Manderski wins three bouts
By: Rudy Brandl
The Manville High wrestling team is looking forward to a little break in its rigorous early schedule this week.
After opening the dual meet season against the likes of powerhouse teams like Bound Brook and Delaware Valley and a solid Bernards club, the Mustangs were set to face a less daunting stretch of matches this week. They hosted Belvidere Monday night and traveled to Montgomery Wednesday to prepare for Saturday’s Bob Daugherty Invitational Tournament at Rutgers Prep.
MHS head coach Brett Stibitz knew the first week of January was going to be tough, especially with a young team thin on numbers. Even the deepest, most seasoned team would face an uphill battle against the likes of Delaware Valley, a perennial fixture in the state team playoffs.
Del Val and Bernards came to town for a Saturday tri-meet and the results were not surprising. Del Val rocked the Mustangs by a 72-4 score in the morning match and Bernards posted a 66-12 win in the afternoon affair. Manville, which also dropped a 63-9 match at Bound Brook in the middle of the week, fell to 0-3.
"It’s brutal," Stibitz said. "It was a tough way to open up against those teams. We saw some of the best."
Manville faced several likely region winners and two potential state champs last week. Bound Brook 140-pounder Nick Murray and Del Val 119-pounder Danny Kelly are ranked among the state’s finest in their weight classes. MHS issued a forfeit to Murray but sent out Adam Wolcott to tangle with Kelly, who pinned him in the first period.
Senior heavyweight Mark Manderski provided a few highlights in the first three matches, winning each time he took the mat. Manderski battled for six minutes to post a 3-1 decision over Bound Brook’s Oleem O’Garro. He then swept Saturday’s tri-meet with a pin against Bernards and major decision against Delaware Valley for Manville’s only points of that match.
"He’s getting back in form," Stibitz said. "This week is going to be interesting for him. He’s got a tough match against Belvidere and then we have a tournament coming up."
Manville’s only other points of the Bernards match came via forfeit to 145-pounder Jason Pfoutz. Manderski was the only winner on the mat at Bound Brook, which forfeited to junior 189-pounder Glenn Hall.
Stibitz wasn’t happy with the way his club wrestled at Bound Brook but saw more bright spots in Saturday’s afternoon match vs. Bernards. A few Mustangs scored early and took leads but ran out of gas later and dropped their bouts.
Freshman 112-pounder David Olmstead, who picked up his first takedown of the season in the morning match vs. Del Val, scrapped his way to the lead against Clay Schauffler of Bernards but got caught with 18 seconds left in the match.
Kocur forged ahead in his 145-pound bout vs. Kyle Sauri but it was his first bout since returning from a back injury so conditioning was an issue. He was pinned at 2:29. Lukasz Bogdanowicz (160) and Kevin Sellar (171) also showed spark early in their bouts.
"We were actually leading a couple of bouts and took some guys to the third period," Stibitz said. "We started to wrestle a little bit better in the Bernards match."
The Mustangs continue to fight the numbers game with only 10 wrestlers in the lineup on a regular basis. MHS welcomed back Kocur in Saturday’s second match and expects freshman 135-pounder Tyler Britt back for this week’s action.
Manville lost a valuable veteran when senior 152-pounder Roland Yakobchuck elected to leave the team to focus on academics and work to save for his college education. Yakobchuk’s departure left the Mustangs with another hole in their lineup.
Stibitz has realistic expectations about his team’s chances to win against these powerful Skyland Conference schools. The goals are more individual than team-oriented for now.
"Every kid is trying to get better individually," Stibitz said. "From David Olmstead all the way up to Mark Manderski, we’re looking for individual progress. There’s no pressure on them. We just want them to get better."
The Mustangs will try to show what they’ve learned so far in Saturday’s tournament, which includes Middlesex, Carteret, Pingry and Rutgers Prep. There won’t be any Del Vals or Bound Brooks in that mix.
"I’m looking forward to the tournament," Stibitz said. "It will be good for us to see how far we’ve come."