CBA star Paul Kenny fulfills his potential by becoming the Colts’ 3rd state champion in history
ATLANTIC CITY – From the minute he stepped on the mat as a high school wrestler, Christian Brothers Academy sophomore Paul Kenny was predicted to be a state champion.
Potential has now become reality.
The U17 world champion, who took third in the state at 113 as a freshman, fulfilled his destiny on Saturday at Boardwalk Hall with a 1-0 win over Jonathon McGinty of St. Joseph’s-Montvale to capture the 120-pound title at the NJSIAA Wrestling Championships.
“I proved to myself that I can get a state championship for CBA and for my coaches,” Kenny said. “I really wanted to get it for them so bad, and I did it. A little bit of both (relief and happiness) I would say, but I’m happy.”
Kenny celebrated winning his first state title after a 1-0 victory. (Photo by Tom Smith/tspsportsimages.com)
Kenny (38-2) became the third state champion in CBA history and the first since Shore Conference wrestling legend Sebastian Rivera in 2016. Rivera went on to become an All-American at Northwestern and Rutgers and then won a bronze medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics in the 65-kilogram division while representing Puerto Rico.
Kenny’s younger brother Sean also had a sparkling debut as a freshman, finishing third at 106 in his first trip to Atlantic City.
A pair of CBA legends
Kenny has trained with Rivera at Elite Wrestling NJ in Jackson, which is run by Rivera’s father, Steve, who was a state champion himself at Manalapan and a national champion at The College of New Jersey. The two CBA state champs are close friends.
“I can’t wait to go brag to him right now,” Kenny said about Sebastian Rivera. “I think he’s in the stands. I’m going to go out there and brag that my name’s next to him on the wall.”
Rivera was in attendance at Boardwalk Hall to see Kenny join him in an exclusive club at CBA.
“I’m ecstatic,” Rivera said. “It took nine years, and we finally got it done. I’m glad to be here and see the third one get crowned. It’s awesome.”
“He’s one of my mentors,” Kenny said. “I look up to him a lot, so it’s cool to join him.”
Getting the job done
A third-period escape that was granted to Kenny when McGinty gave him a free release to start the period in neutral was all the Colts’ star needed to get the victory. He had put himself in position to win by riding McGinty out for the entire second period.
“I knew I could ride him,” Kenny said. “Every match we’ve wrestled, when I committed to the ride, I rode him. We work on top wrestling a lot in practice. Coach Billy (Ashnault) always says ‘grind ride, break the guy,’ and that’s exactly what I did out there.”
Kenny had been a scoring machine in the tournament with technical fall victories in his first three matches and then a 4-0 win over Delbarton’s Tommy Marchetti in the semifinals. In the final, he kept the match in the center of the mat and made sure not to take any sloppy shots.
“I definitely could’ve wrestled better in the finals,” he said. “It’s hard to wrestle a kid who’s trying to hand fight the whole time. He’s hard to score on, he has good defense, but I was really trying to score a lot this year in every one of my matches. I was trying to work on my late attacks (and) break open these matches. I know I’m better than a lot of these kids, and I wanted to show it.”
Kenny became the third state champion in CBA history and the first one in eight years. (Photo by Tom Smith/tspsportsimages.com)
After McGinty conceded the point for the escape to start the third period, Kenny had his mind on a match-clinching takedown but only if he had a legitimate opening.
“I was going to go get one,” he said. “I didn’t want to make no stupid mistake because I know he has good go-behinds, he’s a good counter-wrestler. I was just going to try to get a counterattack, but he wasn’t really taking any attempts. He was just trying to hand fight the whole time, he shot twice maybe, so I didn’t really need to run around him or anything.”
A bright future ahead
While finishing third in the state is impressive for any freshman, his loss in Atlantic City last year left Kenny frustrated.
“I think he’s grown up a lot, and that’s what he needed to do to become the man he is now,” Rivera said. “He knows how to win. He’s tactical, he wrestles hard, and he’s slick.”
Kenny had a dream of being a rare four-time state champion after a decorated youth career, but he used that disappointment as fuel.
“After last year what happened, he wanted to fast forward (back to the state tournament), but you’ve got to take it day by day,” CBA head coach Billy Ashnault said. “It was a long time waiting for a situation like that. But it made him a better wrestler. He was looking forward every day to this moment.”
“I was a little nervous last year maybe,” Kenny said. “I wasn’t nervous coming into this tournament. I believed in my training. I believed in myself.”
With two more seasons left, Kenny can put himself in the pantheon of CBA wrestling. The Colts have never had a two-time state champion.
“He wants to build his tradition, put his name on the wall and be there forever,” Ashnault said.
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]
