Brick Township’swrestling teamsoared into the Shore Conference Tournament yesterday off a sweep of a quad meet on Saturday and high hopes of holding onto itsNo. 1 berth in theNJSIAAGroup III Central Jersey bracket.
That cutoff is on Saturday when the Green Dragons, who are 9-5, host a quadrangular with Manalapan, Monsignor Donovan and Barnegat. That is, if they didn’t win their two Shore Conference Tournament matches yesterday and advance to the next round on Saturday.
The team is nearing an equal to last year’s 12-win season when it went 12-9. Last weekend, the Green Dragons swept Freehold Township, 43-24, St. John Vianney, 44-20, and Keyport, 60-21. Brick Memorial, meanwhile, is on a strong roll heading into the Shore Conference Tournament after a big 48-15 victory over Ocean as Karon Reid, a third place finisher in the state championships last year, won on a technical fall to improve to 15-1 at 140 pounds while unbeaten Steven Santos pinned his opponent for his 19th victory at 145. Also pinning were Cody Oliverio, who is 16-3 at 160, and Mike Kiley, who is 15-4 at 171.
Heavyweight John Pawin (12-7) and 112-pounder D.J. Santos (14-6) set the tone early with pins and 103-pounder Anthony Guzzi (10-6) with a major decision.
“We’re doing well. We’re just trying to weather the storm in (Shore Conference)A South,” said Brick Township coach Matt Opacity, whose team has only one loss in its last six decisions coming into this week.” Our goal is to make it to the state tournament this year.”
The Green Dragons certainly have the manpower to do it with nine wrestlers in double-figures with victories.
“We’re pretty diversified but our strength is definitely toward the upper weights,” said Opacity. “We have backups down low.We never had this much depth.”
John Battista, a senior, has been the bulwark at 189 with a 16-3 record and a team high 10 pins. His three losses are by a combined six points, two of them in overtime.
Freshman Connor Brennan is one of the top prospects this season competing in the tough 125-pound class. “He’s wrestling really tough kids and has lost to some really good ones,” said Opacity as Bennan is 16-5 with five pins.
Two other wrestlers with 16 victories – 215-pound junior KevinWatson (16-4, 4 pins) and 171-pound senior John Fritzsch (16-3, 9 pins) have pulled off some big some big victories. Right behind is junior Kevin Johnson, who is 15-5 with six pins at 140 and sophomore Corey Rackliffe, who is 14-6 with 5 pins at 103.
Also in double-figures in victories are senior Ray Johnson, who is 11-9 at 160, junior BenWright,who is 10-6 at 145 and sophomoreMike Brancaccio,who is 10-10 at 112.
Many of them can be a threat in District 23.
“It’s a very, very strong district,” said Opacity as Long Branch also has emerged as a formidable team in the mix this season. “It is so deep. Kids could get bumped out of the district that could place in the region.”