Brothers Giovanni and Joe Ghione have enjoyed some great years with the Brick Recreation Mat Rats program. This season they’re hoping for more of the same.
The season opener got under way on Dec. 5. All three teams — Mat Rats I, II and III — swept a pair of victories in double dual meets.
The Mat Rats I beat Wall, 75-19, and Manalapan, 82- 17, and Mat Rats II outscored Wall, 65-34, and Manalapan, 53-48, in the A Division at Wall. Mat Rats III in the B Division led all the way in a 53-51 victory over Keansburg and topped Holmdel, 72-33.
The Ghiones — with Giovanni at 68 pounds and Joe wrestling at 95 pounds — join a nucleus of 10 proven winners among the 22 returnees from the Mat Rats I and II teams that have a lot of holes to fill in the 19 weight classes. Last year’s team finished second in the Jersey Shore Junior Wrestling League and end-of-the-season tournament. The returnees include Dean Sherry, Dan Rackliffe, Kyle Wojtaszek, Alec Donovan, Chris Caselli, Ryan Jachim, and brothers Bill and John Godfrey. There were 130 youngsters competing last week for the 57 starting spots at the wrestleoffs.
Mat Rats I team coach Pete Anderson said the group looks strong but lost a lot of upper weights who graduated and have gone on to wrestle for the high schools. They include Dan Wojtaszek (Kyle’s brother, who wrestled at 130 pounds), Dan Watson (140), Matt Moore (140), Steve Cimino (100), Mark Bixenman (130), Tyler Richardson (122) and Nick Melon (95) along with heavyweights Bruce Weber and Mike Nasen.
“We’re most experienced between 60 and 114 pounds,” Anderson said. ” We’ll be very strong there. A lot of them also wrestled for the middle school teams [at Lake Riviera and Veterans Memorial].”
Some of those wrestlers compete for the Mat Rats II team. Both of those squads are at home on Dec. 12 against Howell. Mat Rats III will host the Bayshore Youth AthleticAssociation and Matawan on Saturday. Both meets begin at 9 a.m.
But there will be some changes this season, since the Jersey Shore League has absorbed the Barnegat Bay League, where the Mat Rats III team wrestled last season. That doubles the Jersey Shore Junior League membership from 16 to 32 teams. Along with adding a dozen Barnegat Bay League teams, there will be four newcomers: Marlboro, Manalapan, Keansburg and Holmdel.
The league will split the 32 teams into an A and B Division, with Mat Rats I and II in the A Division and Mat Rats III in the B Division. Some of the stronger teams added from Barnegat Bay include Jackson, Barnegat, Stafford and Lacey.
In the Mat Rats I sweep last Saturday, both Kyle Marino at 72 pounds and Justin Kieslor at 114 pounds pinned their opponents, while Rackliffe, wrestling at 76 pounds, and Cliff Ruggierio, at 122, each recorded a pin and a technical fall.
Wojtaszek at 90 pounds got two pins for Mat Rats II while Roddy Rupp (72) and Sherry (95) each got their two wins by a pin and a decision. Matt Schleifer (76), Conner Mulligan (90) and Nick Pollara (100) each scored two pins for Mat Rats III.
Art Lynch, who presided over the Jersey Shore Junior League last season, remains president of the Jersey Shore Junior League for this season.
The program schedule breaks for the holidays and concludes on Feb. 6.
Anderson and Jay Sherry coach Mat Rats I. Tom Donovan, who coached the Mat Rats III team last season, coaches the Mat Rats II team this season. Anthony Nash and Kevin Senkarik take over the Mat Rats III team.