Memorial wrestlers prepare for postseason

On Sunday afternoon, a few hours before all of America hunkered down to watch the Super Bowl, Steve Santos got on the phone with a number of his Brick Memorial High School wrestling teammates and organized another of the many road running workouts he has called for the past couple of years on days when there is no practice.

 

Typical of the dedication of the successful Mustangs, the numbers were good.

"Mike Kiley and I get the team together, especially now with only two weeks left to the season, and pretty much all the varsity was there," said Santos. "We just want to stay in the best shape."

It is that dedication that coach Dan O'Cone feels will help its team when it embarks on its defense of its NJSIAA Group IV championship starting Wednesday on its home mats in the Central Jersey sectionals against the winner of Hillsborough vs. Old Bridge. The semifinals are next Friday at Brick Memorial.

"We've had a good season. We can't get our heads down," said O'Cone, whose team came into this week 19-4. "Our schedule will help us. There's always room for improvement but with the guys who are experienced, those improvements already are minute and can't be recognized by the every day fans."

But the Mustangs have incentive enough to bounce back from a 36-23 Shore Conference Tournament semifinal loss to Long Branch, which won nine of 14 bouts and went on to win its second straight tournament title, 34-24, over Southern.

"I think we've been working hard and might see some of the teams again like Howell. All of our losses came to teams in the top 10 in the state and now that High Point beat Phillipsburg, Long Branch might be No. 1," said Santos.

Brick Township at 9-4 chose to pass up competing in the tournament, although it qualified, so that it can better prepare for the state sectionals that it is expected to host next Wednesday as the No. 1 seed on Group III Central Jersey. Ocean is projected as the No. 2 seed by virtue of its victory over No. 3 Wall, followed by Middletown South, Jackson Liberty and Hamilton West when pairings come out this week.

"We're just trying to put the team in the best possible position to win a state sectional," said Brick Township coach Matt Opacity of passing up the Shore Conference Tournament.

Memorial coach O'Cone said he was not disappointed with his team's performance against Long Branch in the Shore Conference Tournament, although his wins all came from his best wrestlers, as expected. Columbia University bound Santos at 152 pounds got a forfeit to raise his record to 26-0, with 19 coming via pin, while his brother, D.J. improved to 20- 6 at 119 pounds with a winning decision. He has seven pins. Mike Morales, who has gotten half of his wins via pin at 135 pounds, pulled out a 3-1 decision. Kiley got his ninth pin in a 22-3 campaign at 171 pounds just under a minute into his bout.

"I thought our kids wrestled pretty good," said O'Cone. "Sure it's tough to lose but they showed a desire to win. Long Branch made the moves and it worked out, bumping up two guys a weight class (to 189 and 215 pounds) that got them a split. I felt we competed and that made me feel happy."

There also were two tough losses that helped put Long Branch in a position to win — Corey Menafra lost a 2-0 decision at 160 pounds, and Bill Miller dropped a 5- 0 decision at 215 pounds, only his fifth loss in 24 outings. He has eight pins. Noel Reyes later in the match dropped a 4-3 decision at 140 pounds.

"They have a lot of strength spread out," said Steve Santos of Long Branch. "They're real athletic with a lot of seniors back from last year and many of our wrestlers are young. We were underdogs but we kept a lot of bouts close."

Brother D.J. agreed. "They have a lot of big guns and experienced but everyone on our team did what they had to do," he said. "This proves that we have to work a little harder to compete with every team in the state."

That includes Steve, a state runnerup last year, who said he is "stepping up the training and preparing pretty hard." D.J. said he wants to further improve his footwork.

Part of that fighting spirit, said O'Cone, was displayed by Alex Guarino who he said three times fought off his back to avoid getting pinned before losing by technical fall. "He wrestled pretty well and had the fight still in him while on his back and never gave up. This (type of fighting spirit) will carry us to the sectionals."

Brick Memorial advanced to the semis with a 48-19 preliminary-round victory over Middletown North and a 35-21 quarterfinal victory over Howell. Against Howell, Menafra won a major decision and Kiley got a pin while Brian McCrossan at 189 and Miller won decisions to secure the victory. Pins by Santos, Menafra and Kiley in the early going against Middletown South gave the Mustangs a commanding lead.

Brick Township, meanwhile, has won four straight dual meets since a 41-16 loss to Brick Memorial and on Saturday swept Hackettstown, 35-25, and Marlboro, 36-18, to improve to 11-4. Heavyweight Charles Rusignuolo, who got a big pin over Miller in the match against Memorial, helped wrap up the Hackettstown victory with a pin. He's 12-8. Dan Brennan won a major decision at 171 and is 11-10 on the season and Anthony Moriarty got a pin at 189 for his fourth victory.

"We're wrestling very well and doing everything we have to do at this point," said Opacity, whose team got its biggest victory when it handed Central its first loss in 16 matches. "It's been a team effort, not any one individual."

Ricky Bandejas continued his winning ways at 112 pounds and is 20-1 with seven pins. Kevin Watson at 215 pounds is 17-2 and freshman Joe Patton is 13-8 with nine pins at 103 pounds.