Rhodes, Weed to state championship
In the complicated high stakes card game that the current scholastic wrestling season has become, Absegami Braves head coach Shawn Scannell has drawn a pair of aces with just one hand left to play this weekend.
Scannell has a pair of wrestlers in this week’s NJSIAA State Wrestling Championships Saturday and Sunday at Phillipsburg High School in North Jersey. Sophomore George Rhodes is seeded sixth at 182. Junior Ray Weed is the 13th seed at 170. They are, indeed, quite a pair. Weed was the star of the 2019 season. He was a Region 8 finalist and state qualifier as a freshman. He missed last season healing up some football injuries. Rhodes took over as the Braves’ star last season, also as a freshman. Rhodes was a state qualifier last season. This year they are teammates, workout partners and now, headed for Phillipsburg.
Rhodes lost the 182 final in the Region 7/Region 8 combined regional tournament. He was hit by a five-point move and trailed 7-1 in the final before rallying to lose 9-7.
“He made one mistake,” Scannell explained, “and he knew it right away. He knew what he did and he put it behind him and wrestled hard. He puts in so much hard work. He wrestles year-round. He is really something. I’m happy for him.”
As the sixth seed Rhodes will meet 11th seed Alex Uryniak of North Hunterdon. Uryniak is a sophomore. He finished third in the North 2 Region. Rhodes cannot meed old rival Alexi Giordano until the semifinals in the winners bracket.
Weed is the 13th seed at 170. He’s had a tough time as of late after not wrestling for Absegami since March 2019. “He hasn’t wrestled in a long time,” Scannell said, “and it’s been tough for him. He is still getting his legs under him. It’s a big monkey off his back qualifying for states.”
What Weed really needed this season was the usual three weeks of preseason, some Christmas tournament action, tough dual meets, some tough group team matches and, all together, around 35 matches to wrestle to get himself ready for the individual post season.
That’s not what he got.
“No,” Scannell said. “That isn’t what he got. He really could have used a normal season. He has had to deal with the worst possible scenario, a short season. But he’s come through and I think it will be fun to see what he can do this weekend.”
Weed will meet fourth-seeded Jared Schoppe of Delsea in his first match on Sunday. Schoppe won the Region South tournament that saw Weed finish fourth.