Rivalry with Bound Brook lives on
by Rudy Brandl, Sports Editor
FLEMINGTON Manville High was not represented on the mats at last weekend’s Region 5 Wrestling Tournament, but expect that to change in the very near future.
Second-year head coach Pat Gorbatuk figured his team was a year away from making a real impact at the District 18 Championships. After watching his boys mix it up with some top-notch wrestlers from area schools, Gorbatuk is more confident than ever that multiple Mustangs will place in the top three at next year’s tourney.
Three MHS wrestlers were a win away from making the Region 5 cut this year. Many fans, coaches and wrestlers from other schools took note of Manville’s progress at the districts.
At one point during the consolation final round, two Mustangs were competing at the same time on adjacent mats. A wrestler from Hillsborough noticed two yellow singlets simultaneously battling for third place to continue their seasons and commented that Manville was doing well. While this wasn’t really a good thing since Gorbatuk couldn’t be in both corners at the same time, it reflected Manville’s presence at the tournament.
The Mustangs won three preliminary round bouts and three quarterfinal matches. Six of the 12 wrestlers in the lineup produced a victory. That’s a big-time improvement from recent years when the Mustangs typically sent one individual to the second day of action. MHS was shut out on opening night a few years ago.
Freshman Peter Hando nearly delivered the shocker of the tournament in the 140-pound semifinals. Battling region place-winner Gabe Gleason of Bound Brook, Hando put the top-ranked district favorite on his back. Many fans in the building thought Gleason was flat, but the official did not award the fall.
The guys at the press table joked that Hando could have become the mayor of Manville if he pinned a Bound Brook kid named Gleason. While Hando is still a teenager, I’m sure he could have put pinning Gleason on his resume for future political consideration in town.
People were still buzzing about Hando’s near-pin a week later at the Region 5 Tournament. My buddy Harry, who bleeds Bound Brook red, wasn’t going to get out of Hillsborough without hearing about it from the Manville posse. Wrestling aficionados like former MHS coach Frank Passe enjoyed giving a little good-natured ribbing.
Gorbatuk, who believed Hando had secured a fall, compared the questionable no-pin call to that famous Manville-Bound Brook match in 1997 when the Mustangs beat the Crusaders thanks to Kyle Tenisci surviving the final 45 seconds by a fraction of an inch. Tenisci warded off Celester O’Garro’s pin attempt and saved the match for the Mustangs.
A few weeks later in the Central Jersey Group 1 playoffs, the Mustangs pinned their way to a lopsided rout of Bound Brook, marking the last time they defeated their rivals. Gorbatuk, who was a freshman on the team, can still recount every single bout of that Manville victory.
Although the Mustangs beat the Crusaders in a playoff match, I still have more vivid recollections of the regular season bout saved by Tenisci. Gorbatuk joked that if Gleason wasn’t pinned in this year’s district tourney, then Tenisci wasn’t flat that night in Bound Brook over a decade ago.
My opinion? It depends on the official.
Some referees get down on the mat and take a look at several angles to determine falls. Others remain standing and make what I feel is a less-educated decision. I still can’t believe the official at Bound Brook that night didn’t award a pin. The Crusader fans were screaming for almost a minute. That bout still ranks as the most celebrated 7-1 loss in Manville sports history.
Passe, who was in the MHS corner that night, remains visible at regular season, district, region and state wrestling events. These tournaments are a great way for catching up with people in the wrestling fraternity, who are an extremely dedicated and passionate group.
Former Manville wrestling coach Brett Stibitz, who’s still the school’s head football coach, spent a few hours watching the districts. We talked mostly about football but also got into some of our new duties as fathers of young children. Passe finally stopped us when we started talking about changing diapers.
”Hey, I’m trying to watch a wrestling tournament here,” Passe said.
The young Mustangs were doing more watching than wrestling this year, but if they continue to embrace Gorbatuk’s work ethic, they’ll be more visible on the region mats in the very near future.

