones wrestled at Southern’s season-opening Robin Leff Tournament with Stout winning a wild bout, 9-8, in the final. They also wrestled two years ago when Stout won a Region 7 title. He knew where he did and didn’t to be versus the long and funky Camden Catholic star.

“I knew I didn’t want to scramble with a guy like that,” Stout said. “That’s his wheelhouse so I wanted to minimize that and maximize where I score.”

That ended up being up high where Stout hit two of his takedowns, including a hip toss in the third period to take the lead.

“Wyatt’s very good up top, he’s very comfortable there,” said Southern head coach Dan Roy. “We wanted to be at neutral. We felt stronger at that position and we were coming on at the end. (Jones) rolls around and is very unorthodox, and if you’re not in good position he can put you on your back.”

Stout will face Phillipsburg’s Gavin Hawk in the state final. The two wrestled during Southern’s 2023 Group 5 final victory with Stout earning a 5-2 victory at 132 pounds. He is now a three-time state medalist who also finished sixth as a sophomore at 132 and fourth at 144 last season. None of that matters now, though.

“It doesn’t mean anything unless I get it done,” Stout said.

Coluccio gets his rematch

Wrestlers tend to remember their losses much more than their victories. Even more so when you don’t lose very often. Lacey sophomore Killian Coluccio is 32-1 this season, and on Saturday afternoon he’ll get a chance to avenge that one blemish.

Coluccio used an escape in the second period and a late turn in the third period to defeat CBA freshman Sean Kenny, 5-0, in the 106-pound state semifinals. Coluccio, who was the state third-place finisher at 106 last season when he wrestled for CBA, will take on St. Joseph Regional star freshman JoJo Burke in the state final.

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Before that, he had to get through Kenny, a very familiar opponent. The two grew up together and have practiced together since childhood. That kind of familiarity usually leads to close matches, and that was again the case on Friday night.

“I’ve practiced with him since I was four years old, we’ve gone to big national tournaments together, but I haven’t wrestled him in a long time,” Coluccio said. “Now we’re in high school and the same weight. It’s weird because we’ve always practiced together so we know what each other do. You have to switch up your stance a little bit and switch up your attacks.”

Coluccio knows the challenge he faces in Burke, who won by 11-3 major decision when they met during the Escape the Rock Tournament.

“This match is going to be tough. I lost to him at Escape the Rock and I’ve wanted this match ever since,” Coluccio said. “Last time I took some bad shots. I want that match back and I want to win a state title.”

Ludington, Kenny, Dellagatta roll in semifinals

Brick Memorial senior Harvey Ludington will go for his third state title when he faces Hanover Park’s Vincenzo LaValle in the 190-pound state final. It will be a rematch of last season’s final which Ludington won by major decision for his second state championship.

The University of Iowa signee, who is ranked No. 1 in the nation at 190 pounds, won by 11-3 major decision over Delbarton’s Carl Betz in the semifinals, extending his streak of bonus-point victories at the state tournament to nine. If he can defeat LaValle again he will become the first wrestler in Brick Memorial history with three state championships and the ninth in Shore Conference history to win three state titles.

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Kenny defeated Delbarton’s Tommy Marchetti 4-0 to reach the 120-pound state final. Kenny, who was third in the state at 113 last season, is the No. 1 seed and will face St. Joseph Regional senior Johnathan McGinty in the final. Kenny has defeated McGinty twice this season, winning 8-2 during the Catholic School Duals and 5-4 in the Escape the Rock final.

Dellagatta is the major favorite to repeat as heavyweight state champion and got back to the championship final with a 6-2 win over Woodstown’s Mateo Vinciguerra. His opponent in the final will be St. Joseph Regional junior Cristian Alvarez, who was Dellagatta’s teammate last season before he transferred to St. John Vianney for his senior year.

A total of 32 state medalists

The Shore Conference has 25 additional wrestlers who will be on the medal stand Saturday afternoon. Brick Memorial’s Sonny DiMatteo and CBA’s Sean Kenny (106), Southern’s Anthony Mason (113), Rumson-Fair Haven’s Sonny Amato (144), Point Boro’s Jake Clayton (165), CBA’s Brock Oizerowitz (175), and CBA’s Tyler Palumbo (215) suffered defeats in the semifinals but can still finish as high as third and no lower than sixth.

The rest of the state medalists are as follows:

106

Luke Johnston (Howell)

Cade Collins (Southern)

120

Ricky DeLorenzo (Toms River East)

126

Joey DeAngelo (Point Boro)

Joaquin Duque (Rumson-Fair Haven)

132

Patrick O’Keefe (St. John Vianney)

Bobby Duffy (CBA)