Above: Howell High School’s Joey Schultz (top) looks to turn Holy Cross High School’s Kenny Long on his back during their 160-pound wrestlebacks match at the NJSIAA State Individual Wrestling Tournament at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City on March 9. The Rebels junior won this match and ended up one victory shy of medaling. His season record was 35- 9. Below: Jackson Liberty High School’s Mike Russo (l) works toward finishing his takedown attempt on Berge Catholic High School’s Nick Suriano in their 106-pound semifinals match at Boardwalk Hall. Russo lost the match and went on to place fourth. JEFF GRANIT staff Two Jackson wrestlers were state place winners in the NJSIAA championships at Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall last weekend.
Senior Brian Hamann of Jackson Memorial High School became a state place winner for the third time, finishing fifth at 138 pounds, while sophomore Mike Russo became the highest state place winner in Jackson Liberty High School’s young history, finishing fourth at 106 pounds.
Alec Huxford of Jackson Memorial, who missed part of his senior season with an injury, battled back from an opening round loss and finished eighth in the state.
Three others were a win away from being state place-winners — Jackson Memorial’s Spencer Young, a senior, at 145 pounds and Ken Bradley, a junior, at 195 pounds, as well as Jackson Liberty sophomore Matt Russo (Mike’s twin brother) at 120 pounds.
It was a weekend of mixed results for the seven wrestlers competing from Jackson Township, including four from Jackson Memorial. Two wrestlers fell from the unbeaten ranks going into the state showcase — Mike Russo and Jackson Liberty senior Nick Zak, who was sixth in the state last year and fell short of his hopes to place again at perhaps a higher slot.
“We wrestled well at times. Sometimes we wrestled better than at other times,” Jackson Memorial coach Aaron Gottesman said.
Mike Russo finished 38-2 and Matt was 32-9, while Zak ended his season 36-2 and his career with a school record 128 victories.
“Overall, we distinguished ourselves well,” Jackson Liberty coach Mike Eddy said. “It was nice to see Mike place after seeing him finish one match short of it last year. Matt had a good tournament. It’s a shame he wrestled the same kid twice who beat him (on a 2-2 weekend). And Nick had one really bad day, losing two close matches. He’s disappointed. He had high hopes of placing higher than last year.”
Hamann, who was fourth in the state as a freshman and junior (he was injured at the end of his sophomore season), secured his fifth place finish with a 13-0 major decision to go 5-2 on the weekend.
Mike Russo opened the tournament by winning two decisions, 6-0 and 5-0, before suffering his first loss of the season in the semifinals to eventual champion Nick Suriano, the No. 1-ranked freshman in the country, by a 9-0 score. Suriano, who also won his weight class in the Beast of the East early season showcase, led only 2-0 after the first period.
“Mike couldn’t get anything going on him,” Eddy said.
Russo bounced back in the wrestlebacks with a 15-0 technical fall before losing his next match, 1-0, on an escape in the closing seconds. Bradley, who went into the state championships with 31 victories; sophomore Fred Terranova, who was 25-11 at 106 pounds; and Connor Bohringer, a sophomore who was 20-13 at 170 pounds, lead the returnees for next season at Jackson Memorial. This season, the Jaguars won their first nine bouts before finishing 15-7. They were an NJSIAA section tournament qualifier with a third place finish in the District 21 tournament.
“I think with the guys coming back, we’ll be alright. It’s just how much time they put into the sport in the spring, summer and fall,” Gottesman said. “We lose a lot of firepower, but the younger guys are making progress. They have the ability to do well.”
With six seniors graduating, T.J. Liguori, who went 32-3 at 152 pounds, joins the Russo brothers in leading Jackson Liberty’s returnees.
“We lose Nick and a few other guys who helped us, and we’ll be young, but I think we can do well again,” said Eddy, whose team won its first division title in Shore Conference B South, was a state sectional qualifier and finished fourth in District 21 in an 18-6 season that included nine straight victories at one stretch.
That success will push the returnees to even greater heights for next season, Eddy said.