Jones, Townsend, Morgan advance for Greyhounds

By: Kyle Moylan Sports Editor
    Jule Dolci was hoping this would be a bounce back year for the Northern Burlington High School wrestling team.
    Didn’t happen.
    “We were 7-15 as a team and it’s been a long, long time since we had a season without a district champion,” said Dolci, Northern Burlington’s long-time head coach. “This is two bad seasons in a row. If we don’t get it turned around, it can be three.
    “I’m confident the kids and coaches will take ownership of this and get things started moving in the right direction.”
    Northern Burlington did have three wrestlers advance out of the District 25 Tournament. For a lot of teams, that’s pretty good. For a team that is accustomed to winning the District 25 Tournament, however, the bar is set a bit higher.
    The top three wrestlers in each weight class advance on to the Region VII Tournament. The champions automatically advance into the Region VII quarterfinals on Friday. The other two wrestlers needed to win a Region VII preliminary match on Tuesday to keep their season alive.
    Josh Jones had the top seed at 135 pounds and advanced into the finals with two quick pins. In the title match, Jones was pinned by Trenton’s Ray Bethea.
    Jeff Townsend placed third at 160 pounds. Townsend lost a 2-1 decision to Robbinsville High’s Andrew Harvilla in the semifinals. Townsend then defeated Pemberton’s Camron Paige, 10-1, in the match for third place.
    Will Morgan placed third at 189 pounds. After losing in the semifinals to Pemberton’s Stephon White, Morgan pinned Nottingham’s Samuel Simon in the match for third place.
    Servero Cardenas (119) defeated Steinert’s Mark Augustyn, 15-8, in the opening round. Cardenas was then pinned by Pemberton’s Joe Gonzalez.
    Harvey Singh (140) defeated Hamilton’s Ricky Defrietas, 6-2, in his opening match. Singh was then pinned by New Egypt’s Andrew Hinger.
    John Rafferty (171) defeated Hightstown’s Marcus Lawrence, 11-7, in the opening match. Rafferty was then pinned by Trenton’s Canaan Bethea, the eventual champion.
    Kam Singh (125), Mike Owens (130), Nate Armontrout (145), Charlie Realmonte (152), John Smylie (215) and Cody Melton (275) also competed for Northern Burlington.
    Northern Burlington did not enter wrestlers at 103 and 112 pounds.
    “This season has been tough right from the start,” Dolci said. “We had a lot of injuries early on, but that’s not really an excuse. You have to be able to come out and wrestle well. This weekend we didn’t do that.
    “We have a lot of talent coming into the program. I think we can turn this around. I know we’re better than we wrestled this weekend. Eventually, you just have to get tired of having people kick dirt on you.”