On a night when the Howell High School wrestling team celebrated the program’s 500th dual-meet win (achieved earlier this season), the 2009-10 Rebels took their place in school history.
By defeating Marlboro, 42-21, on Jan. 20, Howell won its fifth consecutive Shore Conference A North Division championship, thus becoming the first Rebels team to achieve the feat of winning five straight division titles.
“It feels great to be the first team in history to win five straight,” said senior Joe Melon.
With former coaches Ron Surgent, Bruce Boyd and Doug Bower in attendance, coach John Gagliano’s Rebels put on another impressive display and completed their march through the division undefeated once again.
Up-and-coming Marlboro gave the champions their toughest test, but the Mustangs did not have the depth to keep up with the Rebels.
“Depth is the important part of this team,” said Gagliano, who does not have to worry about shuffling his lineup, because he has quality wrestlers in every weight class.
The dual meet started at 140 pounds with Brian Wilson scoring a pin at 3:13 for the Rebels. Matt Reed followed with a pin in :35 and the team score was quickly 12-0 in Howell’s advantage.
Paul Saraiva, a district runner-up in 2009, got six team points back for Marlboro with a pin at 2:52 to cut Howell’s lead to 12-6.
Howell’s Jesse Holzhauer won by decision at 160 to increase the lead to 15-6. Howell took total command of the dual meet at 171 and 180 with pins by Kyle Lamirande and Melon.
“I’m a senior now, it’s time to crack down,” said Melon. “My job is to get as many points as I can.”
The back-to-back pins gave Howell a 27-6 cushion in the team score.
The match at 215 pounds between Marlboro’s Mitch Siegle and Howell’s Rob Sabbagh was one of the night’s tightest bouts. The wrestlers traded escapes in the second and third periods and were tied at 1-1. In the third overtime, Siegle escaped for a 2-1 victory that made the team score 27-9.
There was little carry-over for the Mustangs as Jake Conover registered a pin at :14 to put Howell ahead 33-9.
James Stewart won by a decision for Marlboro at 103 pounds, and Dru Thomas answered for Howell with a pin at :26 at 112 pounds to make the team score 39-12.
Next up was the featured match of the night: returning District 21 champion Vinnie Leone of Marlboro against the wrestler he beat in the district final, Howell’s Chris Albanese.
Leone appeared to be on his way to a 1-0 victory when Albanese scored three points in the final :13 of the bout for a 3-1 victory.
“I was looking forward to it [the match against Leone]” said Albanese. “I wrestled the whole six minutes. I was ready to bring it. Last time [in the district final] I got sloppy in the third period.”
After scoring a late escape to tie the bout at 1-1, Albanese sensed that Leone was thinking about going to overtime and not making a move in the final seconds.
“He was ready for OT,” Albanese said. ”When I got free [for the escape], I just spun around for the two [takedown].”
Albanese, a senior, said the Rebels were aware of the significance of the evening.
“It was a very historic night celebrating the 500th win,” he said. “We brought a championship, our fifth straight.”
Marlboro won the final three matches as Adam Ramadan (125), Matt Brower (130) and Andrew Doukas (135) all won by decision to make the final score 42-21.
Howell improved to 15-0 in dual meets and completed its A North schedule at 7-0. Marlboro fell to 8-2 overall and 3-2 in A North.
On Jan. 21, the night after clinching the A North title, Howell traveled deep into Ocean County to Southern Regional High School for an important nondivision match with Shore Conference Tournament ramifications. The Rebels came away with a statement victory against the Rams, a state power, winning 34-25.
Lamirande started it off at 171 with a 1-0 decision. Melon was bumped up to 215 and gave the Rebels bonus points with a technical fall win (18-2). Conover won by a decision at heavyweight. Brian Esposito won by a 1-0 decision at 103, and Howell had a 14-6 lead through the first five bouts.
Southern Regional gained the lead by winning three of the four middleweight matches from 112 to 130 pounds. Kyle Casaletto (112) and Rich Tieto (125) won by pin, and Buba Lanno (130) got extra team points with a major decision. The spree led the Rams to a 22-18 lead. Howell’s lone win in that stretch was an 11-2 major decision by Albanese.
The Rebels took over in the upper middle weights, winning the next four bouts to put away the dual meet.
Shaughnessy got it going at 135 with an 8-5 decision. Wilson put Howell back into the lead win a pin, and Reed followed with a 12-1 major decision. Zach Bohm clinched the victory for his team with a 7-1 decision at 152 pounds.
Southern Regional fell to 9-2 in dual meets while Howell improved to 16-0.
The win over the Rams secured the No. 3 seed for the Rebels in the Shore Conference Tournament, which began Jan. 27. The top four seeds in the 16-team field — Long Branch, Jackson Memorial, Howell and Southern Regional — hosted the firstround matches and the quarterfinal matches.
The tournament semifinals and championship match will be held Jan. 30 at Southern Regional High School, Manahawkin.
Marlboro earned a spot in the 16-team Shore Conference Tournament field and wrestled Toms River South in the first round.
Coach William Werntz’s Mustangs have lost only to Howell and Middletown South (the A North runner-up) and have been ranked among the top 10 teams in the Shore Conference this winter.