With postseason cutoff near, Washington Township wrestling tops upstart CH East

A pair of teams that figure to be scrapping for one of the final playoff spots in South Jersey Group 5 hooked up on Wednesday night, and Washington Township came away with a 48-26 victory over upstart Cherry Hill East.

Both teams were battling injuries and illness, but Township was at least able to fill its lineup. Cherry Hill East forfeited four weight classes, including three of the final four.

One of Township’s better wrestlers who had been sick, 126-pounder Nick Flamma, was able to go and defeated Jesse Keesal, 7-3, in a key early swing match. Jake Osborn followed with a late second-period pin in what had been a one-point match at 132 and Township had a 21-6 lead it wasn’t going to relinquish.

“I was sick the past week and yesterday I didn’t feel too well,” said Flamma. “I just woke up this morning 50-50 and I just said ‘Whatever, let’s wrestle.’

“I was wrestling a decent kid. I knew if I could win by a decent amount of points it could spark the team and get the team rolling, and I think it did. It was a good win. We started out kind of slow this year, but we have a three-match win streak and we’re on a nice little roll.”

RELATED: Wednesday's results and links

Washington Township came into the match 10^th in the latest Group 5 power points with Cherry Hill East in the eighth spot. Second-year coach Eric Ring said qualifying for the postseason is a goal as the Minutemen won for the fourth time in the last five matches and are rounding into gear after a challenging start to the season that included wrestling in the Beast of the East.

The cutoff for postseason qualification is Jan. 26 and the Minutemen are heading into a buzzsaw this weekend facing No. 8 Camden Catholic, No. 20 St. Peter’s Prep and Seneca.

“We were definitely expecting a tight match tonight,” said Ring. “We’re in a tough spell with guys out of the lineup and we had to move some guys around, but the boys performed well. We had enough guys to make it work.

“One thing we’ve been talking about with where we’re at is maximizing our wins and trying to minimize those losses. Over young guys battled hard. We started our season tough, but now we feel we’re going in the right direction. The playoffs have been one of the goals since the beginning of the year because last year we missed by percentage points.”

Cherry Hill East coach Mike Brown knew it was going to be difficult to pull out a win with some of the wrestlers he was missing. The Cougars came into the match with a 10-5 record and are on pace for their first winning season in over a decade.

“I had to try to make some moves to stay in it, I was hoping to get lucky somewhere and we definitely needed 126,” said Brown. “Tonight would have helped (the playoff push) a lot, but to finish with at least 15 wins, the school record is 17 would be what we’re looking at and next year we’re definitely looking at the playoffs with everybody back.”

Cherry Hill East did have three pins, two in the first 30 seconds with junior Aidan Ford finishing in a quick seven seconds.

“Earlier in the season I had another match that lasted seven seconds,” said Ford. “I always go out aggressive, try to get the first shot, try to get the first points. It’s only a six-minute match and every point matters.”

Bill Evans can be reached at bevans@njadvancemedia.com or by leaving a note in the comments below. Follow him on Twitter @BEvansSports. Like our NJ.com High School Wrestling Facebook Page.