Zuza brothers, Lebedz win bouts in loss to Ridge
By: Rudy Brandl
Manville High wrestling coach Brett Stibitz certainly wasn’t happy with his team’s unexpectedly lopsided loss to Ridge, but he felt a little better after some positive remarks from veteran official Ken Bernabe.
The Mustangs expected to be in the match against Ridge, a team that finished one spot ahead of them at the Somerset County Tournament in December. Although the Red Devils rolled to a 61-14 victory in last week’s dual meet opener in Manville, Bernabe told Stibitz he saw some encouraging things on the mat.
Bernabe, who has worked state playoff matches and individual championship bouts on the district, region and state level, knows the sport. Stibitz took his compliments to heart.
"Like the referee said, we have good fire and team spirit," Stibitz said. "We just have to put it all together."
Stibitz had a game plan but a few early mishaps prevented the Mustangs from being competitive on the scoreboard. The MHS coach was counting on wins from Luis Martinez and Mike Noble but both wrestlers when Ridge stormed out to a 21-0 lead.
Sophomore 160-pounder Doug Semenick didn’t make weight, leaving Manville to forfeit that bout after junior Jason Lebedz put the home team on the board with a 19-5 major decision at 152. Later in the match, senior heavyweight Kile Galasso and 103-pounder Mark Gregor took early leads in their bouts but wound up on the short end.
"We figured it would come down to me and Kile, but it didn’t work out that way," said senior 189-pounder Joe Zuza, who looked sharp in a 15-3 major victory over Tom Wahlgren. "We saw a lot of spirit tonight, but we still have a long way to go. We can still pull it together."
The match started at 130 and Martinez, a true 119-pounder, took the early lead against Greg Scheffer. The Ridge wrestler dominated the second period with a reversal and four back points and erased his early deficit en route to an 8-5 decision. Noble battled Don Huff to a scoreless first period at 145 pounds but got caught in a headlock in front of the Ridge bench and was pinned at 3:21.
"Those are two matches I felt we could have won," Stibitz said. "What was the turning point right there. I had to bump Luis up to 130. That was my only move."
Lebedz looked like he was about to score a fall in the first 10 seconds but settled for a 5-0 lead in his bout against Andrew Wass. Lebedz had a few other chances to pin but tallied nine near-fall points in his 19-5 major.
The Zuza brothers tried to rally the Mustangs with back-to-back victories at 189 and 215. Joe, a senior co-captain, avenged his county technical fall loss with a commanding 15-3 triumph over Tom Wahlgren. Ed, a sophomore, scored his team’s only fall of the evening when he packed Brian Swayne at 2:55.
"He wasn’t good with his legs and he wasn’t looking for the turk, so I just lifted up his leg and pinned him," Ed Zuza said. "We have to keep wrestling our hearts out and put fear in the other team’s eyes. When we’re down, it’s more of a challenge to get the team pumped up."
Zuza credited volunteer assistants and former MHS wrestlers Pat Gorbatuk, Dave Markowitch and Mike Markowitch for helping him work on his moves. He had been concentrating on the turk in recent practice sessions and used it well against Swayne.
"If we don’t think we got enough of a workout, we’ll keep going over moves to make us better," Ed Zuza said.
Even after Cliff Meinweiser’s 15-4 major over Galasso, Manville still had a mathematical chance at winning but needed four pins to make up the 23-point deficit. Ridge wound up adding 24 points to its total for the lopsided margin. Evan Kahn pinned Mark Gregor in 3:15, Julian Bommier decked Nick Williams in 56 seconds, Chris Boehm pinned Dominika Rozanski in 27 seconds and Tom Rogers flattened Nghi Nguyen in 3:51.

