Green Dragons expect good things on the mats
BY WAYNE WITKOWSKI
Staff Writer

Victories may not come easily or often for Brick Township’s wrestling team in the grind of Shore Conference A South against the likes of Brick Memorial, Southern, Jackson, and Toms River East.

But there is a strong nucleus back from last year that is encouraging for Matt Opacity as he began practices for his second season as head coach last Friday.

“We have a bigger turnout than last year,” said Opacity. “One of the key things is getting guys out who are walking the halls. I think our coaching staff is doing a good job of that.”

Cliff Crowther is new to the staff, with returning assistants Dennis Hill and Mike Berardinelli, as they prepare for the Dec. 18 opening tournament at Southern Regional.

“We’re trying to build a program here,” said Opacity. “A South is one of the toughest, if not the toughest division around. We’re looking to be competitive.”

They’ll devote their efforts to a team that has experience throughout the lineup, except for the three upper weights. Graduated from that group is heavyweight Brandon Brooks, who highlighted his season with a victory over defending champion Manny Navarro, of Long Branch, in the District 23 finals. He was fourth in the region. Also finishing fourth in the region was graduated 215-pounder Kyle Watson, a district runner-up. Vin Valenti also graduated after a fine season at 189.

Defending district champions Colin Lewis, who was fourth in the region in a 26-6 season, will compete at 119 and Steve Watson will go at 154 pounds, another 20-match winner. Also back is Dustin Hickman at 140. He was third in the district and won two region matches. All three are seniors.

As for the upper weights, Opacity sounds comfortable with having Kyle Hoebel at heavyweight after he suffered only one loss on junior varsity. Dan Seufert, a junior, can compete either at 189 or 215.

Opacity is especially keen about freshman John Batista, a state champion and national caliber wrestler for the Brick Recreation Mat Rats program, who will compete at 152 or 160, and he expects Steve Hoffsommer to get noticed at 119.

Juniors Kyle Racliffe and Vin Lacerda are solid in the first two weight classes, while Tom Barry and Xavier Garcia bring success from last season at 125 and 130 pounds. All are juniors except Barry, who is a senior and comes off another successful cross country season as the team’s top runner. The conditioning from that sport will help Barry.

Sophomore Kevin Senkarik was poised for a big postseason before an injury ended his season early. He’ll wrestle at 135.