Hillsborough teams set for Super Saturday

Wrestling, hoops events close to home

By: Rudy Brandl
   Hillsborough High sports fans certainly won’t be bored this weekend, especially Saturday when four huge events are on tap.
   Right here in Hillsborough, at the high school gym, the District 18 Wrestling Championships will be contested. Down Route 206 in Montgomery, the HHS boys and girls will compete in the Somerset County Basketball Tournament semifinals. Way down South off the Garden State Parkway in Toms River, the Hillsborough girls will challenge the state’s best in the Group 4 Track and Field Championships. The HHS male track and field athletes take their turn in the Group 4 competition Sunday in Toms River.
   It’s hard to believe the winter athletic campaign already is winding to a close. The wrestling season is a week ahead of schedule from previous years. The district tourney used to clash with the county basketball finals, which created enough conflict since the HHS girls almost always play for the tournament title.
   Now that the HHS boys and girls are both playing big basketball games Saturday, it will be impossible for the home fans to see all the hoops and wrestling action. Those heading farther south to watch the track and field athletes won’t see any basketball or wrestling.
   Here’s a closer look at Hillsborough High’s Super Sports Saturday:
   Wrestling – Don’t be fooled by Hillsborough’s 5-20 record in dual meets. The Raiders would have been much closer to .500 with a full, healthy lineup. Steve Molinaro’s boys will make plenty of noise in the upcoming weeks.
   Senior stars Frankie McLaughlin (28-1) and John Mangini (20-0) begin their quest for state championships this weekend. Both Raiders will be seeded first in the district and region as returning champions from both tourneys.
   If Mangini can recover from a leg injury that sidelined him for last week’s final five regular season matches, he should get the No. 1 seed at 160 pounds at the NJSIAA finals in Atlantic City. Mangini was the runner-up in last year’s state tournament.
   McLaughlin figures to grab the second seed at 152. His only loss this season came against Jackson star and two-time defending state champ Scott Winston, who will be ranked first. McLaughlin hopes to fight his way back to a rematch with Winston for the state title.
   There will be other Raider wrestlers advancing beyond the district phase this weekend. The top three finishers in each weight class earn a trip to the Region 5 Tournament at Hunterdon Central.
   One HHS wrestler to watch is senior 140-pounder Chris Ambrose (22-7), who has won 15 consecutive bouts. That weight class is shaping up to be deep and very challenging but Ambrose is entering the postseason with a head of steam.
   Junior 171-pounder Luke Dawson (19-8) has won six in a row but mostly at 160 pounds. If he can handle the additional weight of his opponents, Dawson will be a contender at 171.
   HHS sophomores Max Borisenko (215) and Will Goddiess (135) also will have a shot to punch their Region 5 tickets. There are always a few surprises at the districts, so don’t count out the younger Raiders in the lineup.
   The two-day event begins Friday at 5:30 with preliminaries and quarterfinal matches. Saturday’s session begins with the semifinals (10 a.m.) and continues with consolation finals (1 p.m.) and finals (3 p.m.).
   Girls’ Basketball – The Lady Raiders (16-4) will begin a girl-boy doubleheader vs. Immaculata at 12 noon in Montgomery High’s gym. The teams split their Delaware East Division games this season, each winning on the other’s home floor. This one will be played at a neutral site, making it a true rubber match.
   The SCT final four is an all-division affair even with Montgomery posting a stunning upset victory over No. 2 seed Watchung Hills. Montgomery takes on Franklin in the other county semifinal. All these teams have played each other tough during the regular season, so the rest of the tourney will be very interesting.
   "It’s open," Lady Raider head coach Jim Reese said. "I have a lot of respect for all those teams. Whoever we draw will be a challenge. A lot of teams could win it. I hope our experience (in the tournament) helps out."
   Hillsborough has defeated Rutgers Prep for the county title the past two years, but Franklin eliminated Prep in one of Saturday’s other quarterfinal games. Franklin and Montgomery have each led Hillsborough in the fourth quarter of games this year before Reese’s girls rallied to victory.
   The HHS girls are hoping to avenge their ugly 45-32 home loss to Immaculata with a victory Saturday. They’ll have to stop point guard Lindsay Melone and 3-point shooter Caitlin Bay and use their size advantage on the boards. That could mean another big game for HHS junior Kaitlin Capriccio, who played for the Spartans as a freshman. She’d like nothing better than to lead her new team into another county final.
   Hillsborough’s four senior starters aren’t ready for their county run to end. Kelsey Kutch, Ebony Jones, Heather Neumann and Lisa Cannellos have been there before and don’t want to leave high school without another trophy.
   "We have to play our best," Kutch said. "We’re not going to lose this year."
   Boys’ Basketball – The Raiders (10-8) revived their season with a 60-50 victory over Watchung Hills in last Saturday’s quarterfinals. Now, they have a chance to spoil the county final most people want to see with an upset victory over Immaculata in the second game of the SCT quadrupleheader in Montgomery at 2 p.m.
   The Spartans have beaten Hillsborough twice this season already and need to do it again if they want another shot at two-time defending champ Bridgewater-Raritan, which plays Franklin in the other SCT semifinal. Those who believe in the adage that it’s tough to beat the same team three times in a season must give the Raiders a chance.
   The HHS boys won’t be favored, but they have played Immaculata tough the past few years. The Spartans squeaked by in a one-point victory at Hillsborough back in December.
   "We get a chance to play for something," Raider head coach Ian Progin said after his team stopped a five-game losing streak Saturday. "Getting to the semifinals is a big step for this program. It’s a big step for me."
   The atmosphere will be electric when the Raiders and Spartans take the court. Hillsborough needs to play its best game to win. That means guarding Immaculata’s talented players, playing aggressively on the boards and executing on offense. If the Raiders do all those things and make their free throws like in Saturday’s win over Watchung, they’ll be right there in the final minutes.
   Track and Field – Senior shot putter Taryn O’Connor will be gunning for a State Group 4 title Saturday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. in Toms River. She’s tied and twice eclipsed the state-leading mark set earlier this season by Brick’s DeAnne Hahn, the only female to launch a longer throw at the State Group 4 Relays in January.
   Since the calendar has turned to February, O’Connor has unleashed nothing but 47-footers. She hit 47-2, 47-6 and 47-2½ in her last three meets. Another mark in that range could produce state gold.
   Other HHS athletes to watch this weekend include hurdlers Melissa Arango and Tyler Szwarc. Both seniors are hungry for a trip to the Meet of Champs.
   This year’s Group 4 competition is being split by gender and held on separate days in Toms River for the first time. The girls compete Saturday and the boys go Sunday, also at 1:30 p.m.
   Athletes scoring points for placing in the top six earn an automatic bid to the NJSIAA Meet of Champions, which will again be separated by gender the following weekend. Non-scoring athletes posting the top six times or distances in their events will receive wild cards to the M of C. The girls (Feb. 24) and boys (Feb. 25) will compete for Meet of Champions titles at the same indoor facility in Toms River.