Long Branch grapplers showing their potential
Good news, bad news for Ocean at Mustang Classix
BY VIN RAPOLLA
Staff Writer

Above, Long Branch’s Sean Simms works Point Boro’s Lolan Beers for some back points during a 145-pound bout at the Walter Woods Tournament in Middletown on Dec. 29. At left, Long Branch’s Carlo Veroma puts the squeeze on Elizabeth’s Angelo Metias during a 119-pound bout.

MIDDLETOWN — When Andrew Poulson took the mat to take on Long Branch’s John Jasio in the 215-pound championships of the Walter Woods Holiday Tournament on Thursday, he had the entire Middletown North wrestling team cheering him on.

What made that scene so unusual is the fact that Poulson is a senior at Middletown South.

However, with the Lions holding onto a slim lead in the team standings over Long Branch heading into the 215-pound final, a win by the top-seeded Jasio would have been enough to give the Green Wave the team title.

Fortunately for the Lions, Poulson was not about to let that happen. The Eagle senior won a thrilling 6-2 decision over Jasio, breaking a 1-1 tie in the third period by scoring a takedown and earning three back points when he fell on Jasio after the Long Branch senior tried to toss Poulson.

PHOTOS BY CHRIS KELLY staff

The win avenged an earlier loss to Jasio at the Neptune Classic, and clinched the team title for Middletown North, who outscored the Green Wave by half a point, 134-133.5.

While it was a disappointing finish for the Green Wave, it didn’t diminish the strong showing for the young team — one that head coach Dan George expects to get better as the season progresses.

“I’m very happy with the way the kids wrestled,” said George, now in his 15th season. “They all did a great job.”

The Wave, which is coming off a 13-6 season and was 1-0 in dual meets entering this week’s action, managed to place five wrestlers in the top two, with another pair coming in third.

The team was led by heavyweight Darius William, who managed to take first in the heavyweight class by pinning his opponent from Elizabeth, Hafis Williams, in the final at the 2:28 mark.

MIGUEL JUAREZ staff Ocean Township’s Danny Lopes wraps up Wall’s Blaine Wosczak during their 130-pound final bout at the Mustang Classic in Brick on Dec. 28.

Joining Jasio with second-place finishes were seniors Matt Coccurello and Sergio Chaparro and junior Sean Simms.

Chaparro lost his 152-pound final to Colts Neck’s Rob Manney, 4-3, while Coccurello fell to last year’s Region IV champ, Point Pleasant Boro’s Jeff Jacobs, 12-1.

Scoring third-place finishes for the Green Wave were senior Carlos Viedma at 119 and sophomore Ray Stathum at 125.

All of the Long Branch wrestlers who placed were returners from last season who have shown improvement early on.

“So far, these guys have been wrestling great,” said George.

Middletown North crowned a pair of champions themselves, starting with senior Jim Donovan, who won the 130-pound title with a 12-6 decision over Point Boro’s Jon Weakmeister, after knocking off Neptune’s Will Reeves, 15-5, in the semifinals.

North’s other individual title came from junior Rob Shope, the fifth seed, who knocked off top-seeded Anzour Daghouz of Manchester in the semifinals, 10-6, before pinning Middletown South’s Mike Faralle at the 3:52 mark of the final.

Head coach John Marotta’s Lions placed a total of seven wrestlers in the top three en route to just topping Long Branch for the team title.

The Woods tournament, which included 12 other teams, is sure to give the Green Wave a sense of confidence as the grueling wrestling season kicks into high gear.

George knows that his team is young, but still expects big things from his guys.

“We’re younger this year, it’s a little more of a rebuilding year,” said George. “We have all solid wrestlers, but the starters will have to stay solid.”

George is happy with the early season success, and he hopes the team can continue its winning ways by gaining experience as the season rolls on.

“We have to gain experience, that’s the key,” said George. “We have to take each match and get better, build on our good conditioning.”

Long Branch faced off against Freehold Borough yesterday and finishes the week in a dual match on Saturday against Wall and Rumson.

The Ocean Spartans headed down to Brick Memorial on Dec. 28 looking to make a statement.

They did just that, but also suffered their most disappointing loss to date.

While the Spartans dominated the heralded Mustang Classic, taking four first-place trophies and a slew of top-five finishes, it was the loss of junior Jeff Siciliano to a broken fibula and a dislocated ankle that managed to put a damper on what would have been a stellar day for the program.

Siciliano, last year’s state runner-up at 171 pounds, was attempting to fend off a takedown attempt from Winslow’s Jamelle Jones when he collapsed to the mat, clutching his leg, with just 44 seconds left in the first period of their 189-pound final bout.

While his teammates looked on, Siciliano was removed from the mat and taken to Jersey Shore Medical Center in Neptune, where he underwent surgery on Friday.

The prospects for a return this season are unknown at this time for the talented grappler, with the recovery expected to take somewhere between six and eight weeks.

Siciliano’s injury put an end to an impressive showing for the Spartans, who had already crowned four champions on the day.

Senior Dan Lopes got things going for the Spartans by winning his third straight Mustang Classic title. Lopes beat Wall’s Blaine Woszczak, 11-7, in the 130-pound final, after leading throughout the bout.

Senior Maverick Nunes-Vais then won at 140, topping High Point’s Connor Perdisatt, 7-5, before junior Joey Falco beat

Brick Memorial’s Kyle Heilbroun, 9-1, to take home the 145-pound final.

That left junior Kyle Kiss, who was looking for some redemption on top of a Mustang Classic title. Kiss squared off against defending state champion Scott Giffin of Eastern in the 171-pound final — the same Scott Giffin who beat Kiss via a technical fall in last year’s 160-pound Mustang Classic final en route to winning the Most Outstanding Wrestler Award.

This time around, it was Kiss’ turn to shine. The Spartan junior scored an escape in the second period to tie the score at 3-3 before scoring a takedown to take a 5-3 lead. After Giffin was called for the first of four start violations to give Kiss a 6-3 lead, the Eastern senior got within 6-5 before another Kiss takedown and three more penalty points gave the Spartan the 11-6 win.

Along with the four first-place honors, and Siciliano’s second-place finish, the Spartans also got top finishes from sophomore Andrew VanDyk (second at 135), sophomore Zach Coulas (third at 112) and junior Joe Pemberton (fourth at 215).

Although no team scoring is kept at the Mustang Classic, it was clear to all who the top team in the tournament was this year.

It also ended any questions regarding just how legitimate a team the Spartans will be once the major tournaments roll around.

The CBA Colts put forth a strong showing at the Hawk Classic at Manchester on Dec. 28, with the Colts claiming second place (124 points) overall.

Central Regional was the team champion with 152.5 points.

CBA was led by junior James Beshada, who won the 125-pound title, and senior Anthony Chirichello, the 171-pound champ. CBA also got second-place finishes from junior Chris Finley at 140, senior Anthony DeLeo at 152 and junior Ollie Ferraro at 189.

CBA also had three grapplers rebound from semifinal losses to come back to win their consolation matches and claim third-place finishes.

Shore Regional’s wrestling team participated in the Holmdel Christmas Tournament, won by Freehold, and took home a solid fourth-place team showing.

The Blue Devils were led by junior Vinny Riccardi, who won the 119-pound individual title by beating Keyport’s Dan Cornell with a pin at the 4:22 mark of their final bout.

Shore also got a second-place finish from senior Jed Fister at 130 and senior John Callery at 152.