ATLANTIC CITY — Bryan Dobzanski was nearly flawless on the wrestling mat all season.

So it was only fitting the Delsea Regional High School junior ended it Sunday with a state title.

Dobzanski won, 5-4, over Don Bosco Prep’s Zack Chakonis in the 220-pound final at the NJSIAA Individual State Championships at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.

He finished the season a perfect 42-0. He was never taken down or reversed and allowed just eight points all year.

“It’s ridiculous, as I was walking on the mat (after the match), I’m like, ‘I’m state champion, I’m state champion,’” Dobzanski said. “As I was walking off the mat, I was screaming I was state champion.

“It’s just something I’ve always wanted to do. This is why you join wrestling. I’ve been wrestling since I was five years old. This was my No. 1 goal. To have that accomplished, it makes me feel like I didn’t waste all those years in the wrestling room, sweating, bleeding, crying. It’s amazing.”

Dobzanski becomes the sixth Crusader to win a state title, and it’s the eighth overall championship for Delsea. The school’s most recent champion was Anthony Baldosaro, who won at 140 pounds in 2008.

Dobzanski was as dominant in the tournament before the finals as he was all season, pinning his way through the first three bouts without even reaching the third period.

His victory over Chakonis wouldn’t come as easy.

Dobzanski scored a takedown in the first 30 seconds and led 3-0 after the second period. In the third, Dobzanski was on top and warned for stalling. He was quickly hit again for stalling and Chokonis escaped to make it 3-2.

Dobzanski shook off the stalls and got another takedown to make it a 5-2 lead. Chakonis escaped and Dobzanski was hit once again for stalling and the lead was just 5-4.

Chakonis made one last strong offensive attempt as the moments wound down, but Dobzanski pulled him out of bounds before the two points could be awarded and with just two seconds left.

The wrestlers reset and Dobzanski avoided a desperation shot from Chokonis, then raised both arms in the air to celebrate his victory.

“He’s had a great season,” coach Greg Sawyer said. “He’s dominated really well this year. And I think that was a big step right there, getting it done with a tough match like that.”

The stalling calls, which drew the ire of the crowd of 11,149, did get into Dobzanski’s head.

“It changes your plan up, like, can you shoot? Can you stall? And I couldn’t stall because they already called it on me,” Dobzanski said. “It definitely changes everything. I was lucky I could keep with it and finish out the match strong.”

Sawyer said it’s unlike Dobzanski to even be warned for stalling, especially when he’s wrestling on top.

“That’s one of this best positions, on top, running bars and tilts and stuff on top,” Sawyer said. “So when you’re not really getting time to do it up there, it changes the complexion of the match, when you can’t work your best stuff.”

Dobzanski seemed unflappable all tournament, and sported a sinister scowl while pacing around the arena floor before his match.

“Warming up, I think I had a pretty mean face on, I was focusing so hard, I knew what I had to do,” Dobzanski said.

But he said he wasn’t nervous, rather he was focusing on the positive vibes he was being sent from all over.

“I was looking at my phone the whole time, Facebook, Twitter, text messages, people were saying, ‘Good luck, you can do it, you’re the most talented kid I know,’” Dobzanski said. “And that really helped me believe that I was.”

Last year, Dobzanski finished third in the state at 195 pounds. His loss in the quarterfinals to Don Bosco’s Razohnn Gross that tournament was the last time Dobzanski has lost or was even taken down.

That loss fueled Dobzanski for his state title run.

“I think he’s done the work he’s needed to do,” Sawyer said. “And I think a lot with Bryan is that, as big and strong as he is, he’s slowly gained confidence, so that’s the main thing. Now that he’s a state champion, he’ll be a little better next year, hopefully.”

Dobzanski will have the chance to join Joe Alexander and Don Fisch as the only two-time state champions in school history next year.

