Jackson Memorial High School’s Doug Hamann (r) has the upper hand on Raritan High School’s Joe Masi during their 160-pound bout in the semifinals of the Shore Conference Tournament on Jan. 29 at Southern Regional High School, Manahawkin. Hamann pinned Masi at 3:53 and the Jaguars defeated the Rockets, 43-15. In the championship match, Southern Regional defeated Jackson Memorial, 28-23, to claim the tournament’s team championship. For more photos, see the Photo Galleries at www.gmnews.com. ERIC SUCAR staff A fter feeling the lows of a 28-23 loss to Southern Regional High School in the Shore Conference Tournament championship match on Jan. 29, the Jackson Memorial High School wrestling team experienced the highs of defeating New Jersey’s consensus No. 1 team, High Point, 31- 28 on Jan. 31 at home in Jackson.
The teams split the 14 weight classes, each winning seven bouts.
Coach Doug Withstandley will now prepare the team to defend its NJSIAA Group IV state team championship.
The Central Jersey Group IV state sectional team tournament is scheduled to begin on Feb. 7. The Jaguars, along with Howell and South Brunswick, figure to be among the teams battling for the crown.
The Jaguars rebounded in a big way from their loss to Southern Regional as they took on the challenge of facing High Point and earned a victory that they hope will be a springboard to success in the upcoming state team tournament.
The Jaguars defeated the Rams, 39-9, in a dual meet in mid-January, but they could not overcome Southern Regional at its home gym in Manahawkin on Jan. 29 in the conference tournament’s championship match.
As the Jaguars get set for the state team tournament, they will look to Dallas Winston, a 22-2 wrestler at 189 pounds who kept the Jaguars in the running against Southern Regional until Cody Snead pulled out a 2-1 victory over Max Sunder at 215 pounds to clinch the Shore Conference team title .
Snead avenged a December loss to Sunder at the Beast of the East showcase in Delaware.
Snead wasn’t the only Rams grappler who turned his match around as Southern Regional ended the frustration of Shore Conference championship match losses to Jackson Memorial in 2004, 2006 and 2007. The Rams swept the 125-pound through 140-pound classes.
“It wasn’t just there. There were a lot of key ones that we lost,” said Withstandley. Doug Hamann (152), 23-3 with 11 pins, and heavyweight Joe Nolan, 20-5 with eight pins, are other key grapplers who will be leading the Jaguars.
Brian Hamann, Doug’s younger brother, lost his match at 125 against Southern Regional in a 5-1 decision, but rebounded in a big way with a pin at 119 over High Point’s Billy Hagany to improve to 16-4.
Two other wrestlers with promise for big things in the upcoming district tournament are sophomore Alec Huxford, who is 17-7 with nine pins at 103 pounds, and Spencer Young, who is 17-8 at 125.
Rob Hennings, who was pinned in overtime at 171 pounds to put Southern Regional in a position to win the Shore Conference match, is 14-8 for the Jaguars. Hennings scored a technical fall at 160 pounds over his High Point opponent in the Jaguars’ victory earlier this week.