The Showdown: Jo Jo vs. Elijah

Top-ranked 138-pound seniors Jo Jo Gigliotti of South Carroll and Elijah Collick (at 132 pounds in the state rankings) of Stephen Decatur, each of whom is a three-time state champion, could make history by clashing in today's finals of the War On the Shore Tournament at the Roland E. Powell Convention Center in Ocean City.

Committed to the University of Maryland, Gigliotti is attempting to improve on last year's runner-up finish at The War On the Shore in advance of pursuing his school-record fourth straight Class 2A-1A state championship to go with as many county and regional crowns.

Committed to The University of Nebraska, Collick was third at War On The Shore a year ago and is attempting to become the Seahawks' first-ever four-time title winner in the Bayside Conference, regional and state tournaments.

The match up would be the first-ever between two potential four-time public state titlists during the regular season, after which Gigliotti will pursue his fourth straight Class 2A-1A title, and Collick, his first Class 4A-3A version after having earned three of the Class 2A-1A variety.

"I’m just ready to give the members of the wrestling community of Maryland what they want," Gigliotti said. "I also want to raise the stock of Maryland wrestling and to make this state more respectable around the country."

For perspective, Legacy Wrestling reached out to historian Luke Broadwater, a board member of each of the Maryland State Wrestling Hall of Fame Committee and the Maryland State Wrestling Association.

"Rarely do we see two wrestlers face off with these kinds of credentials," said Broadwater, a Pulitzer Prize Winning investigative reporter for The New York Times. "In terms of Maryland wrestling, this showdown could be one of the biggest in state history."

The top-seeded Gigliotti (25-0 record) scored a 16-second pin, a 19-2 technical fall and another pin in 1:45 to reach the semifinals, where he’ll face senior Alex Belfer of West Chester Henderson High School in Pennsylvania.

The second-seeded Collick (19-0) did the same to earn his semifinal berth following a 13-second pin and consecutive technical falls of 18-3, 20-5 and 17-2. Collick’s next opponent is eighth-ranked junior Ben Scheiner (138) of Mount St. Joseph, a MIAA runner-up who was fourth at states.

"Wrestling Jo Jo will be fun I'm excited," Collick said. "I'm going out there with the same mindset of domination. Jo Jo will be a challenge, but I'm up for it."

Gigliotti lost last year’s War On The Shore final, 4-1, in overtime to Northern-Calvert’s then-senior Drew Montgomery, avenging a 4-2 dual meet loss of a year earlier.

Montgomery was a winner of three Class 4A-3A state titles in four championship berths, and the loss was the first in the high school career for Gigliotti to a Maryland public or private school wrestler during the high school regular or postseason.

Gigliotti is among six current-three-time state title-winning Cavaliers wrestlers, including Mike Chenoweth (1994, 1995, 1996), Joey Thomas (2015, 2016, 2017), Jamar Williams (2015, 2016, 2017), Michael Pizzuto (2020, 2022, 2023) and AJ Rodrigues (2020, 2022, 2023).

Collick is attempting to improve on last year’s third-place finish at War On The Shore. A year ago, then-top-ranked senior Sean Garretson of Archbishop Spalding won Collick's division, 11-0, over Quinn McBride of Penn Ridge High, Pa., dominating in his first competition at 126 pounds since dropping from 132.

McBride had won his semifinal, 12-9, over Collick, who won his third-place bout, 14-7, over Cape Henlopen senior Andrij Szczesniuk.

Collick joined two-time champion Noah Reho as only the second Seahawks' freshman to earn a state title by earning the 106-pound title as a ninth-grader and can surpass three-time champion Danny Miller by becoming the program's first four-time state champion.

Collick is currently ranked 7th in the country by High School on SI after placing second at the National High School Coaches' Association Tournament last spring and fourth at the prestigious Super 32 in October.

Gigliotti and Collick are looking to become Maryland's 10th and 11th four-time public school state champions, following Aberdeen's Matt Slutzky (1989-1992), Owings Mills' Steve Kessler (1994-1997), Hereford's Josh Asper (2005-2008), Southern-Garrett's George "Brutus" Scheffel (2007-2010), Centennial's Nathan Kraisser (2009-2012), Middletown's Danny Bertoni (2014-2017), Centennial's Jason Kraisser (2016-2019), North Hagerstown's Aaron Brooks (2015-2018) and Centennial's Calvin Kraisser (2021-2025).

Below is a chart provided by Broadwater regarding Maryland's four-time state and/or National Prep Champs, of which there are a combined total of 17.

National Preps:

Todd Beckerman (DeMatha) - 4x National Prep Champ

Rudy Rueda (DeMatha) - 4x National Prep Champ

Mack Lewnes (MSJ) - 4x National Prep Champ

Public school states:

Bobby Truby (Sherwood) - 4x State Champ (Twice In Maryland, Twice in Pennsylvania))

Matt Slutzky (Aberdeen) - 4x State Champ

Steve Kessler (Owings Mills) - 4x State Champ

Josh Asper (Hereford) - 4x State Champ

George "Brutus" Scheffel (Southern Garrett) - 4x State Champ

Nathan Kraisser (Centennial) - 4x State champ

Danny Bertoni (Middletown) - 4x State champ

Jason Kraisser (Centennial) - 4x State Champ

Aaron Brooks (North Hagerstown) - 4x State champ

Calvin Kraisser (Centennial) - 4x State champ

Private school states:

Josh Fitch (McDonogh) - 4x State champ

Mack Lewnes (Mount St. Joseph) - 4x State Champ

Mike Rowe (DeMatha) - 4x MD State champ

Eric Friedman (St. Paul's) - 4x State champ

Alfred "Baby J" Bannister (Bishop McNamara - 4x State champ