Jackson Memorial High School’s Ken Bradley (r) and Long Branch High School’s Vin Roselli tie each other up during the start of their 195-pound match at the Shore Conference Tournament quarterfinals in Jackson. Bradley won the match by a pin, as the third-seeded Jaguars advanced with a 32-38 triumph. R.D. BEALES Spencer Young’s pin at 145 pounds gave Jackson Memorial High School’s wrestling team its only lead of the Shore Conference Tournament semifinals, where archrival Brick Memorial High School answered back with a pin by 152-pounder Rob Ruggiero at 1:41 and swept the remaining two bouts after that to seal a 37-23 victory on Feb. 2 at Pine Belt Arena. Brick Memorial went on to beat Toms River High School South, 32-29, for the Shore Conference Tournament title.
It was an unexpected, yet convincing victory for Brick Memorial, which had beaten Jackson Memorial by a point, 27-26, on a pin in the final bout of the Shore Conference A South Division showdown on Jan. 16. Jackson Memorial’s wrestlers hope to see Brick Memorial again in the upcoming NJSIAA Central Jersey Group IV tournament.
“We’ll be the two seed, Howell will be the three seed, Brick Memorial the No. 1 seed,” said Jackson Memorial coach Aaron Gottesman of the state sectionals, as his team slipped to 15-6. Brick Memorial is 20- 2 with nine straight victories.
“It’s a battle,” the coach continued. “The winner of the [sectional] semifinal gets Brick Memorial. It’s a tough bracket, but we’ll see what happens. Hopefully it will be us [against Brick Memorial].”
However, can his team emotionally bounce back in a sport where the mental aspect is so important?
“Yes, they can bounce back, no question in my mind,” Gottesman said. “But we have to get through Howell, which is a very good team, as well, to get to Brick Memorial.”
“Sure we can bounce back,” said 138- pounder Brian Hamann, who twice finished fourth in the state championships and won a major decision against Brick Memorial. “Hopefully we get Brick Memorial again. Our team is drilled on bouncing back and coming back strong.”
In the Shore Conference Tournament semifinals, Young’s pin with 32 seconds left in the first period with a 5-1 lead at the time gave Jackson Memorial a 23-22 lead and a 6-5 edge in bouts.
That’s when the Ruggiero brothers stepped up. Brick Memorial coach Dan O’Cone moved them up one weight class from the previous matchup against Jackson Memorial. Cliff Ruggiero wrestled at 160 pounds in the semifinals after losing at 152 pounds against Young, 4-3, in their previous matchup.
“At the end, those were three of our better wrestlers,” said O’Cone. “If you have to end any way, that’s a good spot to end.”
Rob Ruggiero (152 pounds) pinned Brandon Carroll at 1:41 of the first period for his 10th straight victory to raise his record to 17-5 and help give his team a 28- 23 lead. Carroll fell to 10-16.
At that point, Gottesman said he felt the match was all but over. Then, Cliff Ruggiero (160 pounds) overcame an early 1-0 deficit to Connor Bohringer with a pair of takedowns and protected his lead while working from the top throughout the third period in a 4-1 victory. It gave Brick Memorial an insurmountable 31-23 lead. Cliff Ruggiero improved to 20- 7 and Bohringer is 16-9.
Brick Memorial’s Tyler Richardson (172 pounds) pinned Daylan Wellstead at 38 seconds in the first period for his 24th victory in 26 bouts in the meet’s final match.
“They wrestled great today, and I don’t think we brought it 100 percent and they definitely did,” Gottesman said. “That was the biggest difference. They were able to control the matches.”
“They’re a tough team,” Hamann said of Brick Memorial. “We wrestled great the first time we wrestled them and I don’t think all of us showed up today.”
Hamann also had his own frustrations, settling for a 14-3 major decision over Alec Donovan, whom he had pinned at 1:26 the previous time they met.
“I was trying to not let him turn me and was going for the pin and didn’t get it,” Hamann said, as he improved to 25-3 and Donovan went to 21-6. “I was a little disappointed.”
Gottesman has stressed the importance of bonus points throughout the season but said Brick Memorial having a 13-4 edge there did not matter much, as Brick Memorial had won two more bouts than Jackson Memorial.
“Obviously bonus points hurt, but if you take the bonus out of it, they still would’ve won it,” Gottesman said. “I expected us not to give up that many bonus points, but they brought it.”
Brick Memorial got off to a commanding 22-7 lead when Jackson Memorial scored 16 straight points to take the 23-22 lead on winning decisions by Alec Huxford at 126 pounds (by 4-0) and Jarrett Di- Giantomasso at 132 pounds (by 1-0) before Hamann got his major decision and Young scored his pin for Jackson Memorial’s brief lead.
Brick Memorial’s Nick Costa (182 pounds) opened the day with a technical fall for a 5-0 lead before Jackson Memorial’s Ken Bradley (195 pounds) scored a 13-2 major decision to make it 5-4.
That’s when Brick Memorial’s 220- pounder Matt Moore scored a technical fall for a 10-4 lead. Heavyweight Max Mondello (18-8) stayed on his feet for most of his bout before losing, 1-0, to Tyler Poling (13-5), as Brick Memorial took a 13-4 lead.
Freddy Terranova, Jackson Memorial’s 106-pounder, stayed in control in a 7-0 decision over Luke Vescovi to raise his record to 20-7 and narrow Brick Memorial’s lead to 13-7. The Mustangs’ Connor Maliff led all the way to a 5-2 winning decision at 113 pounds to make it 16-7 before teammate Joseph Ghione’s quick pin at 120 pounds for his 24th victory in 26 outings staked his team to the 22-7 lead before the Jaguars’ rally.
Jackson Memorial advanced to the semifinals when it broke out to a big lead en route to a 32-28 quarterfinal victory over Long Branch High School. The Jaguars beat Wall High School, 48-15, in the prequarterfinals.