MHS-style perfection nearly attained

By: Ken Weingartner
   The Monroe Township High wrestling team came within a few hundredths of a point of a perfect season.
   OK, it wasn’t a perfect season in terms of being undefeated, but the Falcons missed by the narrowest of margins accomplishing all three of their major goals for the campaign.
   First, the Falcons won a share of the Greater Middlesex Conference White Division championship. Second, Monroe placed third in the District 20 Tournament, reaching its goal of a top-three finish. The only objective left unfulfilled was qualifying for the state team tournament – MTHS missed getting the sixth and final playoff spot by less than 0.1 power point.
   Additionally, the Falcons went 16-10, setting the school record for victories in a season, while Sam "Bam Bam" Emburgia became the first Monroe freshman to win a regional title and established the school record for individual wins with 37.
   "I was a little bit surprised; coming into the season I wasn’t sure how good we would be as a team," Falcons co-head coach Allen Rushing said. "We had some nice surprises, guys that came along and filled holes in the lineup. We had guys step up all season. We accomplished two out of our three goals, and we were as close as you could get with the other."
   Emburgia was among four Falcons to qualify for the Region 5 Tournament; he was joined by district champ David Saley, also a freshman, plus Jake "The Snake" Nale and Brendan Hodel. Emburgia advanced to the state tourney in Atlantic City, where he came one win from being a place-winner at 103 pounds.
   "It was just a great year for him," Rushing said about Emburgia, who finished 37-7. "We knew he was a good, experienced kid coming up, but he exceeded everything we expected. He set himself up real well for next year by the season he had."
   Saley started the season 2-7, but ended up 22-13 and won the district title at 130. Nale and Hodel were regional qualifiers for the second consecutive year; Nale finished 32-6 at 215 while Hodel was 9-9 at 112.
   Monroe’s regular lineup featured three seniors – Wally Seeman at 135, Nick Garibaldi at 160 and Chris "Farm Boy" Boehm at 171 – and all finished with better than .500 records. Boehm went 24-10 while Garibaldi was 20-13 and Seeman went 13-12. The only other senior on the roster, Matt Barrow, saw limited action at 140, but won a bout at districts.
   "The seniors did well," Rushing said. "They had a nice season and they showed good leadership. One opposing coach that wrestled us in a scrimmage told us we had a great attitude on the team and a nice atmosphere in the room. That’s something we try to build."
   Junior Frank Olexson was 23-10 at heavyweight while classmate Brian Mackiewicz was 19-12 and missed qualifying for regions by two points at 119. Guido Santiago (125) notched 11 wins during the season while Chris Garibaldi (145) had eight, Tom Stasicky (152) had six and Ryan Worden (189) had five.
   Emburgia, Saley, Nick Garibaldi, Boehm, Nale and Olexson received all-star honors from the league’s coaches.
   "We have a great group coming back next year and we’ve set ourselves up as a team people are going to be shooting for," Rushing said. "We’re going to have to step it up and get ready for next season. We’ve got a lot planned for the guys; next season starts now."
   In addition to the work done at the high school, the program is starting to see the benefits of its feeder programs – rec and the middle school – over the past several years. Falcons co-head coach Sal Profaci and Rushing both praised middle school coach Bill Jacatout Jr. for his efforts.
   "We had a good season; I’m pretty happy with our record," Profaci said. "We beat some teams that we probably shouldn’t have beaten, like Hightstown and Sayreville. Not qualifying for states was a disappointment, but a lot of that has to do with scheduling. We’re going to make some adjustments for next year.
   "We’ve got a lot of hard workers, a lot more year-round wrestlers on the team. They understand now how important it is to put in the time during the offseason; they’re seeing the positive results from that work."
   And maybe next season, they’ll be perfect.