Washington Township wrestling finally getting healthy, grabs title at Blue Devil Duals

HAMMONTON – The Washington Township High School wrestling team is hoping a healthy new year will result in a happy new year.

The Minutemen took a big step in their road to recovery on Saturday when they kicked off 2024 with an impressive showing at the Hammonton Blue Devil Duals.

Washington Township strung together victories over Millville, Hammonton and Rancocas Valley to successfully defended its team title at the tournament. It was the Minutemen’s fourth title in five years in Blueberry Country.

The squad got to celebrate even more as head coach Eric Ring was presented with a banner honoring his 100^th career victory.

While he appreciated the celebratory poster, Ring was more ecstatic about the ability to fill in some more names into his lineup.

“We’ve had a tough start to the season with a lot of sickness and a lot of injuries,” Ring said. “You just have to battle through it though. This week has been the first time we had the whole varsity lineup at practice for probably more than two or three days.

“It was definitely exciting to get some of our guys back in the lineup. They didn’t have a lot of time in the practice room, but they gutted it out for the team (Saturday.)”

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One of the wrestlers Washington Township (4-0) welcomed back was senior Jackson Hoopes, a 32-bout winner last winter. He missed all of December with an illness.

“I’m feeling as good as new,” said Hoopes, who went 3-0 on Saturday. “It was great to be back out there. I was hoping to be back at the (Mustang Classic in December), but I still didn’t feel right.”

Hoopes looked strong, delivering a fall in the final against Rancocas Valley. That wasn’t the case a couple weeks ago when he felt pinned to his bed.

“I wasn’t really eating anything, I was just laying in my bed most of the time,” said Hoopes, who finally got clearance to wrestle again on Monday.

Washington Township got a huge effort from its big guys up top in the wins over Hammonton and Rancocas Valley. Sophomore Andrew Osborn (215) and freshman Gabe Palaganas (190) each had two pins in the final two rounds. Both are also coming off strong seasons on the gridiron (Osborn as a linebacker and Palaganas as a lineman) where they combined for 9 sacks and 21 tackles for losses.

Senior Piotr Bochenski also delivered a pin in the championship as the Minutemen’s three straight falls gave them a 36-24 lead.

Sophomore Dylan Hetzel clinched the title with a 5-3 win over RV’s Hunter Mullarkey at 106. Colton Hagerty finished the meet with a technical fall at 113, giving the Minutemen a 44-30 victory over the Red Devils.

“We have a lot of young talent on this team,” Hoopes said. “Our heavy weights came up big, especially against Hammonton.

“We’re excited for the next couple of weeks.”

Over the next 13 days, Washington Township will host Kingsway (Wednesday), travel to Delsea (Jan. 17) and host Paulsboro (Jan. 19) with the Escape the Rock Tournament mixed in between on Jan. 13-14.

Coming off a 37-31 loss to Moorestown the night before, Rancocas Valley (9-3) rebounded with a strong performance, which included a 54-18 victory over Gateway/Woodbury in the semifinals.

“It was definitely a better day than (Friday),” RV head coach Tommy Callahan said. “I was really looking forward to seeing how we were going to act and respond. Are we going to put our tail between our legs or are we going to grit our teeth and rebound? I think they did a really good job on rebounding.”

Hammonton knocked off Gateway/Woodbury to earn a third-place finish at the tournament.

Tom McGurk is a regional sports reporter for the Courier-Post, The Daily Journal and Burlington County Times, covering South Jersey sports for over 30 years. If you have a sports story that needs to be told, contact him at (856) 486-2420 or email tmcgurk@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @McGurkSports. Help support local journalism with a digital subscription.

This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Washington Twp. wrestling successfully defends title at Blue Devil Duals