By: Ken Weingartner
It’s been a long time since South Brunswick High failed to send a wrestler to the state tournament.
For a long while Saturday, during the Region 5 Tournament at Hunterdon Central High’s fieldhouse, it looked like the Vikings’ streak of advancing wrestlers might come to an end.
Then Matt Clancy, the Vikes’ final hope, took the mat for his third-place match at 189 pounds against Bound Brook’s Mike Roberts. With a ticket to the next round hanging in the balance, the SB senior asked coach Joe Dougherty one question: "Do you have your bags packed?"
Clancy, the fifth seed, then went out and posted an 11-5 win over the third-seeded Roberts.
"I knew (Roberts) was in my way and I wasn’t going to let him outwork me or outmuscle me," Clancy said. "I wanted to get an early lead and sit on it. I’m just happy I’m going to Atlantic City."
Dougherty wasn’t sure when South Brunswick last failed to have a state qualifier, but estimated it had to be at least a dozen years ago.
Through the early part of this season Clancy seemed a lock to be a state qualifier. He won his first 18 bouts, including a title at the Mustang Classic tournament, before losing to Piscataway’s Rob Damon in a dual match battle of unbeatens.
Damon continued winning, right through the region final at 171. Clancy started to struggle. He finished fourth in the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament, as the top seed at 189, and was second in the District 20 Tournament.
"Right after I lost to Damon I just went down," said Clancy, who is 26-5. "When I was undefeated, I had something to look to, something to focus on. Then I started slipping up."
Clancy won his regional pre-quarterfinal match 3-1 over Delaware Valley’s Mike Limoli and beat fourth-seeded Will Borchert of Princeton 8-4 in the quarters. He then lost 11-6 to Piscataway’s Chris Jones, the eventual champ, in the semifinals.
Faced with elimination, Clancy rebounded to win 9-4 over Franklin’s Maurice Edim to advance to the third-place bout. He is looking forward to extending his career for another few days.
"The last time I’m going to be wrestling for South Brunswick will be this weekend and I want to see what I can do," Clancy said. "I’m going to take it one match at a time. I’ve already beaten some of the kids that will be there. I think I can do well if I’m focused."
The only other Viking who had a chance to advance by late Saturday afternoon was senior 119-pounder Vinnie Biondo. Seeded eighth, Biondo lost in the quarterfinals to eventual champ Kris Sigafoos of Delaware Valley, but battled through the wrestlebacks to reach the consolation final.
In the bout for third place, Biondo dropped a 4-3 decision to Lawrence’s Alex DeHart.
"Going into the tournament I just wanted to wrestle well, I wasn’t thinking about states," said Biondo, who finished the season 16-12. "Then you see it, you can picture it. To come so close, it’s hard. No one expected me to do that well; I wasn’t expecting to do that well. It was a good run."
After losing to Sigafoos, Biondo won 6-3 over Woodbridge’s Gary Griffin, then knocked No. 2 seed Adam Kull of Hillsborough from the tourney with a 3-1 overtime win. Biondo actually "won" the match twice. He was awarded a takedown at the end of regulation, but after a discussion between the head referee and assistant referee, the points were taken off the board and the bout was sent to OT.
"The other referee saw something different," Biondo said. "A lot of times you can lose your focus, get ticked off, when that happens. The ref’s not always right, and you’re not always right, you just have to take it as it comes. I just had to do what I had to do."
Despite coming up a couple points short of advancing to states, Biondo was pleased with his effort.
"It’s weird how it works out," he said. "Some days are bad, some are good. This was a good day for the most part. It was the end of my season and I wanted to wrestle well; I had nothing to lose. I wanted to wrestle for myself."
BACKPOINTS: District 215-pound champ Derek Shelcusky lost to state qualifier Zach Voyce of Voorhees in the region quarterfinals. He pinned Alton Terry in his first consolation match, but turned his ankle in the next round and was forced to default to Perth Amboy’s Alex Sanchez. The junior ended the season 23-8 . . . Justin DelPiano, who won the district crown at 145, reached the regional semis with a 5-3 victory over Sayreville’s Tommy Danielsen before losing to No. 1 seed Jack Barrett of Metuchen. He lost in the wrestlebacks 6-4 to state qualifier Chris Floyd of Lawrence. The junior ended also at 23-8 . . . Kyle Wadiak, another junior, won his pre-quarterfinal at 160 by pin over Bernards’ Larry O’Kroughly before falling 5-3 to Hunterdon Central’s state qualifier J.R. Nettuno and 5-3 to East Brunswick’s John Parke. He ended the season 21-9. Senior Bobby Ayala (135, 18-11) lost in the pre-quarterfinals as did freshman Ryan Smith (125, 16-14), who was beaten by Bernards’ Greg Hart, the eventual third-place finisher.
