Shore wins Holmdel Holiday Tournament Team Title, Pinelands’ Chris Nielsen Voted Most Outstanding Wrestler

Brackets

Top Four by Weight

Team Results

Senior Alex Johnson won the 145-pound title with three pins and was one of five individual champions that led Shore to its second straight team title at Tuesday's Holmdel Holiday Tournament.

Johnson, the fourth-place finisher in the Region VI Tournament at 145 pounds last season, won by fall in 12 seconds in the quarterfinals and in 20 seconds in the semifinals. In the championship bout, Johnson pinned Holmdel sophomore Scott Dupont in 1:58.

Shore finished with 177 points to take the team title with Holmdel coming in second with 140. Pinelands edged Rumson-Fair Haven for third place, 92 to 91.5.

Freshman Matt Klemser upset top-seeded Teddy Smith from Keyport via pin in the 113-pound semifinals and defeated No. 2 seed Abhay Sampat from Holmdel 5-1 in the final. His brother Tim had two byes in the 120-pound bracket and needed just two victories to claim gold. He pinned Holmdel's Dean Gallo in 4:30 in the final.

Down 8-0 to Pinelands' Kelly Lutz, Shore senior Paul Tietjen locked in a cradle and secured the pin in 4:30 to win the 160-pound title. At 220 pounds, senior Darius Gevas used two pins to reach the final where he defeated Academy of Urban Leadership's Victor Vargas, 7-4.

Sophomore Brad Smuro finished third at 106 pounds.

At 170, Pinelands junior Chris Nielsen, the District 24 third-place finisher at 170 pounds last season, won by 13-3 major decision over Holmdel senior Garrett Hilsheimer, who was the District 21 third-place finisher at 170 pounds last season. Nielsen won by fall in the quarterfinals and semifinals, and was voted as the tournament's Most Outstanding Wrestler by the coaches.

Teammate Kyle Matina, a senior, won the 152-pound title with a 5-2 decision over J.P. Stevens Paul Vargas, who was the District 19 third-place finisher at 145 pounds last season.

Host Holmdel had one champions and four runners-up. Junior Troy Gallo won the 126-pound title by fall in 3:00 over J.P. Stevens' Jamari Lake, who was the District 19 fourth-place finisher at 120 pounds. Samphat at 113, Dean Gallo at 120, Dupont at 145 and Hilsheimer at 170 placed second. Johnny O'Bierne was third at 160.

Brothers Nick and Theo Addison captured titles for Rumson. Nick Addison pinned second-seeded Jon Johnson of Monmouth in the quarterfinals, won by 15-0 technical fall over Shore's Justin Valerio in the semifinals and clipped Donovan Catholic's Christian Dailey, 3-2, to take the 138-pound crown. Theo Addison had a technical fall in the quarterfinals, won by default over Shore's Austin Cannon in the semifinals and pinned Freehold's John Downey in 5:57 to take home the title.

Other champions from the Shore Conference were Keyport's Alex Erven at 106, Monmouth's Tyler Flynn at 132 and Neptune's Nick Faber at 195. Erven won by 4-3 decision over Monmouth's Andy Villa-Gomez, Flynn won by fall over J.P. Stevens' Abhishek Singh and Faber won 5-4 over Metuchen's Anthony Maloney, who was the District 19 runner-up at 195 pounds last season.

Metuchen's Joe Maloney won the heavyweight title by fall over Neptune's Jose Santiago.

Wrestling editor Bob Badders can be reached at badders@allshoremedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @Bob_Badders. Like Shore Sports Network on Facebook.