Shleyfer Survives To Fight Another Day In Atlantic City

There are not many freshman wrestlers in New Jersey who can say that they made it to Boardwalk Hall and the state finals and left with a medal. East Brunswick's Jonathan Shleyfer will get to leave Atlantic City as a member of that elite club.

After winning the Region 5 title, Schleyfer had to be considered a likely medal winner. But when it comes to the biggest stage the state has to offer, there is no such thing as a sure thing. That was proven especially true as the rookie dropped his only match on Friday to fall immediately into the consolation bracket.

When Saturday morning rolled around Shleyfer found himself squaring off against Chris Zak from Jackson Liberty High School down in Ocean County. Even with the freshman taking on the senior, the Bear tamed the Lion by an impressive 15-6 score. 

It was more of the same when he took on Chris Cancelliere of North Hunterdon as he easily beat yet another senior. This time it was an 11-3 win against the Region 5 runner up. 

After such a strong run the freshman took another loss against a very athletic Ray Bethea from Colonial Valley Conference representative Trenton Central. After back to back blowouts Shleyfer found himself in a match fighting tooth and nail to win. But in the end it was Bethea getting the win by a score of 2-1. 

When the action kicks off Sunday morning Shleyfer will square off with Pelal Deeb of Passaic Tech. Deeb is the Region 4 champion and had only lost twice before arriving in Atlantic City. 

East Brunswick Patch will have full coverage of his match today, so be sure to come back and see how Shleyfer does.