Camden Catholic boys’ wrestling team looks to cement itself as one of the best in school history
The Irish went 17-0 this season in dual meets and won a team state tournament. They’ll have eight qualifiers in Atlantic City competing for individual state crowns.
This time last year, Camden Catholic High School had two wrestlers primed for a state title.
Then-sophomore Sammy Spaulding was the No. 1 seed in the 126-pound weight class and Kage Jones, also a sophomore, earned the No. 2 seed at 157. But Spaulding, who’s committed to Navy, lost in the second round of the winner’s bracket, while Jones fell just short in the state championship match.
Only 11 wrestlers in program history have been crowned state champions. Now Spaulding and Jones look to etch their names onto that list this weekend in the NJSIAA state boys’ wrestling championships at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. The tournament begins at 10 a.m. Thursday and will conclude Saturday.
“Sammy just needs to wrestle well, and he can win this thing,” said Camden Catholic coach Bill Heverly. “It’s all about performing and being there in the moment and showing up when it’s time. We know Sammy can win. Now it’s time for him to go out there and do it.
“As for Kage, he’s right there. The same goes for him.”
If there was ever a year when someone from Heverly’s squad could win a state championship for Camden Catholic, it would be this one.
The Irish were 17-0 in dual meets and defeated Pope John XXIII in the NJSIAA team state tournament on Feb. 16, marking the school’s 19th title. It was the program’s first perfect season since the 1970s.
The 2024-25 Irish want to cement their legacy as the best team in the school’s history. They frequently give Heverly a hard time, joking that this year’s squad would beat the teams he was part of in 1999 and 2000.
“A lot of people talk about this undefeated season and how we’re undefeated in duals, but it’s very far from an undefeated season because we went to a lot of tough tournaments,” Heverly said. “I wanted to get my guys more quality matches and really challenge them as much as possible.”
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Heverly’s squad wrestled a gauntlet of a tournament schedule before beginning its dual meets. The Irish wrestled in the Beast of the East in Newark, Del., one of the toughest tournaments in the country, at the beginning of the season and followed that by going to the Mustang Classic in Brick Township, N.J., then the Escape the Rock tournament in January at Council Rock South High School.
Those tournament battles, Heverly said, prepared his team and set the stage for a perfect dual-meet season.
Besides Spaulding and Jones, the Irish have a slew of wrestlers who Heverly believes are just as likely to win state titles.
Junior Michael Craft enters the weekend seeded No. 3 in the 150-pound weight class and could make some noise after finishing the season with a 32-4 record.
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“Michael beat the No. 2 seed in the regional finals,” Heverly said. “Some can call him a dark horse. I don’t really like that phrase because sometimes those dark horses, they come out of the shadows and suddenly they’re a horse of a whole different color.”
Jaden Simpson, a junior in the 175-pound class, enters the tournament as the No. 6 seed; senior Dom DiGiacomo, who competes at 113, is the eighth seed; and 126-pounder Lazarus Joyce (junior) is the 14th seed.
As a team, the Irish are taking eight of 14 starters to the state tournament, including sophomore Eric Swanson, a 126-pounder who’s seeded 16th, and 165-pounder Terry Terch, a junior seeded 28th.
Heverly believes each could earn a path to the podium.
“A lot of people talk about Kage and Sammy, but Michael and Dom are right there, too,” Heverly said. “Every kid we have in the tournament sees themselves on that podium this weekend, and it’s going to be hard for me to stomach any of them not making it.”
While Heverly is pleased with the results so far, he has spent the last few weeks gearing up his squad for the three most important days of the season.
The Camden Catholic wrestlers pushed themselves harder than they have all season, he said, and they want to finish on a high note.
“It’s nice to go undefeated as a team, but at the end of the day, we’re really gearing up for this time of the year,” Heverly said. “This is the time of the year that really matters. It’s not during the regular season, it’s right now. It’s what our kids want most, and it’s what we want most, so now it’s time to go out and get it.”