LAWRENCE: Lawrence wrestlers still searching for win

By Rudy Brandl, The Packet Group
   Lawrence High was still seeking its first wrestling team victory after a tough Saturday morning in Somerset County.
   The Cardinals certainly expected to pick up a win or two in a quad meet at Hillsborough. They weren’t counting on beating the host team, but head coach Chris Lynne figured his club would be in the mix against Ridge and Bridgewater-Raritan.
   Lawrence (0-5) performed much better against powerhouse Hillsborough (14-3) than either of the other teams, dropping a 54-23 result in the finale. However, the other two results weren’t as impressive, with the Cardinals falling 46-21 to Ridge and 47-30 to Bridgewater.
   ”Yeah, I thought we’d get one,” Lynne said. “We wrestled well against Robbinsville (in a 44-31 loss on Jan. 7). Today, we kind of came out flat. If you start out flat, you’re done.”
   Despite the 0-3 record on the day, there were many positives for the Cardinals. They spotted B-R the first 47 points but rallied to make it very respectable by scoring the last 30. Standout wrestlers Sean Pearson and Tommy O’Rourke went 3-0 with impressive performances. Several younger wrestlers also produced highlights.
   Pearson weighed in at 160 pounds for the first time all season but bumped to 171 in two of Saturday’s bouts. Lynne bumped his entire lineup against Ridge and it helped his veterans but the strategy did not work in the overall scheme.
   ”We lack the experience, so it’s tough when you bump kids up to a stronger weight,” Lynne said. “We beat their better guys with our better guys but the strategy backfired with the younger kids.”
   Gerrayl Bryson bumped to 160 pounds to start the Ridge match and pinned Frank Caratozoa in 3:02. Pearson battled for a 4-2 decision in a rugged 171-pound bout against Alex Braunstein. Heavyweight Glenn Friedeborn scored an 8-6 overtime victory over Tim Gorham to give the Cardinals an 18-6 lead.
   Ridge won eight of the final nine bouts. O’Rourke stopped the surge with a hard-fought 4-2 decision over Alex Gacos at 135 pounds.
   ”I moved him up to 135 to face a better kid,” Lynne said. “That shows he’s a very good wrestler.”
   Bridgewater-Raritan won the first eight bouts, including five straight by fall to start the middle match of the quad. The Cardinals battled back three pins, two decisions and one forfeit to reach 30 points.
   ”We’re improving each match,” Pearson said. “We were down by a bunch of points but we came back and got something going at the end.”
   O’Rourke ignited the Lawrence run with a 35-second pin of B-R’s Andrew Arce at 130 pounds.
   ”When the score is so out of hand, you have to do the best you can to help the team,” said O’Rourke, who improved to 10-2 with Saturday’s sweep. “We only have three returning varsity wrestlers, so we still have a lot of inexperience. Hopefully, we’ll continue to grow and learn with the experience.”
   Justin Scott followed with a gritty 5-4 decision over Eric VanHouten at 135. Scott tied the bout with a reversal late in the second period and scored the go-ahead escape off the whistle in the third. He did a great job moving and defending VanHouten’s shots in the final minute.
   Junior Pat Reven, another first-year varsity wrestler, made quick work of Craig Feldman at 140 pounds. Reven was annoyed at the team score and decked Feldman in 20 seconds to help his team get a quick six.
   ”We started off the match with a lot of pins, so it’s nice to do it to the other team,” Reven said. “Even though the score is bad, we wanted at least to make it respectable. He wasn’t their No. 1 kid so I just wanted to do my job for the team.”
   Ian Wolf grabbed a forfeit at 145 and the Bryson-Pearson combo produced nine more team points in the final two bouts to cap the late spurt. Bryson was locked in a 3-3 duel with Sherif Abzoied but escaped with 15 seconds left and added a takedown before the final buzzer to pull out a 6-3 decision.
   ”Gerrayl is just coming back off an injury but he’s an athlete,” Lynne said. “He’s looking really good today.”
   Pearson, wrestling at 160 for the first time this year, needed 15 seconds to take down John Krewinski and threw in an arm bar to produce a fall in 45 seconds.
   ”Those extra 11 pounds are a lot,” Pearson said. “It’s a big confidence booster just getting down there (to 160). This is definitely my peak condition.”
   Hillsborough completed its sweep of the quad by beating Lawrence in the final match of the day. The Cardinals edged Hillsborough by a point last year but do not match up nearly as well this season against a team with nine returning district place-winners.
   Four Cardinals won bouts against the Raiders – Friedeborn (by forfeit at 285), O’Rourke (by pin at 130), John Friedfeld (by pin at 135) and Pearson (by technical fall at 171). O’Rourke built a 5-1 lead on Kyle Yurcisin but wasn’t satisfied so he pinned him in 5:20.
   ”I kept working his hips trying to keep him down,” O’Rourke said. “I finally turned him over and slowly walked him to his head. He kept fighting, which made it tough.”
   There was some drama at the end of the match. The fans were hoping to see a war between two of the premier 160-pounders in Region 5 but Lynne elected not to send Pearson out against Hillsborough junior Jared Leon. Chances are, the two stars will meet at the regions or somewhere down the road.
   The Cardinals were set to embark on a very busy week with five matches, completing a streak of nine matches in 12 days. They were scheduled to wrestle at Steinert Monday, host their first match of the season Wednesday vs. Hightstown and travel to Trenton for a quad with Ewing and West Windsor Plainsboro North on Saturday.
   ”I’m hoping to win all three at the quad meet,” Lynne said. “We should be in there with all of these teams.”