When Reggie Jean-Charles bumped up to the heavyweight division as Holy Spirit took on Holy Cross in the South Jersey Non-Public B South wrestling championship last week, it looked like a mismatch. The Lancers’ Bobby Cristella outweighed Jean-Charles by nearly 85 pounds, and was no slouch, having won 13 bouts since the beginning of January. The two football players went at it on the wrestling mat in one of the key bouts of the night — running back vs. lineman. Holy Spirit desperately needed six points to have any shot of winning its first sectional championship in school history. And Jean-Charles delivered, finally getting Cristella down and pinning him with less than 40 seconds left. For his efforts, Jean-Charles is our Bunting Family Pharmacy Athlete of the Week. 
Reggie Jean-Charles bumped up to heavyweight and got a key win last week as Holy Spirit outlasted Holy Cross to win its first sectional title in school history. (Glory Days Magazine photo/Dave O’Sullivan) “He was big. We both gave it all we had and it came down to the end,” Jean-Charles said after the bout. Neither wrestler could gain an advantage in the first period and went into the second in a scoreless tie. Jean-Charles chose the down position, and was able to escape to get a 1-0 lead. However, he gave that advantage up to start the third period, choosing to go to the neutral position and awarding Cristella the tying point. That set up a winner-takes-all third period. Whoever could get the first takedown most likely would win the bout. At one point, Jean-Charles tried to hip toss Cristella to get him to the mat, but Cristella was simply too big and thwarted the challenge. Jean-Charles somehow summoned enough strength to get a takedown with another hip toss in the final minute, and with 36 seconds left, he got the pin. Holy Spirit went on to win the match 45-33 as freshman Ryan Keil scored a pin in the final bout to seal the deal. “Reggie is probably 80 pounds less than that kid, so that was crazy,” teammate Tim Fitzpatrick said after the match. “But he’s a great kid, he works so hard. He’s a football player and we got him out here wrestling, and he’s doing great things for us.”
— Dave O’Sullivan, Publisher
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