Back-to-Back: Cardinal Newman rolls to second straight SCISA wrestling championship
Cardinal Newman used a dominating performance Saturday to win its second straight SCISA wrestling championship.
The Cardinals defeated rival Ben Lippen, 52-30, for the program’s 11th state title and second in a row. Cardinal Newman defeated John Paul II in last year’s championship match.
The win gives CN coach Cole McCarter his sixth state championship. He was part of four team titles as a wrestler and now two as a head coach.
It was the second meeting between the powerhouse programs. Ben Lippen defeated Cardinal Newman, 50-29, on Dec. 18. The Falcons won three state titles from 2021-23.
“This is huge,” McCarter said after the match. “We were defending state champs and I think we were ranked No. 2 (in the preseason). Then we came here to Ben Lippen in December and got beat pretty bad and dropped us down to third place. And I think our guys were like, ‘We’ve got to go own our respect.’ ”
McCarter said he credits the team’s buy-in to the program, which included some 6 a.m. practices and coming in on Sunday get-togethers to add another championship.
“I have never been around a totally committed group of kids like this,” he said. “These kids wanted it as bad as the coaches. When you get on the same page, good things happen.”
The Cardinals entered the playoffs as the No. 3 seed and received a first-round bye. They defeated Northwood on Tuesday and Hammond on Thursday to make it to the finals.
The Falcons got off to a strong start Saturday with wins by Drake Porter (156), Kellen George (215) and Austin Huff (heavyweight) to lead 18-5. But the Cardinals rattled off seven straight victories, including five by pinfall to clinch the match.
Cardinal Newman’s Jason Wagner, who went over 100 victories earlier this year, sealed the match with a pin at 138 pounds.
Other pinfall winners for Cardinal Newman were Carter Lirgg, Eli Lorang, Vincent Battle, Cooper Smythe and Luke Gjoklaj. Preston Furman, Matthew Soto and Jojo Battle also won matches for the Cards.
Will Fitts and Roper Clark recorded wins for Ben Lippen.
Both teams will turn their attention to SCISA individual wrestling championships, which will be held Feb. 8 at Cardinal Newman.
Photojournalist Sam Wolfe contributed to this story.
This story was originally published February 1, 2025 at 5:15 PM.
