By: Sean Moylan
The Bordentown Regional High School wrestling team entered this past weekend’s Patriot Duals looking to win the tournament and to avenge last year’s loss to Bishop Eustace, which probably kept the Scotties out of the playoffs.
The Scotties did both.
"It’s the first time we’ve started out 3-0 in I don’t know how many years," said Bordentown Coach Joe Sprague, whose team defeated Bishop Eustace, 42-31, in the finals to win it all. "We lost to Bishop Eustace by 17 points last year so to beat them by 11 is big."Sprague’s strategy for the match was simple. He needed his big guns to dominate and his other wrestlers to pick up points along the way.
"Going into the Bishop Eustace match I knew I could get five pins," said Sprague, who, as expected, got those 30 points.
Bishop Eustace didn’t even send anyone out to the mat to battle Jon Gens (189) and Demetrice Sims (215), who both won by forfeit. It took Josh Slezak only 20 seconds to pin Bishop Eustace’s 152-pounder Panchella. Brent Clemens (140) pinned Gadstein 12 seconds into the second round and Bill Dekovitch (171) floored Bisop Eustace’s Pars-Orlandoni at the 1:39 mark of the first period. But the match of the day pitted Bordentown’s Mike Schoenhaar against Neely at 119 pounds. Schoenhaar, a pure 125-pounder, cut weight and wrestled down for his team against one of Bishop Eustace’s shining stars. The result was a 7-6 triple overtime win for the Scotties’ budding superstar.
"Mike Schoenhaar, he really beat a good kid (Neely)," said Sprague. "In overtime he (Schhoenhaar) escaped and the kid couldn’t take him down."
At 103, the Scotties Karam Khalifa beat Maniaci, 15-2, and Kevin Ashe won by forfeit at 160 to account for the Scotties other 9 points.
In the semi-finals, Bordentown used a combination of pins and tight decisions to topple Burlington City, 57-12. Joe Everitt (103), Khalifa (112), Clemens (145), Slezak (160), Dekovitch (189), Gens (215) and Sims (275) all won by pin, but Schoenhaar had another great match as he beat Burlington City’s 125-pounder Wells 4-3. At 171, Bordentown’s Wayne Pullen won his match by default. Jay Cassidy (119) and Justin Moore (130) also captured decisions against their Blue Devil opponents.
"Burlington City is a tough team. We won a lot of close matches," said a modest Sprague. "Freshman Jay Cassidy was 2-1 in the tournament and he is looking good. He beat a real good kid (Burlington City’s Wells)."
The Scotties began the tournament with one of their most lopsided victories in team history an 80-0 win over Cumberland on Friday evening.
Khalifa (112), Cassidy (119), Moore (130), Ryan Gray (135), Tyler Sheehan (140), Clemens (145), Sean Talley (152), Josh Slezak (171) and Gens (215) all won by pin. Sprague wants his veteran stars to dominate and they certainly did on Friday as Clemens flattened Tim Mitchell in only 25 seconds and Gens took all of 31 seconds to down Dustin Tarpine. Everitt (103), Pullen (160) and Sims (275) won by forfeit. Schoenhaar (125) and Dekovitch (189) each won by a major decision.
The Scotties were scheduled to have competed against Willingboro yesterday (Wednesday).
NBC
Jule Dolci was looking to open the season against the toughest competition he could find. That’s why he entered his Northern Burlington County Regional High School wrestling team in this past weekend’s Colt Classic.
Nevertheless, the Greyhounds proved themselves to be the best of the best on Saturday as they blew away CBA, North East Catholic and several other highly-respected teams to win the Colt Classic. NBC scored a total of 258 points and produced five gold medal winners in the tourney. In other words it wasn’t even close.
"Talk about a great weekend. Our varsity team wins a solid tourney over a state ranked (CBA) team last year. Our freshmen team goes 3-0 and we bring home the gold at one of the toughest JV tourneys (the Jackson Junior Varsity Tournament) I have ever seen," stated Dolci, who expects great things from his team and got them this past weekend.
Of course, NBC’s big three, Steve "the Mad Mauler" Makuka, Chris "the Menace" McMullen and Geoff "All Day" Bauma each won all three of their respective matches to win gold medals. Makuka had a pair of pins at 130 pounds, while Bauma wrestled at 160 and posted two technical falls. Meanwhile, McMullen captured the title at 140 with no problems.
Before the season started, Dolci hinted that NBC could dominate in the upper weight classes this season and the Greyhounds exhibited much to support that opinion this past weekend as gold medal winners Kristian Morris (189) and Brian Perry (215) combined to go 6-0 with six pins. Now, that’s domination.
R.J. Melton, who was 2-1 with two pins at 171, and Johnny "Let’s Get Ready to Rumble" Humble, who was 1-1 with a pin at 275, both took home silver medals. Ray Bullus posted a pair of pins to win a silver medal at 135. Meanwhile Brandy Price (two pins at 112), Phil Bowen (119) and Corey Fokides (145) each posted 2-1 records to win bronze medals. 152-pounder Brian Matey was also 2-1, but he was in a tough weight class so that earned him fifth place in the tournament. Brian Van Sciver, a 125-pounder, placed fourth in his division with a 1-2 mark. And Rich Grove posted a stellar 2-1 mark to earn fifth place at 103.
In the meantime, NBC’s freshmen team defeated Tom’s River East, Shawnee and St. Peter’s Prep, which are all solid squads. In the Jackson Junior Varsity Tournament on Sunday, the Greyhounds defeated Jackson (ranked #2 in the state), Ocean (#1), Wall (#17) and Brick Memorial (#13) not to mention Lakewood, Marboro and CBA.
While most of the Greyhounds wrestled well, Bart Townsend had a banner day with a perfect 3-0 record, which included two pins and a major decision.
NBC was scheduled to begin its regular season with a match at Cinnaminson yesterday (Wednesday).