CHAMPIONSHIPS

160: Dillon Artigliere (Roxbury) d. Jonathan Schleifer (East Brunswick), 6-1.
170: Ethan Ramos (Hawthorne) d. Jadaen Bernstein (Voorhees), 5-2.
182: Johnny Sebastian (Bergen Catholic) d.  David Williams (Hammonton), 4-3.
195: Razohnn Gross (Don Bosco) d. Anthony Messner (Franklin), 5-3.
220: Bryan Dobzanski (Delsea) d. Zack Chakonis (Don Bosco), 5-4.
HWT: Alex Thompson (Haddon Heights) d. Jeff Miller (Camden Catholic), 3-1.
106: Nick Suriano (Bergen Catholic) d. Kyle Bierdumpfel (Don Bosco), 3-2.
113: Luis Gonzalez (Don Bosco)  d.  Kevin Corrigan (Toms River South), 5-4.
120: Craig De La Cruz (Bound Brook) d. Brenden Calas (Seton Hall Prep), 3-1, OT.
126: Anthony Giraldo (North Bergen) d.  Corey Stasenko (South Plainfield), 3-1.
132: Scott DelVecchio (South Plainfield) d. Ronald Gentile (Paulsboro), 5-4.
138: Anthony Ashnault (South Plainfield) d. Gary Dinmore (Hunterdon Central), 4-2.
145: BJ Clagon (Toms River South) d. Troy Heilmann (South Plainfield), 2-1.
152: Wayne Stinson (Northern Burlington) d. Chad Walsh (Camden Catholic), 9-7.

Click here for updated brackets, please try not to ask about previous results.

Finals will begin at 160 pounds.

UPDATED BRACKETS CAN BE FOUND HERE: (click on NJSIAA State Championships, a more direct link doesn't work)

Please check the link above for previous results rather than asking in the blog.

Billy Ward has come a long way from wrestling as a kid on the mat in the family’s pole barn.

What started as rolling around with his father Bill, a state runner-up himself at St. Augustine Prep in 1985, on the mats at home, turned into an illustrious mini-career and crerated one of the best resumes of any scholastic wrestler in the area.

The Buena Regional High School senior has broke the school record for wins — currently at 136 — and won four district and four region titles. He’ll have one more chance, this weekend, to complete his journey and attempt to stand on the highest spot on the podium at the end of the NJSIAA State Individual Championships at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City — something no Chief has ever achieved.

Ward, who is the second seed in the bottom bracket at 126 pounds and will face Ryan Budzek of Point Pleasant Boro tonight in the pre-quarterfinals. He placed third as a sophomore before flailing out of the tournament last season without placing.

Ward wants this year, his final opportunity, to be different.

“I’m feeling good, I think I’m ready, my weight is good, now it’s just a mental thing,” Ward said. “Just one match at a time, it’s three matches till the finals, and you gotta take each one as it is.”

Ward said he’s learned from his humbling, almost embarrassing, experience on the boardwalk last season.

“You gotta be focused on every match no matter what, you have to put your ego away because everybody in there is just as good as you or better than you,” Ward said.

Just how tough it is to navigate the brackets in Atlantic City was sometimes lost on those around Ward, in school, in the community and all around South Jersey. It’s easy to think a wrestler moves up in place each year, so, logically, Ward would cruise to a couple state finals. That was the expectation for Ward as a junior.

“Last year, I thought he was going to win it,” Ward’s father, Bill Ward said. “I’m not putting any pressure on him. That weight class, I’d be happy with the podium. (But) I think he can win it.”

Bill, who had always been in the corner for his son’s matches until this year when he took the coaching spot at St. Augustine isn’t the only one taking a step back and just letting the wrestler do his thing.

“I’m really excited for Billy,” Buena coach Doug Castellari said. “He’s a kid, he had a lot of pressure on him. I don’t think he has a lot of pressure on him this year.”

Ward said his mindset is much more stable for his fourth trip to the tournament.

“I feel like I was more nervous for regions than I am for states,” Ward said. “The expectations from last year are zero.”

While the pressure is off, the drive is on.

“Maybe last year if I didn’t wrestle such a bad match in my consolation and I wrestled back to third like I could have, maybe this year I wouldn’t be so motivated,” Ward said.

Less pressure, coupled with being another year stronger and wiser, has Ward and those around him cautiously optimistic.

