History on hold for young team
by Rudy Brandl, Sports Editor
OLD BRIDGE Chalk this one up to experience.
The young Hillsborough High wrestling team was hoping to make school history in Monday night’s Central Jersey Group 4 playoff match at Old Bridge. The Raiders were seeking to win their first team playoff match ever, having lost in the first round in their two previous trips to the CJ 4 tournament.
Unfortunately, the third time was not the charm. Old Bridge won all the key bouts and limited Hillsborough’s bonus points in a 47-14 victory to earn a CJ 4 semifinal shot at powerhouse top-ranked Jackson. Veteran head coach Steve Molinaro and the Raiders took the defeat in stride.
”It’s a plus getting here, but obviously we wanted to do better,” Molinaro said afterward. “I would have liked to do better, but with all the youth in our lineup, I hope we can be back again.”
The fifth-ranked Raiders (14-9) had reason to feel optimistic about their chances in Monday night’s match. HHS and Old Bridge shared one common opponent Sayreville. The Raiders defeated the Bombers by a 39-21 score in a December quad, while Old Bridge fell short to the Middlesex County champs by a 38-22 margin. In sports, the transitive property doesn’t always hold up.
”There were a lot of variables,” Molinaro said. “We could use the common opponent thing with Sayreville, but you can’t always go by that. It all comes down to the pair-ups.”
Hillsborough and Old Bridge traded the early bouts, with three of the first four being decided by one or two points. HHS seniors Luke Dawson and Kevin Campanale prevailed, but didn’t score any bonus points.
Dawson got the Raiders started with a 6-4 decision over Steve Zafrani in the opening bout at 152 pounds. Dawson scored two takedowns in the first period but Zafrani rallied to tie the bout late in the second. Dawson won it with an escape and penalty point.
Old Bridge won the first key bout of the night at 160, where Trevor Haughey survived a late charge by George Goddiess in a 3-2 decision. Goddiess came agonizingly close to the winning takedown as time expired, leaving the team match tied at 3-3.
Chris Suozzo remained unbeaten with a pin of Jared Leon at 171 pounds. Suozzo needed 44 seconds to get the takedown and locked up a mean cradle for the fall at 1:28.
The Raiders got some points back from Campanale, but he was held to a 7-5 decision over Nick Orak at 189. Campanale nearly decked Orak midway through the second but the official awarded a three-point near fall that gave the HHS senior a 5-0 lead. Orak rallied but Campanale held on for the victory.
It looked like a long night filled with tight bouts, but Old Bridge changed the tone and took charge with three consecutive wins for a 23-6 lead. Dave Zafrani dominated Max Borisenko for an 18-4 major at 215 pounds. Heavyweight Dave Mundy gave the home team a major boost with a stunning pin at 4:23 after leading just 1-0 after two periods. Conor Hayes blanked HHS freshman Joey DiCarlo for an 8-0 major that gave the Knights a comfortable lead.
”We knew that there were going to be a lot of pivotal matches that had to be won,” Molinaro said. “Once we started losing those, things went the other way.”
Hillsborough freshman T.J. Guidice temporarily stopped the bleeding with a 15-0 technical fall at the end of the second period. Guidice absolutely manhandled Frank Butta but couldn’t turn him all the way for the pin and six team points. Guidice scored seven points in the first period and had Butta on his back twice in each period before settling for the tech fall.
”I thought I had him with the (arm) bar, but I had to let that go,” Guidice said. “I know the kid’s pretty tough, but we had a big week of practice and I feel like I’m on top of my game right now.”
The Guidice victory pulled the Raiders closer at 23-11, but Old Bridge slammed the door on the visitors with two straight pins and put the match out of reach with five consecutive bout wins before 145-pounder Will Goddiess prevailed in a 9-5 decision. Andrew Schaeffer pinned Kyle Yurcisin in 3:50 at 119 pounds and Phil Sandford packed Mike Caver in 1:11 at 125 pounds for a 35-11 bulge.
Old Bridge kept it going with John Giusti’s 19-2 technical fall over Isaac Muck at 130, Jamie Bond’s 11-3 major vs. Jesse DiBlasio and Joey Dunn’s 7-6 decision against Nick Detsis. Will Goddiess erased a 5-0 deficit and scored the final nine points to keep the Knights from hitting 50 points as a team.
Goddiess wrestled with pride, for both himself and his team. He scored all nine points on near-fall points while riding out the entire second and third periods.
”As soon as he chose bottom (in the second period), I knew he was where I wanted him,” Goddiess said. “I like working on top. I got mostly tilts, but I threw in some halves.”
While the Raiders weren’t happy with the result, they took pride in the accomplishment of making the state team playoffs. With four freshmen in the starting lineup, this team’s best days are in the future.
”We were nervous for it, but the coaches kept telling us to take it like any other match,” said Guidice, the only HHS wrestler to earn bonus points at Old Bridge. “It feels great coming in as a freshman and being a part of something like this.”
”We’ve got a lot of potential, especially our freshmen,” Will Goddiess added. “This was a great experience. I don’t see why we can’t do this again.”
The Raiders had only two seniors in their lineup Monday night. It’s a young team that might be a year ahead of schedule. Molinaro is confident his wrestlers will put this defeat behind them and start preparing for the District 18 Championships.
”We’ve got a lot of freshmen and sophomores in a new situation,” Molinaro said. “We’re going to chalk this up to experience and see what we can do at district time.”