BY TIM MORRIS
Staff Writer
Howell’s attempt to crash Jackson’s and Southern Regional’s wrestling party was derailed by the host Rams on Saturday.
Jackson, the defending Shore Conference Tournament champion and Southern, last year’s finalist, are ranked No. 1 and No. 3 in the state, and have been the Shore area’s top programs the past few years.
With some impressive out-of-conference wins, Howell has joined the state’s elite, earning a No. 6 ranking.
On Saturday, in the SCT semifinals at Southern Regional, John Gagliano’s Rebels were looking to clear that next hurdle and beat the Rams (who edged them in last year’s semifinal, 28-26) and advance to the SCT final for the first time in school history.
Southern’s motivation was one more shot at the team that has been a roadblock for them. Last year alone, the Jags beat the Rams for the SC A South Division, SCT and State Group championships, and they again bested the Rams for the A South crown.
If Howell was going to throw a wrench into the expected Jaguar-Ram rematch, they had to build up a big lead at the lower and middle weights to offset Southern’s edge in the upper weights.
The match began at 112 pounds and Howell promptly built a 17-3 lead, but it proved to be too little as Southern rallied with its upper weight strength to hand Howell its first loss of the year, 34-23.
“We lost the coin toss and had to shuffle the lineup,” noted Gagliano. “We weren’t able to get some of the match-ups we wanted.
“Overall we didn’t wrestle that well, but give credit to Southern,” he added.
Joey Langel (112), Cody Fobes (125), Justin Morello (130) and Jimmy Bohn (135) helped stake Howell to its 17-3 lead. Morello got a pin and Langel and major decision.
“We needed a little bigger lead,” noted Gagliano, whose team is now 18-1.
Southern was able to offset Howell’s middle weight strength with state champions Luke Lanno (152) and Frank Molinaro (145).
As expected, the Rams dominated up top with Ed Broderick (171), Josh Cipolla (189), Glenn Carson (215) and Mike Thomas (heavyweight) paving the way for the 11-point margin.
Southern (12-3) would go on to lose one more time to the Jaguars, 31-23, in the Saturday evening final.
On Jan. 24, Howell hosted the first two rounds of the SCT. The Rebels beat Middletown South, the No. 14 seed, for the second time this year, 43-17, and then it was on to the quarterfinals for another meeting with state-ranked Ocean, the No. 6 seed, which had beaten Freehold Township, the No. 11 seed, 35-29.
These two teams have had quite a rivalry the last two years. Howell upset Ocean last year, and that paved the way for Howell winning the Shore Conference A North Division title. Earlier this month, the teams clashed in Ocean (which moved down to the B North Division) with a high SCT seeding on the line. Howell fell behind 19-10 but roared back to win 34-22. Fobes’ unforgettable match with Ocean’s Zac Coulas, in a battle of undefeated wrestlers, sparked the Howell comeback. It was Fobes’ first win over the Spartan.
The rematch followed a similar script. With its state place-winners up top, Kyle Kiss and Jeff Siciliano registering pins, Ocean grabbed a 21-10 lead.
It was at 125 that the match turned around last time, when Cody Fobes won a great match in sudden-death overtime. Coulas avenged that loss with a 12-5 victory that extended the lead to 24-10.
Ocean, however, was no match for the Rebels in the middle weights. Morello got the pin parade going, and was followed by Tim Hollern (135) and Bohn (140). That put Howell in front for the first time, 28-24, and once again, victory was on the shoulders of Tom Tuminelli (145), and he put it away with a pin.
The Rebels had little time to dwell on their SCT loss. It doesn’t get any easier this week. On Monday, the Rebels went up against High Point, a Top 10 team, in a tri-meet at Randolph. Saturday, they face Shore powers Wall and Brick Memorial at home.
Gagliano pointed out that his team had a lot to wrestle for. Its goal is to be ranked as high in the state as it can be (its previous best was No. 9 last year), and then there is the state tournament and NJSIAA District 21 Tournament.
Tuesday, the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group IV tournament begins and the Rebels are all but assured a spot in the eight-team field. They were No. 4 in power points headed into last week’s action. If the current rankings were to hold, Howell would meet Old Bridge (No. 5) in Jackson with the winner getting the No. 1 Jags in the semifinals.
After Tuesday’s action, it will be down to the sectional finals on Feb. 9 at the home of the highest-seeded team. The State Group semifinals and finals are Feb. 11 at the Ritacco Center at Toms River North.