Chris Kelly Shore Regional’s Mike Szczurek tries to work South River’s Steven Zdep for nearfall points after scoring a takedown at 160 pounds. Even though the Blue Devil won his bout behind a 2:39 pinfall, the visitors from West Long Branch lost in the Central Jersey Group I finals, 36-32.
On the bus ride home, there were 14 disappointed wrestlers. After a sizable victory in the Central Jersey Group I semifinals, the Shore Regional wrestling team nearly defeated South River in the finals, but lost 36-32.
"Raise your heads," said head coach Santangelo to his charges on the way home. "I couldn’t be any more proud of my kids for the way they came out tonight. I saw these kids wrestle with everything they had tonight. They did their best and had a great run this year."
After the hosting Rams won the 215-pound bout behind a 51-second pinfall, the Blue Devils jumped out to an 19-point lead following the next three weight classes.
Chris Gornik, Billy Jungfer and Mike Crowell all recorded first-period pins for their team.
Gornik dispatched Tommy Scanlon in 57 seconds by using a half nelson pinning combination at heavyweight. Jungfer, who cut from 119 pounds to 103 for the last two matches, and Crowell (112) both used cradles to deck their South River opponents.
The hosts cut the Blue Devils’ lead in half at 119 pounds, when Vinnie Aroneo decisioned Eric Urban.
Even though Urban lost the bout 10-4, his ability to escape from Aroneo’s grasp allowed him to only give up team points for a decision.
The victory at 119 pounds started a four-bout trade off, with Shore and South River claiming two victories from 119 to 135 pounds.
Randy Green majored Alvin Medina, 17-8, at 125 pounds, as Geoff Embrey surprised even his team with a 11-1 major decision over Tommy Lefever.
With the win at 119 pounds, and a 1:27 pinfall at 130 pounds, South River chipped away Shore’s lead down to 26-15.
The tide turned in the Rams’ favor, at 140 pounds, when South River claimed a narrow 3-2 victory. Tom Caruso easily outshot Iuri Pinto through the match, but it was Pinto who scored the bout’s only takedown in the second quarter. Pinto chose to start the second period in the defensive position, following a scoreless first period.
In the third, Caruso chose defense, and was not only awarded an escape point, but a penalty point from Pinto illegally locking his hands.
With over a minute left on the bout, Caruso forced a majority of the action, with Pinto being hit with a stalling warning with 26.1 second left. The Blue Devil continued to work for the takedown, but Pinto neither gave up the score, nor was he hit for another penalty.
The win added another three team points to South River’s score, bringing the Rams within eight points of their guests.
Mike Lipman and Greg Mongelli then deadlocked the score at 26 apiece, behind a 12-3 major decision at 145 and 152 pounds.
Shore then gained a little hope at defeating the No. 1 seed in the sectional tournament, thanks to Mike Szczurek. Szczurek bumped up to 160 pounds (he normally wrestles at 152 pounds) to face Steven Zdep. The Blue Devil scored the bout’s only takedown in the first period, before Zdep chose defense to begin the second.
Zdep might have thought that since he scored a reversal in the first period, that Szczurek couldn’t hold him down to the mat. The judgment proved wrong, as Szczurek used a power half nelson pinning combination to force Zdep onto his back, then registered a 2:39 pinfall.
The win gave Shore a 32-26 lead, one that only lasted a little over seven minutes.
Shore watched their hopes for a sectional title fade away as South River posted a 20-9 major at 171 pounds, and end with a 1:10 pinfall at 189 pounds.
"I don’t care what anyone says about this team after tonight; they came into this gym as underdogs, and nearly defeated the No. 1 seed in the tournament," said Santangelo. "Had the coin toss, and a couple of calls gone our way, then this match may have been ours. But I can tell you one thing for sure, my kids came to wrestle tonight. I didn’t know what this team would be like at the end of last season. To be honest, I didn’t think there was a lot of hope after last year. But this team took the reins, gave everything they had each time they stepped onto the mat, and have made me proud to be their coach."
In order to reach the finals against South River, the Blue Devils had to put forth their most inspired match of the season. And it came on the heels of their worst stretch of the year.
After several matches where the Blue Devils were routed, the team awoke for one of their biggest team wins thus far, defeating Metuchen, 45-26, in the semifinal round.
"This was a big win for us," said head coach Rich Santangelo. "Everyone came out to wrestle."
However, the veteran Shore coach didn’t want his kids to get ahead of themselves. Shore’s program has a good reason to think that they might have won the overall title — Metuchen, despite two forfeits, defeated South River by four points a little over a week ago.
Metuchen started the match with a pin when John Manzo (119 pounds) reversed Eric Urban onto his back for a 3:23 pinfall. He went up 12-3 behind a 5:12 pinfall at 130 pounds.
Randy Green prevented the visitors from sweeping the opening three weight classes with a 7-5 decision at 125 pounds.
One of the biggest question marks in the lineup, Chris Stackhouse, came up big for a six-point swing, pinning Chris England in 2:55.
Tom Caruso (140 pounds) gave his team the lead, using a double-arm bar pinning combination, pinning Zach Weiner in 1:25.
Metuchen retook the lead, 20-18, behind a decision and technical fall.
But Mike Szczurek and Andrew Vuocolo’s abilities to give up a combined eight team points only gave Metuchen a one-point advantage. Shore ran the last six bouts 5-1, enabling them to win by almost 20 points.
Matt Mayer scored the only takedown at 171 pounds, and held for a 3-1 win. Twin brother Mike Mayer scored a takedown at 189 pounds, then twisted Joe Palmisano onto his back for a 1:12 pinfall.
After a 1:38 pinfall by Metuchen at 215 pounds, Shore’s lead was slimmed, 27-26. But the match was put out of reach with a 28-second pinfall by Chris Gornik (heavyweight), and sealed by Billy Jungfer’s 1:33 pinfall at 103 pounds.
Mike Crowell capped off his team’s performance with a 35-second pinfall at 112 pounds.
The win not only gave Shore a chance to win the CJ Group I title, but it improved the team to a 12-6 record.