Howell's Slendorn, Keosseian Wrestling For State Championships

ATLANTIC CITY, NJ — Three Howell wrestlers will be walking out of Boardwalk Hall on Sunday afternoon with medals. The question for two of them, however, is will they be gold or silver?

Kyle Slendorn, wrestling in the 126-pound class, and Eric Keosseian, at 220 pounds, both reached the finals at the NJSIAA Individual Wrestling Championships. In addition, Darby Diedrich, in the 120-pound class, made it to the medal round, where he won seventh place.

Slendorn, a junior who is the Region 6 champion, made it to Atlantic City the last two years but did not place. He upset the No. 2 seed, Shane Metzler of West Morris Central, in the quarterfinals and then beat Anthony Duca of Paulsboro with a 5-2 decision in the semifinals Saturday night.

Slendorn faces Nicholas Raimo of Hanover Park in the final. Raimo, a sophomore, has one loss this season and took home a silver medal from Atlantic City as a freshman at 120 pounds.

Keosseian, a senior, was seeded third in the 220-pound bracket. He medaled last year, finishing eighth, and also reached Atlantic City in 2015. The two-time Region 6 champion scored major decisions in his first two bouts in Atlantic City this year and a 10-4 decision over Liridon Leka of Montville Township in the quarterfinals.

In the semifinals, Keosseian faced Zach DelVecchio of South Plainfield, who beat Keosseian in 7th-8th place match last year at 220 and was able to avenge that defeat, winning 4-2 in the tiebreaker to advance to the final. He will face Peter Accardi of Don Bosco, a junior who is the top seed in the bracket. He reached Atlantic City last year but was eliminated early.

Darby Diedrich, a sophomore, won the seventh-place medal at 120 pounds. He pinned Michael Kelly of St. Peter's Prep at 2:59 in their 7-8 bout. Diedrich won his preliminary round bout Friday night but got knocked into the wrestlebacks with a loss in the prequarterfinals. He battled back, stunning Hunter Graf of Hunterdon Central with 6-3 decision in the fourth round of wrestlebacks. Graf, who had beaten Diedrich in two previous meetings, was leading 3-1 with 18 seconds left when he went for a final takedown and Diedrich surprised him, turning him on his back for the victory.

The championship bouts are scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. Check back with the Patch for an update on how Slendorn and Keosseian fare in the finals.

Eric Keosseian of Howell wins 4-2 in the tiebreaker, beating Zach DelVecchio of South Plainfield in the semifinals Saturday. Photos by Karen Wall