January 24th, marks the 23rd annual cross-town rivalry wrestling match between Point Pleasant Beach and Point Pleasant Borough. Point Boro will be looking to continue their 22 year undefeated streak when the two cross paths on the mat. Both teams are filled with highly skilled wrestlers throughout all weight classes and are known to be two of the more successful programs in the Shore Conference. This year the match will be held in the Point Pleasant Beach High School gym beginning at 7pm.

Boro looks to improve their record in the Shore Conference with a win over Beach. The experience of the Bailey and Latendorf brothers provides undeniable strength and stability in the low and middle weight classes. James Latendorf; a varsity starter since his freshman year, seems to not be phased by the hype surrounding Beach vs Boro. “There is a lot of hype and trash talk leading up to the match, but I do my best to stay focused,” Latendorf said. We further asked James what his mindset is for this year, being that the match will take place at Beach. He responded, “I treat it like any other match… I’m confident in my teammates and myself to go in there and come out with another win for this town.”

On the other side, Point Beach enters this match up with a lot of returning starters as they only graduated three seniors last season. Down low, they have a young group of sophomores and juniors like Kip Lovgren and Riley Simon, who are both two time district medal winners. In the middle of their lineup, senior Jesse Bowers is certainly one of their best wrestlers and enters the year as a district champ and an overall three time district medalist. Finally, the upper weights of their lineup are led by Jason Sherlock and Liam Buday who combined for 69 wins last season.

Fans, students,and alumni will all be showing up to support either side for another great town rivalry match up. Make sure to purchase your tickets and get there early before the  seats are filled up!