South Brunswick wrestlers have Dougherty in a quandary

By: Ken Weingartner
   By the end of this week, coach Joe Dougherty will have a better idea of what to expect from this season’s edition of the South Brunswick High School wrestling team.
   What to do with that knowledge might be the difficult part.
   The Vikings, who fell to 1-4 with a 40-18 loss at East Brunswick last week, face traditional state powers Old Bridge (Wednesday, after press time) and Hunterdon Central (Saturday) this week. Dougherty knows it’s time for SB to show its mettle. He hopes his wrestlers realize it, too.
   "I’ve asked them to try to refocus and work harder, and I don’t see it happening," Dougherty said Tuesday. "Maybe they’re content with mediocrity. I’m not content with mediocrity. I’m not going to sit back and accept mediocrity. It’s hard to know what to do.
   "You try to motivate them, but there has to be some sense of urgency on their part. If there’s no sense of urgency, that attitude pervades. I can’t have that happen. I’m going to push them and try new stuff. We’re going to see what happens. I’m hoping they surprise me."
   Paul Strincoski, a senior, thinks the team might be ready to do just that.
   "We lost a couple seniors from last year, and we need kids to step up," he said. "Some of the younger kids seemed a little scared at the beginning of the season because they were moving up to varsity and didn’t have much experience.
   "It’s not that our team was better last year, everyone just needs to work a little harder. Hopefully by the end of the year we’ll be at our high point, we’ll be at our peak. A lot of kids are on the verge of breaking it. They’re right there."
   The Vikings were 17-2 last year and have ranked among the state’s Top 20 in recent seasons.Against East Brunswick, Garrett Nasdeo (119 pounds), Strincoski (125), Dan McGrath (140), Mike Valentino (160) picked up the only wins for the Vikings.
   "East Brunswick wrestled well, and we didn’t," Dougherty said. "They have a good team, it’s not like we got beat by a bunch of scrubs. A couple of the matches we were in, but they didn’t turn out for us. The kids didn’t execute well. That’s what it comes down to. They wrestled well, and we wrestled poor. That combination gets you a 40-18 score. Nothing worked out real well. I didn’t see anything good that day."
   Dougherty said he can not remember ever being in a situation like this season.
   "Even if we had teams that weren’t exceptionally talented, the kids were in the room working hard and were goal-oriented," he said.
   South Brunswick’s lineup features several veterans, like Strincoski, Valentino, Nasdeo, and Shelcusky, who can assist in helping the younger wrestlers improve. Strincoski said that Valentino recently has taken a leadership role in the wrestling room.
   "We’re just trying to push everyone hard," he said. "There’s starting to be some leadership. We thought coming into the season that ‘We’re South Brunswick, we’re good,’ but it hasn’t turned out that way. We’ve always had good records and state rankings, and this is the complete opposite. But we can turn it around. I just hope it’s not too late when we get it turned around."
   From the coach’s perspective, this week would be the perfect time to start.