“I think, overall, he got better on his feet,” Castellari said. “And his defense is a lot better. He’s done his homework. The weight class is really deep. I think four or five kids can with that weight class and I think he’s one of them.”

For Castellari, this weekend is likely to be his final time in the corner as a head coach. Castellari isn’t expected to return for a 25th year with the Chiefs. Going out coaching Ward seems like the perfect ending – and they hope that ending won’t be until sometime Sunday.

“It’s awesome,” Castellari said. “Billy’s been around, big Bill, he’s been with me almost 20 years. It’s just a really emotional thing. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”

Ward is still undecided on his future plans. He has he wants to wrestle in college, but at the Division-I level, and he’s waiting to see what scholarship offers he might receive after the tournament.

Those things can wait though, at least three more days. And Ward said he’s relaxed as he tries to finish his career off right. His father, who helped him get here, isn’t of the same mindset,

“He may be more relaxed, but I’m not,” Bill said. “I’m more sentimental than anything because I’m not going to get to see him wrestle in high school anymore.”

High school will soon be a memory for Ward, just like those father-son sessions in the barn so many years ago and helped get him here.

McGurk - Suriano, Bergen Catholic; Corporan, Perth Amboy; Firestone, Clearview

113
Buganski - Gonzalez, Don Bosco; Damon, Jefferson; Corrigan, Toms River South.

McGurk - Gonzalez, Don Bosco; Corrigan, Toms River South; Damon, Jefferson.

120
Buganski - Calas, Seton Hall; Mele, Governor Livingston; De La Cruz, Bound Brook.

McGurk - De La Cruz, Bound Brook; Calas, Seton Hall; Pomrinca, North Hunterdon

126
Buganski - McFadden, DePaul; Magaldo, Watchung Hills; Stasenko, South Plainfield

McGurk - Magaldo, Watchung Hills; Pongracz, Delaware Valley; Stasenko, South Plainfield

132
Buganski - DelVecchio, South Plainfield; Gentile, Paulsboro; Hertling, Ocean

McGurk - DelVecchio, South Plainfield; Estevez, Livingston; Gentile, Paulsboro

138
Buganski - Ashnault, South Plainfield; Dinmore, Hunterdon Central; Keller, Timber Creek

McGurk - Ashnault, South Plainfield; Dinmore, Hunterdon Centra; Keller, Timber Creek

145
Buganski - Clagon, Toms River South; Miller, Camden Catholic; Heilmann, South Plainfield

McGurk - Clagon, Toms River South; Miller, Camden Catholic, Heilmann, South Plainfield

152
Buganski - Gravina, Northern Highlands; Chad Walsh, Camden Catholic; Stinson, Northern Burlington

McGurk — Walsh, Camden Catholic; Stinson, Northern Burlington; Gravina, Northern Highlands

160
Buganski - Artiglere, Roxbury; Schleifer, East Brunswick; Johnson, Delbarton

McGurk - Artiglere, Roxbury; Schleifer, East Brunswick; Balboni, Brearley

170
Buganski - Bernstein, Voorhees; Ramos, Hawthorne; Balboni, Brearley

McGurk - Bernstein, Voorhees; Ramos, Hawthorne; Dobzanski, Delsea

182
Buganski - Sebastian, Bergen Catholic; Williams, Hammonton; Zak, Jackson Liberty

McGurk - Sebastian, Bergen Catholic; Zak, Jackson Liberty; Williams, Hammonton

195
Buganski - Gross, Don Bosco; Bonner, West Deptford; Moore, Brick Memorial:

McGurk - Messner, Franklin; Gross, Don Bosco; Bonner, West Deptford

220
Buganski -  Dobzanski, Delsea; Chakonis, Don Bosco; Correnti, Holy Cross

McGurk - Dobzanski, Delsea; Chakonis, Don Bosco; Correnti, Holy Cross

Heavyweight
Buganski - Lucas, St. Joseph; Appice, Manalapan; Thompson, Haddon Heights

McGurk - Appice, Manalapan; Lucas, St. Joseph; Thompson, Haddon Heights