Bobal sustains wrestling streak
By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
Tyler Bobal was up at 5 a.m., but wasn’t feeling fully awake until halfway through Saturday’s wrestling tri-meet.
Despite a win from the freshman, Montgomery High School suffered a 33-28 loss to Vernon in the first match of the day, but they turned it around in a 50-20 win over Nutley later in the day. Bobal was a winner in both matches.
”That first match, I was tired,” Bobal said. “I was gassed at the end. Luckily, I was able to beat my guy and get ready for the next match.
”Our coach is very good at motivational speaking. He got us ready for the next match. He was real motivational.”
Bobal was perfect on Saturday to improve to 16-4. He has not lost since the Somerset County Tournament and has seven pins to his credit. He reached the SCT semifinals.
”Tyler Bobal is really rolling,” said MHS coach Kevin Jacoutot after his team improved to 8-5. “He’s wrestling kind of underweight. He’s been doing very good.”
Bobal has become a reliable force as one of the lower weights. He was familiarizing himself with the program as an eighth grader last year. The cousin of MHS 103-pounder Erik Biago, Bobal was a regular at home matches and also saw the Cougars at the SCT and District 18 Tournament. At the latter, he witnessed his cousin’s district title win.
”When I was watching a home match once, I remember that I couldn’t wait,” Bobal said. “I knew I really wanted to get to practice and wrestle with the team.”
Bobal’s freshman season started with a few lumps. He lost a challenge to teammate Tom Reynolds for the 119-pound spot, but secured the 125-pound class for the Cougars. He lost a few early matches as he adjusted to taking on juniors and seniors. Bobal can explain his recent stretch of success.
”Just because I’ve been working harder,” he said. “My last few losses, one was close and one I shouldn’t have lost. It made me more motivated to get back on the ball.”
The Cougars are much the same way. They have lost some close ones recently. They fell to Ridge last week by two points, then saw Vernon rally late for a five-point win Saturday.
”When we lose tight and something happens that shouldn’t happen,” Bobal said, “we get more motivated and wrestle harder in practice and do more drills to prepare more for the next match.”
Each match gives Bobal experience at the varsity level and helps him to adjust a higher caliber of wrestling. Other winners Saturday for MHS were John Moyle, Matthias Cassar, Nick Cassar, Alex Sottile, Norm James and Biago. Biago remains unbeaten on the season at 103 pounds and is helping a resilient Cougars team look ahead positively.
”They were upset with Ridge,” Jacoutot said. “I told them it’s halfway through the season and we’re going to have a lot more pressure cookers like that. It’s good we had one like that. I wanted to see how they responded to that. I wanted to see them in a tight situation. We’re always learning. Those types of matches, even the experienced kids are learning from that. They’re under pressure. They have to win for the dual meet.
”Somerville, Bridgewater, Franklin and Hopewell, those matches can go either way. It’s going to be typical matches like Ridge. We have to learn to grind some of those out. You have to come from behind sometimes and grind it out. You have to learn from it.”
Even learning how to deal with an earlier start is a lesson for the younger Cougars. MHS is hoping that it can spin its tough early morning loss into something positive down the line. There are plenty of positives, beginning with the Cougars being just one win away from equaling last year’s win total.
”All these teams who beat us last year, we’re able to reverse the score,” Jacoutot said. “Bound Brook and Bernards, we reversed the score on them. Any time you can do that, you know there’s improvement. I want to have a winning record second year. I think that’s possible. It’s something to strive for, and doing well in districts.”
Added Bobal: “We’re feeling really strong. We feel we could possibly make it to states and do well. As a team, we think we have some of the best team players. All our wrestlers do well when they do what they need to do. They don’t give up pins or losses.”
Bobal has tried to do his part of help the program. He is part of a strong group of lower weight wrestlers for the Cougars along with Biago, fellow freshman John Moyle and Reynolds. Bobal has become a reliable winner at 125 pounds.
”When I came in, I knew I’d have to wrestle off for a spot for varsity,” Bobal said. “Once I did that, I thought I’d do good the whole season. After that first match against New Egypt, I got my thoughts together and started wrestling better.”
Said Jacoutot: “I see him as the No. 2 guy in the district now. He’s positioned himself pretty good for the postseason. He’s an accomplished wrestler. He wrestled for a couple years so he has a lot of technique under his belt. He’s what I call cagey. He has lot of dig down defense. Guys try to score on him and he weasels his way out and gets points on them.”
Bobal has gotten more points than any of his opponents lately. He is starting to feel more confident in his abilities halfway through his first year of varsity.
”I’m pretty surprised,” Bobal said. “There have been some kids that I didn’t think I’d do so well against that I turned out to do well against.”
Bobal can trace some of his success to his cousin’s influence.
”Erik started wrestling in fifth grade,” Bobal said. “He was doing good and his dad tried to convince me to come out. I wasn’t doing good at basketball so I started wrestling. I did like it right away.
”We always love to fool around, and wrestle just for the fun of it. We do things to make each other mad to wrestle harder too.”
And in the end, Bobal is hoping to follow Biago’s lead to a successful end to his first season of high school wrestling. So far, Tyler Bobal hasn’t been far behind in comparing varsity debuts.
”My first year of varsity wrestling, I’ve been very pleased,” he said. “I wasn’t expecting to come away with so many wins so far. I’m pleased with how progress has been and the work I’ve done.
”My goals for this year are placing in districts and going to regions. Erik plans on doing that as well. We both feel we should do well and should have at least three district placers from our team.”