Nottingham’s Josh Magee is the first to admit that he wasn’t 100 percent focused on wrestling last year for a variety of reasons.
The same cannot be said of this year.
“He told me before the season ‘No regrets,’” Northstars coach Jason Marasco said. “I was impressed he said that. He’s not a very talkative, vocal, loud type of guy. For him to get that out and say that to me, I was pretty impressed with that. And he is kicking butt.”
He is indeed, having carried a 29-2 record with 10 pins into the District 25 tournament on Feb. 22. Magee was one of the favorites to get through to the Region 7 tournament, and whatever happens, there will be no regrets.
“You always feel you could have worked a little harder,” the senior said. “This year I wanted to go out and do everything I could. I wanted to get all the extra work in and at the end of the season feel like I gave it my all, so I went out and did all I could do.
After his regions loss last season, Magee went to strength sessions and summer and fall tournaments after taking some time off.
This year, Magee did what he could to prepare for the post-season. Certified at 120 pounds, Magee wrestled up at 126 eight times and was 7-1 with three pins, a technical fall and a major decision.
“We have bumped him up to wrestle a tougher opponent because sometimes these 120 pounders are just no challenge,” Marasco said. “We said ‘If you want to do well in the post-season we have to get you a better match.’ We bumped him up against (defending district champ Nick) Maher against West Windsor South, it was a tough match and he beat him. I think that’s why he was so composed and poised at the county tournament.”
Magee won the first county title of his career after finishing second at 113 last season. He beat Robbinsville’s Jacob Cox by a technical fall, won a major decision over Peddie’s Brendan Cape and took a 6-0 decision over Hopewell’s Austin Roskos in the finals.
“That felt good,” Magee said. “I went into the counties confident, knowing I’d make sure I’d beat up everybody there. I set a goal to win this year, I knew I could do it and when I did it, it made me happy that the hard work is finally paying off. Winning counties is great but districts and regions are way more important.”
Still, it helped erase some of the disappointment he felt after losing 16-9 to WW-P South’s Etai Yonah in last year’s MCT finals.
“That was really upsetting,” Magee said. “I thought I was really close, I thought it would have been a way better match if I was in shape. It was a close match in the third period, but I was tired and didn’t keep up.
“There were a couple factors that went into it, and one was I wasn’t working as hard as I could. This year I made sure I didn’t do anything to affect my focus. I wouldn’t out and do stuff with friends on a Friday night, I would just focus on wrestling.”
Magee has actually been focused on wrestling since age 7, although his dad tried to get him started a little earlier. Jim Magee, a former Steinert grappler, took Josh to a Hamilton PAL practice when he was 4-years-old.
“I still remember being there,” Josh said. “I remember him saying ‘Do you want to go do that?’ I was a little scared and said ‘No, I don’t want to do it.’”
Jim took him back again at age 7, and finally coaxed his son into doing the sport he loved for so long.
“I went with a friend (to PAL), he quit and I stuck with it,” Magee said. “When it got a little hard, my dad really helped push me through it. It’s been me and my dad all the way. I’ve probably wrestled over 300 matches easily, and he’s been there all the way.”
Josh went from Hamilton PAL to a program in Northern Burlington and then branched out to different club teams. At age 11 Jim Magee started his own club called TNT, which included Steinert sophomore Brandon Cray, among others.
“That’s what got me really liking it,” Magee said. “On weekends we would go away and get to stay over in hotels. We would be together all day and stay at the hotels at night, I really liked that.”
When Magee got to high school there was just one problem—he had plenty of experience but no size to back it up. He weighed less than 90 pounds as a freshman and even wrestling 103-pounders was tough.
He went 13-17 that year, but improved to 19-12 with five pins when the weight changed to 106 his sophomore year.
“I knew that wrestling is a lot of experience, so I knew that wouldn’t be a problem with him because he had four times the amount of experience of anyone in my room,” Marasco said. “But he was giving up 20 pounds to 106-pounders.
“He was winning but if it was anybody who was 106 pounds and a half decent wrestler, he was struggling. He would still dig out the win, but he would really struggle. It didn’t happen much, but if a kid would catch him on his back he probably wouldn’t be able to fight off his back. But now he’s grown, he’s five, six inches taller since he was a freshman and has put on the weight.”
Magee blossomed last year, going 29-9 with eight pins at 113 pounds and advancing to the regions for the first time. Entering this season, he worked with Marasco and some outside coaches to improve his technique.
One of his biggest improvements has been in his tilt, an offensive move wrestlers use from the top position to score back points.
“He’s added a few moves,” Marasco said. “I knew he was always tough on top but I kept telling him he needed another way to score up top. He started working on tilts with me and went to get some extra help with a few other guys and they also worked on tilts with him. He’s definitely stepped up his game with these tilts.”
“I knew all the moves,” Magee said. “But there were certain things, like grabbing the wrist and things like that, I needed to work on. My shot and my tilt have gotten a little better. I had to make the little adjustments to make sure the moves worked, and now everything is working.”
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