Doty, Rohmeyer earn individual golds for Cougars
By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
Alex Doty has high aspirations for his final year with the Montgomery High School wrestling team, and a big win Monday has served to build his confidence.
The senior captured the 182-pound title to help the Cougars edge Lacey for the East Brunswick Bear Invitational team championship. MHS topped Lacey by one point, 180-179, to win the 16-team tournament, believed to be their first invitational win in program history.
”The individual aspect was great knowing we did a lot for our team,” Doty said. “Even the other guys that didn’t make it to finals, wrestling back for third or getting fourth, that was big. They did their part for the team as well.”
Terence Rohmeyer won the 120-pound championship, while Jake Bobal at 170, Nico Ipeker at 220 and Dylan D’Amore at heavyweight reached the finals at their respective weights. Kyle Marrapodi was third at 138 pounds, and Jacob Frisch at 113 and August Rohmeyer at 126 were fourth-place finishers.
”It was very unexpected,” said MHS head coach Kurt Franey. “We wrestled well. It’s a much more balanced team this year. We have a heavyweight, it’s his first year and he got to the final. Our 220 got to the final. Getting Jake Bobal back, he missed all of last season with a knee injury from football, that helped.”
The Cougars graduated state champion Anthony Cassar, but have the makings of a stronger team overall. MHS wrestled with plenty of freshmen in the lineup last year, and they return more experienced and stronger, and the team has bigger goals. Winning the Bear Invitational helps fuel their drive.
”It’s huge for me,” Doty said. “This is the first step on the road to states. Hopefully I can continue this same type of wrestling in counties and districts and regions and eventually states.”
Doty was solid last year at 170 pounds, with a few matches at 182 pounds. He went 20-15 overall, but had wanted to go farther. His fourth place finish in districts left him one spot out of a region berth.
”He had, for him, a disappointing year,” Franey said. “He put in a lot of work. It just didn’t translate into matches. He’s figured out how to wrestle well in matches this year.”
The Cougars as a whole seem to have taken a leap. After winning just four matches all of last season, they are 3-0 in the early going to this regular season, and the Bear Invitational reinforces their improvements.
”It feels pretty big considering we wrestled the exact same tournament last year and didn’t come close to first,” Doty said. “I don’t think we even finished top five.
”With last year, we were missing a whole bunch of weights and whole bunch of our team was made up of underclassmen,” he said. “I’m seeing a lot of people step up and showing how hard they can work to get the wins we need.”
Realignment of the Skyland Conference will help put the Cougars up against teams that they will be more competitive against this year, and take them away from the powers of Hunterdon and Warren Counties. MHS is looking to build on its quick start.
”We were talking before the season and hoping to be .500,” Franey said. “Now we think it’s possible to be a little better than that.”
Doty says that the attitude in the practice room is as strong as ever, and the support for each other also helps to drive the team. Their preparation helped to push them to Monday’s win.
”At the very end of the tournament, they announce the winner over the loud speakers,” Doty explained. “They do the top five. When it came down to the last two places, I thought, ‘We might actually win it.’ When they called the other team’s name first, we all went wild. It was a great experience.
”Although we’re very excited about this win, we still have a lot to work on, and work on in the practice room. But I feel the outlook for this year is still pretty good.”
Doty attacked his offseason training in order to improve on his 20-win season. He is one of a number of wrestlers that Montgomery views as a candidate to make regions.
”I’ve been training hard over the summer so I can do better this year,” he said. “I just focused on getting my endurance up, getting my intensity up in the practice room, and being able to come into practice every day and give it my all.”
Doty saw that pay off with a crown. He topped Edwin Aguilera of New Brunswick by major decision, 11-3, to win the 182-pound title. His first two matches in the East Brunswick tournament ended by fall.
”My first match was over pretty quick and ended with a fall in the first period,” Doty said. “My second match, was really tough. That took a lot out of me. It was later in the day and since I was a heavier weight, I had to weigh more between matches. I ended up pinning him in the third. The finals match that was probably my toughest match. Just my guy, he was strong. He was really good on his feet.”
Doty proved better, and the Cougars needed all the points they could get to squeeze by Lacey. MHS knew it had a solid finish heading into the finals, but didn’t know if it had enough for the win.
”After the semis or quarterfinals, our coach got the team standings and brackets,” Doty said. “We thought we had a chance of winning this thing. When we had five guys in the finals, I had a pretty good idea we’d be in the top five.”
The Cougars were especially strong in the upper weights with Doty, Bobal, Ipeker and D’Amore all going to finals. They picked up points throughout their lineup, which keyed their victory.
”The lower weights did well too,” Franey said. “It was much more competitive down low; 113 was probably the hardest weight. Jacob Frisch was fourth there. At 120, Terence Rohmeyer finished first. And his brother was fourth at 126. We’re pretty balanced bottom to top this year.”
Their balance will be tested as they resume regular-season matches with Watchung Hills on Saturday. And though their division isn’t as daunting as in the past, it’s no picnic either.
”Bridgewater, Hillsborough, Somerville, they’re all rivals that historically we have not had much success against those towns,” Franey said. “We’ve tried to keep them grounded and see they have a lot of work to do, and I think they understand that.”
Doty is looking forward to a big year. It could be his last wrestling seriously as he could focus solely on academics in college. It makes this season especially meaningful to him.
”I want to make sure I go out on top,” Doty said. “I want to go out with a fight.”